Coker v. Georgia

In the 1977 case of Coker v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court case held that capital punishment, the death penalty, is grossly disproportionate to the crime of rape and is therefore prohibited by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment. This case is important to the study of race and crime because, before it was decided, African Americans were more likely to receive the death penalty for rape, especially in the southern states. [Page 136]The facts, decision, and historical significance of the case are presented in this entry.

Ehrlich Anthony Coker was serving six separate sentences in the Ware Correctional Institution near Waycross, Georgia, including two terms of life imprisonment for assault, kidnapping, rape, and murder. Coker escaped from Ware Correctional Institution on September 2, 1974. At approximately 11:00 p.m. that same day, Coker entered through the unlocked kitchen door of the house occupied by Allen and Elnita Carver. Coker threatened the couple, tied up Mr. Carver in the bathroom, obtained a knife from the kitchen, and raped Mrs. Carver. Coker then took money and the keys to the Carver's car, forced Mrs. Carver to ride with him, and threatened her with death and serious bodily harm. Coker was apprehended by the police a short time later. He was charged and convicted on various counts, including rape. The jury's verdict regarding the rape count was death by electrocution. Coker appealed on the grounds that the death penalty for rape was cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Most other death penalty cases at this time were racially based, revealing a disproportion toward African Americans. However, race was not an issue in this case, as Coker and his victims were White. Both the conviction and the sentence were affirmed by the Georgia Supreme Court. Coker was granted a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Coker, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the issue of the constitutionality of the death penalty when imposed for crimes other than murder, specifically, in this case, with respect to rape of an adult woman. The Court, in a split decision on June 29, 1977, ruled that capital punishment is grossly disproportionate to the crime of rape and is therefore prohibited by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Byron White, joined by Justices Potter Stewart, Harry Blackmun, and John Paul Stevens, held in a plurality opinion that the death penalty, while not disproportionate in the case of murder, was “grossly disproportionate” and “excessive punishment” in the case of rape. Thus, Georgia's death penalty for rape was found unconstitutional.

In the proportionality analysis, comparing the type and severity of punishment to the crime committed, Justice White noted that although the crime of rape was serious and revealed “almost total contempt for the personal integrity and autonomy of the female victim,” it did not compare with murder as it did not involve an unjustified taking of human life. Thus, the death penalty was held to be excessive.

As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Coker v. Georgia, 20 inmates—3 White inmates and 17 Black inmates—who were awaiting execution on rape convictions around the country were removed from those death rows. The holding in Coker v. Georgia has been interpreted in some instances to state that the state and federal governments may not extend capital punishment to most nonmurder offenses. However, the Supreme Court has applied the proportionality rationale regarding capital punishment to later cases wherein it invalidated death penalty sentences for murders committed by mentally incapacitated individuals and youths and for the rape of a child.

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