Cite as: 532 U. S. 782 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
a supplemental instruction had been given. On the other hand, it might have believed that it was the substance of that instruction which satisfied Penry I.
While the latter seems to be more likely, to the extent it was the former, the Texas court clearly misapprehended our prior decision. Penry I did not hold that the mere mention of "mitigating circumstances" to a capital sentencing jury satisfies the Eighth Amendment. Nor does it stand for the proposition that it is constitutionally sufficient to inform the jury that it may "consider" mitigating circumstances in deciding the appropriate sentence. Rather, the key under Penry I is that the jury be able to "consider and give effect to [a defendant's mitigating] evidence in imposing sentence." 492 U. S., at 319 (emphasis added). See also Johnson v. Texas, 509 U. S. 350, 381 (1993) (O'Connor, J., dissenting) ("[A] sentencer [must] be allowed to give full consideration and full effect to mitigating circumstances" (emphasis in original)). For it is only when the jury is given a "vehicle for expressing its 'reasoned moral response' to that evidence in rendering its sentencing decision," Penry I, 492 U. S., at 328, that we can be sure that the jury "has treated the defendant as a 'uniquely individual human bein[g]' and has made a reliable determination that death is the appropriate sentence," id., at 319 (quoting Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U. S. 280, 304, 305 (1976)).
The State contends that the substance of the supplemental instruction satisfied Penry I because it provided the jury with the requisite vehicle for expressing its reasoned moral response to Penry's particular mitigating evidence. Specifically, the State points to the admittedly "less than artful" portion of the supplemental instruction which says:
"If you find that there are any mitigating circumstances in this case, you must decide how much weight they deserve, if any, and therefore, give effect and consideration to them in assessing the defendant's personal culpability at the time you answer the special issue. If you de-
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