Cite as: 506 U. S. 461 (1993)
Thomas, J., concurring
Arizona, supra, at 672 (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment).
The mitigating branch of our death penalty jurisprudence began as an outgrowth of the second of the two Furman/ Gregg requirements. The plurality's conclusion in Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U. S. 586 (1978)—that the sentencer in a capital case must "not be precluded from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of a defendant's character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense," id., at 604 (opinion of Burger, C. J.) (emphasis deleted)—effectively guarantees the sentencer's access to categories of information favorable to the defendant. Thus, Lockett was built on the premise, given credence in Gregg, that "where sentencing discretion is granted, it generally has been agreed that the sentencing judge's possession of the fullest information possible concerning the defendant's life and characteristics is [h]ighly relevant." 438 U. S., at 602-603 (internal quotation marks omitted). The sentencing statute at issue in Lockett failed to satisfy this requirement, in the plurality's view, because it eliminated from the jury's consideration significant facts about the defendant and her "comparatively minor role in the offense." Id., at 608.8 The Court's adoption in Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U. S. 104 (1982), of the Lockett rule and its corollary—that the sentencer may not categorically refuse to consider relevant mitigating circumstances—again drew upon Gregg's notion that capital sentencing is less likely to be arbitrary where the jury's exercise of discretion is focused on the particularized circumstances of the offender and the crime. See Eddings, supra, at 112 (relying on Gregg, supra, at 197).
8 Lockett aided and abetted an armed robbery that resulted in a murder. She drove the getaway car but did not carry out the robbery and did not intend to bring about the murder. See 438 U. S., at 589-591; id., at 613- 617 (Blackmun, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). Lock-ett was represented by the same lawyers from the Legal Defense Fund who had represented the petitioners in Furman, Woodson, and Roberts.
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