Statutes enacted after the Supreme Court's 1972 ruling have limited crimes for which the death penalty is allowed for murder with aggravating circumstances. The paper discusses how political pressures influence local prosecutors, studies documenting racial disparities in prosecutors' decisions on charging, and assesses plea bargaining in cases involving multiple defendants. Other influential factors examined are jury selection procedures, peremptory challenges, and trial judges' powers to overrule jury sentencing recommendations. A survey of research studies demonstrates the impact of a defendant's financial resources and the competence of trial counsel, as well as the difficulties of remedying errors on appeal. Regional disparities in death sentencing are described. The correlations between the death penalty and social class, sex, and race are explored briefly. Footnotes.