Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Role as Mitigators in Capital Sentencing Cases

• In Event: Mitigation in Capital Cases

Abstract

This study looks at adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their role as mitigators in capital sentencing cases. The North Carolina Capital Sentencing Project Dataset was utilized for this study - a population data set of all capital sentencing cases in North Carolina from 1997-2009. Only cases tried after the McKoy v. North Carolina decision (1990) were used in these analyses. The study explores whether ACEs are more likely to mitigate for youthful offenders ages 25 and younger than for adult offenders, whether or not ACE variables mitigate against a death sentence in general, and which group of offenders are more likely to be sentenced to death.

Authors

• Jessica Rae Trapassi, Northeastern University

• John Cochran, University of South Florida

• Sondra Fogel, University of South Florida

• M. Dwayne Smith, University of South Florida

• Beth Bjerregaard, University of North Carolina at Charlotte