College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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Item THE MARYLAND PROPORTIONALITY REVIEW PROJECT(2006-08-30) Philofsky, Rachel B.; Paternoster, Ray; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Prior research demonstrated that the death penalty is administered in a discriminatory fashion. This is a problem both legally and morally. There is a precautionary measure called a proportionality review included in several state death penalty statutes which compares death sentence cases with similar cases to determine if the sentence is proportional to the crime based on other crimes with similar characteristics. From 1978-1992, the Maryland State Supreme Court was statutorily mandated to identify and eliminate disproportionate death sentences. Yet, they have not vacated even one disproportionate death sentence. This project evaluates the court's attempt to measure comparative excessiveness among Maryland death sentences. Results support the notion that the proportionality review conducted by the court does not single out and eliminate disproportionate cases as it was intended to do. Conclusions are based on an independent proportionality review of Maryland death sentences in comparison with the findings of the court.Item Does the group make a difference? A look at the factors that impact perceptions of group deliberations and sentencing outcomes in capital trials(2006-08-02) Connell, Nadine Marie; Paternoster, Raymond; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Traditional research into the mechanisms by which jurors in capital cases make punishment decision focuses on one of two relationships: the relationship between a juror's individual characteristics and a sentencing outcome or the relationship between trial level characteristics and a sentencing outcome. Many significant findings have come from this type of research, most notably that arbitrariness still exists in the application of capital punishment. This arbitrariness takes on various forms, including poor comprehension of sentencing instructions (Bowers and Foglia, 2003; Foglia, 2003), racial bias in sentencing decisions (Baldus et al,. 1998; Bowers et al., 2001; Bowers et al., 2004), and a homogenization of the jury pool through the process of death qualification (Haney. 1984). What this research has failed to address, however, is the role that the act of deliberation may have on the relationship between these individual and trial level characteristics and their ensuing impact on sentencing outcomes. The current study addresses this shortcoming by focusing on the role that the process of deliberation has on the juror's perception of the group functioning, measured here through the construct of group climate. The predictors of group climate are examined and the subsequent impact of group climate on sentencing outcomes is explored. The results suggest individual juror level characteristics do not have a direct effect on sentencing outcome; rather, the level of group climate acts as a mediating variable between individual characteristics and sentencing outcomes. Trial level characteristics, however, both directly predict to sentencing outcome and indirectly operate through the level of group climate. Group climate is the strongest predictor of sentencing outcome, with juries who have more positive perceptions of group climate more likely to return the death penalty. These results and their implications are discussed in detail, as are suggestions for both future research and the future of capital punishment.