Final answer:
The Florida death penalty statute requires the consideration of aggravating and mitigating factors to impose a death sentence, ensuring it is not applied arbitrarily, following constitutional guidelines established by landmark cases.
Step-by-step explanation:
Florida Death Penalty Statute
Florida has a death penalty statute that was found constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case Proffitt v. Florida. The statute requires balancing aggravating factors against mitigating factors when determining if a death sentence should be imposed. This ensures that the death penalty is not applied arbitrarily or capriciously. The Supreme Court decision in Enmund v. Florida clarified that defendants who do not kill, intend to kill, or attempt to kill cannot be sentenced to death. Cases like Ford v. Wainwright prohibit executing the insane, and Graham v. Florida forbids life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for juvenile non-homicide offenders. By these standards, Florida's death penalty statute is designed to provide a series of checks to ensure the fair application of capital punishment.