Capital trials: individualized sentences and generalized biases

Capital trials differ from all other adult criminal legal proceedings in the United States. While most criminal sentencing occurs without consideration of defendants’ personal circumstances, the US Supreme Court mandates that jurors consider capital defendants’ backgrounds to decide whether they des...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Kaufman, Sarah Beth (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Print Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2024
En: The Elgar companion to capital punishment and society
Año: 2024, Páginas: 89-102
Acceso en línea: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Verificar disponibilidad: HBZ Gateway
Palabras clave:
Capital trials
death penalty
Capital juries
Death qualification
Capital Sentencing
Descripción
Sumario:Capital trials differ from all other adult criminal legal proceedings in the United States. While most criminal sentencing occurs without consideration of defendants’ personal circumstances, the US Supreme Court mandates that jurors consider capital defendants’ backgrounds to decide whether they deserve to be executed for their crimes. This chapter describes how capital trials are conducted, given this mandate. The chapter describes the four main parts of capital trials: picking “death qualified” jurors; narrating defendants’ childhoods; predicting defendants’ future acts; and hearing from victims’ supporters. The chapter then demonstrates that despite this “super due process,” as scholars call it, research continues to demonstrate that capital sentencing is saturated with the racialized, gendered, and class biases familiar to criminal legal proceedings throughout the US justice system.
Notas:Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 99-102
ISBN:9781803929149
DOI:10.4337/9781803929156.00014