Lockett v. Ohio (1977)
- Docket
- 76-6997
- Decided
- 1977-01-01
Summary
Question: Did the Ohio law violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments by limiting the consideration of mitigating factors? Conclusion: Yes. The Court held that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments required, in all but the rarest capital cases, that sentencers not be precluded from considering a range of mitigating factors before imposing the death penalty. These factors included any aspect of a defendant's character or record and any circumstances of the offense proffered as a reason for a sentence less than death. The Court held that the Ohio statute did not permit the type of individualized consideration of mitigating factors required by the Constitution.