Cite as: 506 U. S. 461 (1993)
Thomas, J., concurring
and capricious action," Gregg, 428 U. S., at 189, and this discretion must be exercised "in an informed manner," ibid. Furman was read as holding that "to minimize the risk that the death penalty [will] be imposed on a capriciously selected group of offenders, the decision to impose it ha[s] to be guided by standards so that the sentencing authority [will] focus on the particularized circumstances of the crime and the defendant." Gregg, 428 U. S., at 199. The jury should be "given guidance regarding the factors about the crime and the defendant that the State, representing organized society, deems particularly relevant to the sentencing decision." Id., at 192. "Otherwise, the system cannot function in a consistent and a rational manner." Id., at 189 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Gregg's requirement that the sentencer be guided by information about the particular defendant and the particular circumstances of the crime—in other words, by traditionally accepted sentencing criteria, see id., at 189-190—added a second dimension to Furman's rule against open-ended discretion. The jury's discretion must be focused on rational factors, and its decision should be based on information about the circumstances of the crime and about the accused as an individual, not merely as a member of a group. In Furman itself, for example, the jury was given almost no particularized information about the accused: "About Furman himself, the jury knew only that he was black and that, according to his statement at trial, he was 26 years old and worked at 'Superior Upholstery.' It took the jury one hour and 35 minutes to return a verdict of guilt and a sentence of death." Furman, 408 U. S., at 295, n. 48 (Brennan, J., concurring) (citations omitted). Moreover, it was irrelevant to the jury's determination that the killing committed by Furman was accidental. Ibid. Without a focus on the characteristics of the defendant and the circumstances of his crime, an un-informed jury could be tempted to resort to irrational considerations, such as class or race animus.
485
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