Details

The independent variables are:

black defendant — whether the defendant was "black"

white victim — whether the victim was "white"

aggravated — whether various aggravating factors were present

female victim — whether the victim was female

stranger victim — whether the victim was a stranger to the defendant

multiple victims — whether there were multiple victims of the crime

multiple stabbings — whether there were multiple stab wounds involved

young victim — whether the victim was a minor

Technically, one should probably be using nonlinear regression techniques such as logit or probit regression to analyze this data, in which the dependent variable can only take on values 0 or 1. Linear regression is used here for the sake of simplicity.

The data used in this Demonstration is available online in Excel format at http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/puaf610/notes/10-Multiple_regression/death-penalty.xls. The analysis of a superset of this data did not persuade the United States Supreme Court, in McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987), that the death penalty violated the United States Constitution.