The Role of the Mitigation Specialist
The mitigation specialist serves as a vital and mandatory member of a capital defense team; working collaboratively with the defense attorneys, investigators and other defense specialists. It is the role and responsibility of the mitigation specialist to uncover all mitigating factors and weigh them in relation to the aggravating factors presented by the prosecution with the definitive goal of saving the defendant's life.
The mitigation specialist strives to conjure an image to the court of their client's often marred social/life history consisting of information compiled through a multi-generational record retrieval from various institutions or sources including but not limited to: hospitals, schools, military, employers, juvenile records, doctors, drug and alcohol treatment specialists, psychologists or therapists. This information is then utilized in conjunction with the information gathered from numerous family, friend, co-worker or employer interviews to build a cohesive mitigation reports to be presented during the penalty phase at trial.
The mitigation specialist serves as a vital and mandatory member of a capital defense team; working collaboratively with the defense attorneys, investigators and other defense specialists. It is the role and responsibility of the mitigation specialist to uncover all mitigating factors and weigh them in relation to the aggravating factors presented by the prosecution with the definitive goal of saving the defendant's life.
The mitigation specialist strives to conjure an image to the court of their client's often marred social/life history consisting of information compiled through a multi-generational record retrieval from various institutions or sources including but not limited to: hospitals, schools, military, employers, juvenile records, doctors, drug and alcohol treatment specialists, psychologists or therapists. This information is then utilized in conjunction with the information gathered from numerous family, friend, co-worker or employer interviews to build a cohesive mitigation reports to be presented during the penalty phase at trial.
Judicial execution can never cancel or remove the atrocity it seeks to punish: it can only add a second atrocity to the original one~ Auberon Waugh