Entries tagged with “mitigation specialist”
Facts & Research
Sentencing Data
,Mar 15, 2023
From The Marshall Project: “The Mercy Workers” —The Unique Role of Mitigation Specialists in Death Penalty Cases
During the sentencing phase of capital cases, sympathetic evidence about the life of the defendant is typically presented to jurors, who then must decide whether such mitigating factors merit sparing his or her life. Mitigation specialists play a crucial role in collecting such evidence. They document “the traumas, policy failures, family dynamics and individual choices that shape the lives of people who kill.” According to an article from The Marshall Project, there are fewer than 1,000…