Beyond Aggravating and Mitigating Factors: The Analysis of Colorado's Death Penalty Cases (1999-2010):
- 15 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Justice Evaluation Journal
- Vol. 4 (2), 281-315
- https://doi.org/10.1080/24751979.2021.1877090
Abstract
In Colorado, studies have shown that the likelihood of the prosecutions’ decision to pursue the death penalty is related to the defendant’s race and judicial district of the trial. These studies examined race and district separately without incorporating aggravating or mitigating factors resulting in others questioning the studies’ validity. Our objective is to address these concerns by modelling race and population density together along with applied aggravating and mitigating factors. We found that the likelihood of the prosecutions’ decision to pursue the death penalty differs by the number of aggravating factors applied to a case, applicability of specific aggravating factors, and the defendant's race. Additionally, there were aggravating factors that were frequently applied yet did not predict the average prosecution’s decision to pursue the death penalty beyond contributing to the overall number of aggravating factors applied to the case.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- A Critical Examination of the “White Victim Effect” and Death Penalty Decision-Making from a Propensity Score Matching Approach: The North Carolina ExperienceJournal of Criminal Justice, 2014
- REASSESSING RACE DISPARITIES IN MARYLAND CAPITAL CASES*Criminology, 2008
- UNDERSTANDING THE INFLUENCE OF VICTIM GENDER IN DEATH PENALTY CASES: THE IMPORTANCE OF VICTIM RACE, SEX‐RELATED VICTIMIZATION, AND JURY DECISION MAKING*Criminology, 2007
- Capriciousness or Fairness?Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 2006
- White female victims and death penalty disparity researchJustice Quarterly, 2004
- An Estimate of the Odds Ratio That Always ExistsJournal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 2002
- Racial disparity and death sentences in OhioJournal of Criminal Justice, 2001
- ETHNICITY AND JUDGES' SENTENCING DECISIONS: HISPANIC‐BLACK‐WHITE COMPARISONSCriminology, 2001
- CALIFORNIA CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR OIL AND OTHER HAZARDOUS MATERIAL SPILLSInternational Oil Spill Conference Proceedings, 1971
- Declaring the Death Penalty UnconstitutionalHarvard Law Review, 1970