NCJ Number
123631
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 80 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1990) Pages: 1236-1255
Date Published
1990
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the United States Supreme Court's 1989 decision in a case involving prosecutorial comments regarding the victim's personal qualities at the sentencing phase of a capital case concludes that the Court correctly held that the prosecutor's comments were irrelevant to the circumstances of the crime and should have been barred from the sentencing proceeding.
Abstract
In South Carolina v. Gathers, the Court considered a case in which the prosecutor made several comments about the homicide victim's being a religious person and a registered voter. The Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits such prosecutorial commentary in the capital sentencing phase, arguing that such commentary may result in the arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty. The dissenters argued that such commentary indicates the extent of the harm caused by the defendant's actions, but their reasoning suggested that their underlying desire was for an increase in the use of the death penalty. Thus, their arguments were largely unfounded and do not convincingly support the admissibility of commentary or evidence about the victim during the sentencing phase. 139 footnotes.