Constitutional Rights in Relation to Sentencing and Punishment Flashcards
What are the procedural rights in sentencing?
A defendant has a right to counsel during sentencing. The usual sentence may be based on hearsay and uncross-examined reports (for example, the defendant has no right to confrontation or cross-examination). However, where a magnified sentence is based on a statute that requires new findings of fact to be made (for example, the defendant is mentally ill), those facts must be found in a context that grants a right to confrontation and cross-examination.
What is capital sentencing?
A defendant in a death penalty case must have more opportunity for confrontation than need be given a defendant in other sentencing proceedings.
What is resentencing after successful appeal and reconviction?
If a greater punishment is imposed on a defendant who has been reconvicted after a successful appeal than was imposed at the first trial, the judge must set forth in the record the reasons for the harsher sentence. This ensures that the defendant is not vindictively penalized for exercising their right to appeal.
What are the excpetions to resentencing after successful appeal and reconviction?
A judge need not give reasons if the greater sentence was imposed upon a de novo trial or in a state that uses jury sentencing, unless the second jury was told of the first jury’s sentence.
What are the substantive rights in regard to punishment?
The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. A penalty that is grossly disproportionate to the seriousness of the offense committed is cruel and unusual. State appellate courts do not have to compare the death sentence imposed in a case under appeal with other penalties imposed in similar cases.
When is the death penalty given?
a. For Murder
The death penalty can be imposed only under a statutory scheme that gives the jury reasonable discretion, full information concerning defendants, and guidance in making the decision. The statute cannot be vague. Moreover, it must allow the sentencing body to consider all mitigating evidence.
Based on Prior Convictions
If the death sentence is partly based on the aggravating factor of the defendant’s prior conviction, the sentence must be reversed if the prior conviction is invalidated.
Standard of Review
A death sentence that has been affected by a vague or otherwise unconstitutional factor can still be upheld, but only if all aggravating and mitigating factors involved are reweighed and death is still found to be appropriate.
b. For Rape or Felony Murder
The Eighth Amendment prohibits imposition of the death penalty for the crime of raping an adult woman or a child if the rape was neither intended to result in nor did result in death. Rationale: The penalty is disproportionate to the offense. Also, the same logic precludes the death penalty for felony murder unless the felony murderer’s participation was major and they acted with reckless indifference to the value of human life.
c. Sanity Requirement
The Eighth Amendment prohibits executing a prisoner who is insane at the time of execution, even if the prisoner was sane at the time the crime was committed.
d. Intellectual Disability
It is cruel and unusual punishment to impose the death penalty on a person who is intellectually disabled.
e. Ability to Recall the Crime
The Eighth Amendment does not forbid the execution of a person with a mental disorder that leaves them without any memory of committing the crime for which they are being punished if they can still form a rational understanding of the reason for the death sentence.
f. For Minors
Execution of persons who were under 18 years old at the time they committed their offense (including murder) violates the Eighth Amendment
What is lethal injection?
The mere possibility that the three-drug lethal injection protocol used by many states to carry out executions might be administered improperly and thus cause the condemned unnecessary pain does not make the procedure cruel and unusual punishment. It would be cruel and unusual only if the condemned can prove that there is a serious risk of inflicting unnecessary pain or that an alternative procedure is feasible, may be readily implemented, and in fact significantly reduces substantial risk of severe pain.
What are status crimes?
A statute that makes it a crime to have a given “status” violates the Eighth Amendment because it punishes a mere propensity to engage in dangerous behavior. However, it is permissible to make criminal specific activity related to a certain status (for example, driving while intoxicated).
Who gets life without parole?
The Eighth Amendment forbids the sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a minor who committed a non-homicide crime. Minors who have committed homicide can be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, but the Eighth Amendment prohibits the use of a sentencing scheme that imposes mandatory life without parole.
Is the D perjury considered?
In determining the sentence, the trial judge may take into account a belief that the defendant committed perjury while testifying at trial on their own behalf.
What is the imprisonment of indigents for nonpayment?
Where aggregate imprisonment exceeds the maximum period fixed by statute and results directly from involuntary nonpayment of a fine or court costs, there is an impermissible discrimination and violation of the Equal Protection Clause.
