The Death Penalty: Should the Judge or the Jury Decide Who Dies?

Abstract

This article addresses the effect of judge versus jury decision making through analysis of a database of all capital sentencing phase hearing trials in the State of Delaware from . Over the three decades of the study, Delaware shifted responsibility for death penalty sentencing from the jury to the judge. Currently, Delaware is one of the handful of states that gives the judge the final decision-making authority in capital trials. Controlling for a number of legally relevant and other predictor variables, we find that the shift to judge sentencing significantly increased the number of death sentences. Statutory aggravating factors, stranger homicides, and the victim's gender also increased the likelihood of a death sentence, as did the county of the homicide. We reflect on the implications of these results for debates about the constitutionality of judge sentencing in capital cases.

Geographic arbitrariness? County court variation in capital prosecution and sentencing in Pennsylvania

“…A similar study by Hans et al. (2015) found that the odds of a given case receiving the death sentence varied greatly between counties. This finding is all the more remarkable since Delaware is a small, relatively homogeneous state with only three counties,…”

“…For example, Baldus, Woodworth, Grosso, and Christ (2002) and Hindson, Potter, and Radelet (2006) described large differences between counties in capital case decisions in Nebraska and Colorado, respectively. A similar study by Hans et al (2015) found that the odds of a given case receiving the death sentence varied greatly between counties. This finding is all the more remarkable since Delaware is a small, relatively homogeneous state with only three counties, Some studies have focused on differences connected to county size.…”