Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances in Capital Trials, Effects on Jurors

Aggravating Factors

Jurors are more likely to sentence to death defendants who have committed a heinous, brutal, or cruel murder. Such crimes include those involving a single victim who suffers a lot of pain before death and also crimes with multiple victims. The brutality of a murder triggers jurors'desire for retribution, or punishing someone for the harm that he or she has caused. Several lines of research show that jurors treat more severe crimes more harshly when assigning punishment in general, not just in death penalty cases. Jurors may not understand what the words heinous or atrocious mean, or they may believe that all murders are heinous. Thus, courts must instruct jurors that this aggravating factor is limited in some way, so that they are supposed to apply it only in cases involving torture, very serious physical abuse, or extreme depravity. However, even without such extreme case facts, jurors will sentence a defendant to death more often if the crime is more severe and causes more harm. Usually, in death penalty trials, a separate listed factor is included for murders with multiple victims, because heinousness is a specific legal term measuring how much suffering occurred before the victim's death.

Jurors also consider the future dangerousness of a defendant—whether he or she is likely to commit another serious crime. In some states, jurors are specifically asked to decide whether the defendant is likely to re-offend, but even when not asked, jurors often bring this issue up during deliberations. The more the jurors fear that the defendant could re-offend, or even be released on parole, the more likely they are to sentence the defendant to death. Similarly, if the defendant has a prior criminal record that includes violent crimes, he or she will be seen as more dangerous, and jurors are more likely to sentence that defendant to death than defendants with no prior record.

[Page 10]Jurors are also affected by victim characteristics and victim impact statements. If the victim is a public figure or a policeman, jurors are more likely to sentence the defendant to death. The murder of such a person causes more harm to the community and deserves a more severe punishment. Furthermore, jurors are allowed to consider whether the victim was particularly vulnerable—for instance, because of young or old age or disability. Some research supports an increase in death verdicts in cases of child victims, but little research exists on other aspects of victim vulnerability. Jurors can also consider the effect that the murder has on the victim's surviving family, friends, and the community. Several studies have found that jurors are more likely to give the death penalty when there is a large amount of suffering by the victim's family and the community. Courts and researchers debate whether these effects are the result of jurors' sensitivity to an increase in the amount of harm caused or instead an emotional reaction to the testimony.

...