In Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), a divided U.S. Supreme Court held that the death penalty could violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment if not imposed fairly. The decision imposed a brief moratorium on the death penalty and forced state and federal lawmakers to refine their criminal statutes in order to ensure that capital punishment would be
neither arbitrary nor discriminatory. Show
The Facts of Furman v. GeorgiaDefendant William Henry Furman was charged with capital murder after killing the occupant of a house he was attempting to burglarize. Furman maintained that the gun went off when he tripped and fell trying to flee the house. Nonetheless, he was tried for murder and sentenced to death. He challenged his sentence, alleging that the imposition and execution of the death penalty
constituted “cruel and unusual punishment” within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment. In deciding Furman’s challenge, the Court also considered two other cases involving the death penalty. Jackson v. Georgia challenged the constitutionality of capital punishment for rape, while Branch v.
Texas involved a murder conviction. All of the defendants were African American. The Legal BackgroundThe Eighth Amendment provides: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause is fully applicable to the States through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Majority DecisionThe majority of the Court held that the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty in each of the cases constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. However, the justices did not agree on the reasoning behind the decision. Justices Potter Stewart, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, and William O. Douglas wrote their own concurring opinions in which no others joined. Several justices objected to the arbitrary nature of
death penalty sentences, as well as the risk of racial bias. Justice William O. Douglass wrote: We cannot say from facts disclosed in these records that these defendants were sentenced to death because they were black. Yet our task is not restricted to an effort to divine what motives impelled these death penalties. Rather, we deal with a system of law and of justice that leaves to the uncontrolled discretion of judges or juries the determination whether defendants committing these crimes should die or be imprisoned. Under these laws no standards govern the selection of the penalty. People live or die, dependent on the whim of one man or of 12. The opinions of Justices Brennan and Marshall went even further. They argued that the death penalty was unconstitutional in any circumstance. The DissentChief Justice Warren E. Burger and Justices Harry Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell, and William H. Rehnquist all dissented. In support of the death penalty, the justices pointed to a long history of imposing capital punishment for the most serious crimes. journal article The Death of Capital Punishment? Furman v. GeorgiaThe Supreme Court Review Vol. 1972 (1972) , pp. 1-40 (40 pages) Published By: The University of Chicago Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/3536960
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Journal Information Current issues are now on the Chicago Journals website. Read the latest issue.Since it first appeared in 1960, the Supreme Court Review has won acclaim for providing a sustained and authoritative survey of the implications of the Court's most significant decisions. SCR is an in-depth annual critique of the Supreme Court and its work, keeping up on the forefront of the origins, reforms, and interpretations of American law. SCR is written by and for legal academics, judges, political scientists, journalists, historians, economists, policy planners, and sociologists. Publisher Information Since its origins in 1890 as one of the three main divisions of the University of Chicago, The University of Chicago Press has embraced as its mission the obligation to disseminate scholarship of the highest standard and to publish serious works that promote education, foster public understanding, and enrich cultural life. Today, the Journals Division publishes more than 70 journals and hardcover serials, in a wide range of academic disciplines, including the social sciences, the humanities, education, the biological and medical sciences, and the physical sciences. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. What was the issue that led the Supreme Court to prohibit the use of capital punishment in Furman v. Georgia quizlet?In 1972's Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional because it was applied disproportionately to certain classes of defendants, most often African-Americans and the poor.
What Supreme Court case made the death penalty unconstitutional?In Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the Court invalidated existing death penalty laws because they constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
What was the US Supreme Court case that outlawed the death penalty in 1972?Furman v. Georgia 408 U.S. 238: Court ruled that the death penalty, as applied, was an arbitrary punishment and thus unconstitutional under the 8th and 14th Amendments.
Why did the Supreme Court effectively ban the death penalty in the United States?The majority held that, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the death penalty qualified as “cruel and unusual punishment,” primarily because states employed execution in “arbitrary and capricious ways,” especially in regard to race.
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What was the issue that led the Supreme Court to prohibit the use of capital punishment in Furman versus Georgia?
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