NCJ Number
112392
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Law Volume: 15 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (Fall-Winter 1987-88) Pages: 1-54
Date Published
1987
Length
55 pages
Annotation
Interviews were conducted with 54 of the 120 jurors who served in 10 Florida capital cases to examine their reasons for recommending execution or life imprisonment.
Abstract
These cases included five in which the jury recommended life imprisonment and five in which it recommended the death penalty. In five of these cases, the jury recommendation was overridden by the judge. Results indicate that capital sentencers do not employ the State's 'roadmap' to guide discretion. The factors considered by jurors in these cases only occasionally resembled the statutory list of aggravating and mitigating factors, and the factors that actually influenced juror decisions were rarely dealt with during appellate review. For jurors recommending life, lingering doubts and scruples were the primary operative factors in decisions; for jurors recommending death, the assumption of a mandatory or presumptive death sentence and the manner of the killing were the most frequently given explanations. Results suggest that jury discretion cannot be guided and that guidelines listing sentencing factors appear to serve the primary function of giving appellate courts something tangible to review rather than having any appreciable effect on trial-level decisionmaking. 243 footnotes.