NCJ Number
104815
Date Published
1987
Length
315 pages
Annotation
This study identifies substantial variation in the application of the death penalty in North Carolina during the first year of a new capital punishment statute, following the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding new death penalty procedures intended to protect against arbitrariness.
Abstract
Following discussions of the death penalty selection process and the development of the arbitrariness standard for capital punishment, this book reports on a study of the homicide cases processed in North Carolina from June 1, 1977, to May 31, 1978, the year after North Carolina enacted a capital punishment statute that was a modified version of two of the statutes the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 1976. During the study period, 661 persons were homicide victims in 645 events. A total of 611 defendants were arrested. Nine defendants were sentenced to death. After collecting data on the defendant, the victim, offense circumstances, and the judicial processing of the cases, the data were statistically analyzed. Although the legal standards were the most significant factor in the outcomes at all stages of the capital punishment process, considerable variation in the results cannot be explained by the legal standards alone and, therefore, represents arbitrariness. In the pretrial stages, extralegal factors influencing outcome were the judicial district and the defendant's race. At the verdict stage, an extralegal factor was the victim's race. The prosecutor exercised the greatest discretionary influence over case outcomes through charging and plea negotiations that determined whether the case went to trial. Appended supplementary tables, outline for scoring evidence quality, chapter notes, and subject index.