The debate over the death penalty remains and the Supreme Court will most likely be asked decide such cases for years to come.
Summary and Conclusion
The purpose of this discussion was to examine several landmark Supreme Court cases and explain the evolution of capital punishment jurisprudence from 1972 to the present. The research focused on the cases of Furman v Georgia, Woodson v. North Carolina, Gregg v Georgia, McCleskey v Kemp, Ford v Wainwright, Atkins v Virginia and Roper v Simmons. The research demonstrates a gradual evolution in the manner in which the Supreme Court views cases involving the death penalty.
In cases such as Furman v Georgia the arbitrary nature of the case was taken into account. The fact that the murder was not premeditated seemed to also be taken into account. The facts of the case seem to indicate that Furman went to rob someone and that murder was not the intended crime. As such the court ruled that the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
In the Woodson V North Carolina case the question at hand involved the mandatory sentencing laws of the state. In this case the Supreme Court also ruled that mandating such punishment was cruel and unusual. This case was also viewed as important for the Supreme Court because it was related to the Furman decision and the Court's stance regarding the death penalty as it pertained to certain crimes.
The McCleskey v Kemp case was interesting because it did show that blacks were more likely to receive the death penalty. However, as it pertained to the petitioner the court found that the racial bias could not be proven in his case and thus the claim of not having equal protection under the law was not proven. The court pointed out that guided discretion was properly utilized and the state was correct in inflicting the death penalty in this particular case.
In the other cases involving jurisprudence, mental illness, mental retardation and age played a role in the decisions made by the Supreme Court. As it pertained to mental illness, Ford v Wainwright set precedence for ensuring that those found to be mentally ill could not be sentenced to death. The Supreme Court ruled that there was nothing to be gained by the execution of the insane. The court held that such punishment is cruel and even barbaric.
The case of Atkins v Virginia brought into question the constitutionality of executing the
Moreover, it is not necessarily even clear that capital punishment through humane means is worse than life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The many prisoners who choose not to appeal their capital sentences and (especially) those who purposely commit capital offences while incarcerated for the express purpose of qualifying for capital punishment provide evidence that life imprisonment may be comparable in "harshness" to the death penalty. With respect to the
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