196
Stevens, J., dissenting
jury toward voting for the death sentence" if the jury were told that a life without parole sentence could be commuted, but were not told that a death penalty could be commuted as well. Id., at 1012.
Each of these factors, however, points in precisely the opposite direction when it comes to information about a defendant's parole ineligibility. If the State argues that the defendant will be a future danger to society, it quite plainly rebuts that argument to point out that the defendant—because of his parole ineligibility—will never be a part of society again. Simmons, 512 U. S., at 177 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment) ("[T]he fact that he will never be released from prison will often . . . rebut the State's case"). And unlike Ramos, if the jury is informed of a defendant's parole ineligibility, it is "less inclined to vote for the death penalty upon learning" that fact. Conversely, permitting the State to argue the defendant's future dangerousness, while simultaneously precluding the defendant from arguing his parole ineligibility, does tend to "impe[l] the jury toward voting for the death sentence." Despite the plurality's unsupported remark that "[e]vidence of potential parole ineligibility is of uncertain materiality," ante, at 170, all of the available data demonstrate to the contrary.
How long a defendant will remain in jail is a critical factor for juries. One study, for example, indicates that 79% of Virginia residents consider the number of years that a defendant might actually serve before being paroled to be an " 'important consideration when choosing between life imprisonment and the death penalty.' " 18 A similar study reveals that 76.5% of potential jurors think it is "extremely important" or "very important" to know that information when deciding between life imprisonment and the death pen-18 See Note, The Meaning of "Life" for Virginia Jurors and Its Effect on Reliability in Capital Sentencing, 75 Va. L. Rev. 1605, 1624, and n. 102 (1989) (citing study by National Legal Research Group).
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