974
Opinion of the Court
have found only a few factors vague, and those in fact are quite similar to one another. See Maynard, supra, at 363-364 (question whether murder was "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel"); Godfrey, supra, at 427-429 (question whether murder was "outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman"); cf. Arave, 507 U. S., at 472 ("We are not faced with pejorative adjectives . . . that describe a crime as a whole"). In providing for individualized sentencing, it must be recognized that the States may adopt capital sentencing processes that rely upon the jury, in its sound judgment, to exercise wide discretion. That is evident from the numerous factors we have upheld against vagueness challenges. See, e. g., id., at 472-473 (question whether the defendant was a "cold-blooded, pitiless slayer" is not unconstitutionally vague); Walton, supra, at 654 (question whether "perpetrator inflict[ed] mental anguish or physical abuse before the victim's death" with "[m]ental anguish includ[ing] a victim's uncertainty as to his ultimate fate" is not unconstitutionally vague) (internal quotation marks omitted); Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U. S. 242, 255-258 (1976) ( joint opinion of Stewart, Powell, and Stevens, JJ.) (various "mitigating" questions not unconstitutionally vague, nor is the question whether the crime was a "conscienceless or pitiless crime which [wa]s unnecessarily torturous to the victim") (internal quotation marks omitted); Jurek, supra, at 274-276 (question "whether there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society" is not unconstitutionally vague).
In our decisions holding a death sentence unconstitutional because of a vague sentencing factor, the State had presented a specific proposition that the sentencer had to find true or false (e. g., whether the crime was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel). We have held, under certain sentencing schemes, that a vague propositional factor used in the sentencing decision creates an unacceptable risk of randomness, the mark of the arbitrary and capricious sentencing process
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