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William Henry Furman v. State of Georgia

408 U.S. 238; 92 S Ct. 2726; Ed. 2d 346; 1972 U.S. LEXIS 169, 33 L.

Argued January 17, 1972

Decided June 29, 1972

Facts of the Case: William Henry Furman was burglarizing a private home one early morning when the homeowner discovered him. Furman attempted to run away but he tripped and fell. When he tripped the gun he had in his pocket discharged and killed the homeowner, a father of five children. Furman was tried and found guilty of 1st degree murder and sentenced to the death. Furman wrote a writ to the Supreme Court and they accepted his case.

The Law: The 8th amendment: This amendment states that there will not be any cruel or unusual punishment in the United States. The 14th amendment: This amendment states that there is equal protection over for all races and ethnicities.

Legal Question: Does the Death penalty in these cases constitute cruel and unusual punishments in the violation of the 8th amendment? Was Furman given a fair trial even if he is from African American decent and was the death penalty applied proportionally to different races and ethnicities? Is so that would be a violation of the 14 amendment.

Arguments: One side is arguing that yes, the death penalty does go against the 8th amendment because it is cruel and unusual, because that the penalty is sentenced to an unfair proportion of racial groups. Half of the Supreme Court agreed with this idea because it is true that when there convicts in the same situation some will get the death penalty and some wont.

The other side is arguing that the death penalty doesn’t go against the 8th amendment and that it is not cruel or unusual. Also they are arguing that the 14th amendment isn’t violated even if Furman is an African American. Half of The Supreme Court also agreed with this side in the idea that the death penalty is not cruel and unusual. They did not agree with the Idea of the 14th amendment was not violated.

Opinion of the court: Over all, the court agreed with Furman stating that the death penalty was unconstitutional. Justices Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, White, and Marshall all said that the Death penalty was unconstitutional and Justices Burger, Blackmon, Powell, and Rehnquist all said that it was constitutional, making it a 5 to 4 vote that the penalty was a violation of the 8th amendment. The justices said it was a violation of the 8th amendment because it wasn’t applied proportionally to different racial groups, a violation of the 14 amendment. They did not all agree with one side because it’s a very individual topic so everyone has there own opinion making it a very hard case to solve.

Concurring Opinion: All 5 justices filed separate beliefs of why they agreed with Furman; Mr. Justice Douglas says the death penalty is unconstitutional because that’s what the people of America think. Mr. Justice Brennan states that he thinks it’s unconstitutional because in this day and age, it is inhumane kill someone. Mr. Justice Stewart stated that every case with the death penalty is different and in this case it is an unconstitutional punishment. Mr. Justice White said that Furman didn’t do a bad enough crime to be put to death. Mr. Justice Marshal states that the acts done by Furman were horrible but that’s still doesn’t mean that we have the right to kill him.

Dissenting opinions: Mr. Chief Justice Burger, Mr. Justice Blackmun, Mr. justice Powell, and Mr. Justice Rehnquist all say that the death penalty is constitutional because the murder was cruel and unusual and the punishment should reflect the crime. Mr. Justice Blackmun also adds that these people should be off the streets and that he said “I yield to no one in the depth of my distaste, antipathy, and, indeed, abhorrence, for the death penalty.”

Evaluation:

In the case Furman v. Georgia, The overall decision was in favor of Furman. The Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it wasn’t sentenced to equal proportions of races and ethnicities. It took the Supreme Court almost 165 days to agree on a final answer because 5 out of the 9 people in the Supreme Court said the death penalty was unconstitutional and 4 said it was. Also everybody that said it was unconstitutional had a different reason for there beliefs. Because of all these different beliefs the case took a long time to close. Another reason why it took so long to finish the case was because all the evidence was one sided because the only witness was dead. When the case was finally closed the response to the case was fairly happy. Some people were very happy about it such as American Bar Association, they said at the 25-year anniversary of the case, “Today, administration of the death penalty, far from being fair and consistent, is instead a haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency.” Another group of people who were pleased with this decision were murder convicts on death row. They were happy because then they wouldn’t be put to death. The cases decision removed 629 inmates from death row. Even though this case made a lot of people happy it didn’t do that much for the U.S court system. Furman v Georgia didn’t’ really change any previous decisions made by the supreme court because it was the first case questioning if the death penalty is unconstitutional in Georgia. At the time of the decision of Furman v. Georgia, 1972, the law was changed saying that the penalty was unconstitutional only to be changed back in 1976 to again being allowed. The case that changed Furman v. Georgia’s ruling was “Gregg v. Georgia”. In the case of Gregg v. Georgia, Gregg was charged for robbery and murder and sentenced to death. He took his to the Supreme Court where they decided that the Death Penalty is Constitutional or Not Cruel & Unusual Punishment if the prosecutors are sure that the convicted is guilty. Another case that’s related to Furman v. Georgia is Jackson v. Georgia. In this court case Jackson was arrested for rape and took his case to the Supreme Court where they decided that the death penalty is unconstitutional for rape convicts. The Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty for those charged and convicted with murder is constitutional; on the other hand they decided that the death penalty for rapists is unconstitutional. My opinion regarding this case is that I agree with the decision made by the Supreme Court because the death penalty goes against the 8th and 14th amendments. It goes against the 8th amendment because at the time they didn’t have a humane way to put the inmate to death, which could be cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty also goes against the 14th amendment because it is given to an unfair proportion of races; a lot more African Americas get the death penalty they Caucasian people who are in the same situation. My opinion on the impact of this case on Americans is that it will be good because it will show a lot of people’s feelings about this subject. This case is important to our country’s history because it shows that many people care about the death penalty and it show that it’s a hard decision to make because there are so many different ideas about the subject.