I believe that in many death penalty statutes, that once guilt is determined, aggravating and mitigating circumstances can be or must be considered when deciding on death as a penalty. Previous convictions, particularly violent ones, certainly count as aggravating circumstances. Some statutes require the jury to find that the convicted murderer presents a continuing threat to society, and a string of previous violent convictions goes a long way towards meeting that standard. I would guess that most prosecutors would not pursue a death penalty case based on "just" a murder, unless it was particularly barbaric or involved a police officer/public official or child.seamusTX wrote:Another thing to think about in the cost-benefit debate: Few murderers are first-time criminal offenders...
- Jim
I just looked at this month's (August) scheduled executions across the US at prodeathpenalty.com. Most mention previous crimes by the convicted, including previous murders/manslaughter. One was by a man serving life for a previous murder -- he and another prisoner killed a third prisoner.
Looks like all but one of the executions scheduled were stayed, and one is still marked "pending."