ABSTRACT
Contemporary guided-discretion death-penalty statutes are far more complex than the sentencing laws that prevailed during the pre-Furman v. Georgia (1972) 1 era of capital punishment. The new statutes approved by the justices in Gregg v. Georgia (1976) 2 and companion cases 3 narrowed the range of death-penalty eligible crimes, separated capital-murder trials into distinct guilt and penalty phases, defined criteria to guide sentencing decisions, and ensured appellate court review of cases resulting in a sentence of death. As with other laws, however, and as discussed in the preceding chapter, their success or failure ultimately would hinge not on their written form but on whether the contemplated reforms translated meaningfully into practice. In this regard it is difficult to overestimate the crucial functions of the lawyers charged with representing defendants in capital cases, and the jurors entrusted with making guilt and punishment decisions. This chapter examines the performance of defense attorneys and trial jurors in capital cases, two sets of actors within criminal justice systems who play critical roles in death-penalty statutes’ implementation.
