ABSTRACT
Aggravating and mitigating factors are elements in addition to facts of the crime to be considered when a jury decides whether a defendant receives the death penalty or a lesser sentence of life imprisonment. Mitigating factors are information about a defendant or the circumstances of a crime that might tend to lessen the sentence or the crime with which a person is charged. A statute cannot automatically mandate the death penalty for a defendant convicted of a specific crime. Constitution requires that the class of defendants eligible for the death penalty be narrowed by means of statutory aggravating factors that furnish principled guidance for the choice between death and a lesser penalty. These factors can be in the definition of the crime, in separate sentencing elements, or in both. Most states follow the Model Penal Code, adopted by the American Law Institute in 1962, and define murder broadly.
