Title: What makes someone eligible for the death penalty? | Yahoo Answers
Headings: What makes someone eligible for the death penalty?
What makes someone eligible for the death penalty?
10 Answers

Content: This involves much more than the crime. The defendant's entire life is put under a microscope. Jurors must consider the defendant's upbringing, mental health history and much more. This phase of the case is the "mitigation phase." And there is no totally objective standard for it. For more about this take a look at http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state_by_state especially at whether a defendant can get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder? Also you can have a look at http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arbitrariness
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Kini
Lv 7
1 decade ago
The death penalty is the sentence in very few cases before the court. Each state has its own laws and sentences vary depending on a lot of factors. Sometimes there are plea bargains made in exchange for information so the death penalty is off the table. Even when death penalty is imposed there are so many appeals it takes 10 to 20 years for an execution.