Tag: death penalty
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Supreme Court strikes down death penalty – 1972
In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules by a vote of 5-4 that capital punishment, as it is currently employed on the state and federal level, is unconstitutional. 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.
Continue reading “THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Supreme Court strikes down death penalty – 1972”
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Supreme Court strikes down death penalty – 1972
In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules by a vote of 5-4 that capital punishment, as it is currently employed on the state and federal level, is unconstitutional. 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. It was the first time that the nation’s highest court had ruled against capital punishment.
Continue reading “THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Supreme Court strikes down death penalty – 1972”
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Supreme Court strikes down death penalty – 1972
In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules by a vote of 5-4 that capital punishment, as it is currently employed on the state and federal level, is unconstitutional. 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.
Continue reading “THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Supreme Court strikes down death penalty – 1972”