Cite as: 512 U. S. 573 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
We granted certiorari, 510 U. S. 943 (1993), in order to consider whether federal district courts are required to instruct juries with regard to the consequences of an NGI verdict.
II
It is well established that when a jury has no sentencing function,4 it should be admonished to "reach its verdict without regard to what sentence might be imposed." Rogers v. United States, 422 U. S. 35, 40 (1975).5 The principle that juries are not to consider the consequences of their verdicts is a reflection of the basic division of labor in our legal system between judge and jury. The jury's function is to find the facts and to decide whether, on those facts, the defendant is guilty of the crime charged. The judge, by contrast, imposes sentence on the defendant after the jury has arrived at a guilty verdict. Information regarding the consequences of a verdict is therefore irrelevant to the jury's task. Moreover, providing jurors sentencing information invites them to ponder matters that are not within their province, distracts them from their factfinding responsibilities, and creates a strong possibility of confusion. See Pope v. United States, 298 F. 2d 507, 508 (CA5 1962); cf. Rogers, supra, at 40.
Despite these familiar precepts, Shannon contends that an instruction informing the jury of the consequences of an NGI
given. Judge Lumbard believes that the decision whether to give the instruction should be left to the discretion of the trial judge").
4 Particularly in capital trials, juries may be given sentencing responsibilities. See, e. g., Simmons v. South Carolina, ante, p. 154. It is undisputed that the jury had no such responsibilities in Shannon's case.
5 In Rogers, the jury had been deliberating for almost two hours without reaching a verdict. After the trial court informed the jury that it would accept a verdict of "Guilty as charged with extreme mercy of the Court," the jury returned such a verdict within minutes. 422 U. S., at 36-37 (internal quotation marks omitted). We concluded that, instead of giving the jurors information about sentencing (that is, that they could recommend "extreme mercy"), the trial court should have "admoni[shed] [them] that [they] had no sentencing function and should reach [their] verdict without regard to what sentence might be imposed." Id., at 40.
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