Lockett V. Ohio (1978)
Definition
US Supreme Court ruling under the Eighth Amendment requiring that sentencers in capital cases must be able to consider any aspect of the defendant's character, record, or circumstances as potential mitigation.
Related terms
- Atkins V. Virginia (2002)
- US Supreme Court ruling categorically prohibiting the execution of intellectually disabled defendants under the Eighth Amendment; Hall v. Florida (2014) and Moore...
- Battered-Woman Syndrome (BWS)
- Described by Lenore Walker (1979): a pattern of learned helplessness, hypervigilance to danger cues, and disrupted threat perception resulting from sustained intimate-partner...
- CJA 2009 § 52
- Coroners and Justice Act 2009 § 52, amending Homicide Act 1957 § 2: the defendant must show an abnormality of mental functioning...
- Diminished Responsibility
- A partial defence that reduces murder to manslaughter in the UK (Homicide Act 1957 § 2 as amended by Coroners and Justice...
- Miller V. Alabama (2012)
- US Supreme Court ruling prohibiting mandatory life-without-parole sentences for offenders who were under 18 at the time of their offence, on the...
- Recognised Medical Condition
- The diagnostic threshold in CJA 2009 § 52, aligning the UK diminished-responsibility defence with DSM-5 / ICD-11 categories; prevents non-diagnostic emotional or...
- Roper V. Simmons (2005)
- US Supreme Court decision prohibiting capital punishment for offenders who were under 18 at the time of their crime, resting in part...
Explained in
- Diminished Responsibility and MitigationUS Supreme Court ruling under the Eighth Amendment requiring that sentencers in capital cases must be able to consider any aspect of the defendant's character,...