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    Furman V. Georgia

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    Omar Alonso
    Furman v. Georgia was a 1972 Supreme Court case that invalidated the death penalty in the US. The Court ruled that the death penalty violated the 8th Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. William Furman was convicted of murder but argued the death penalty was applied arbitrarily. The 5-4 decision found capital punishment to be unconstitutional, reducing Furman and other death row inmates' sentences to life in prison. The ruling caused widespread commutation of death sentences in the US at the time.

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    Furman V. Georgia

    Uploaded by

    Omar Alonso
    72 views10 pages
    Furman v. Georgia was a 1972 Supreme Court case that invalidated the death penalty in the US. The Court ruled that the death penalty violated the 8th Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. William Furman was convicted of murder but argued the death penalty was applied arbitrarily. The 5-4 decision found capital punishment to be unconstitutional, reducing Furman and other death row inmates' sentences to life in prison. The ruling caused widespread commutation of death sentences in the US at the time.

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    Furman v. Georgia was a 1972 Supreme Court case that invalidated the death penalty in the US. The Court ruled that the death penalty violated the 8th Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. William Furman was convicted of murder but argued the death penalty was applied arbitrarily. The 5-4 decision found capital punishment to be unconstitutional, reducing Furman and other death row inmates' sentences to life in prison. The ruling caused widespread commutation of death sentences in the US at the time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    72 views10 pages

    Furman V. Georgia

    Uploaded by

    Omar Alonso
    Furman v. Georgia was a 1972 Supreme Court case that invalidated the death penalty in the US. The Court ruled that the death penalty violated the 8th Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. William Furman was convicted of murder but argued the death penalty was applied arbitrarily. The 5-4 decision found capital punishment to be unconstitutional, reducing Furman and other death row inmates' sentences to life in prison. The ruling caused widespread commutation of death sentences in the US at the time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 10

    Furman V.

    Georgia

    By Omar Alonso
    Overview
    Is a Supreme court case that revolves around the 8th amendment. The death penalty
    violated the 8th amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, the
    fourteenth amendment prohibitions against discrimination because it has been
    imposed in a seemingly random and inconsistent manner. Petitioner Furman was
    convicted of murder. This criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court
    invalidated all death penalty schemes in the United States with a 5-4 decision.
    Decided June 29, 1972.
    BackGround
    The resident woke up in the middle of the night to find William Henry Furman
    committing burglary in his house. At trial, in an unsworn statement allowed by Georgia
    criminal procedure, Furman said that while trying to escape, he tripped and the weapon
    he was carrying fired accidentally, killing the victim. This contradicted his prior statement
    to police that he had turned and fired a shot blindly while fleeing. In either event, because
    the shooting occurred during the commission of a felony, Furman would have been guilty
    of murder and eligible for the death penalty under then-extant state law, according to the
    felony murder rule. Furman was tried for murder and was found guilty based largely on
    his own statement.
    Participants
    William Henry Furman - the defendant getting accused with murder.

    Chief Judge-Warren E. Burger

    Associate Judges-William O. Douglas, William J. Brennan Jr., Potter Stewart, Byron


    White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell Jr., William Rehnquist
    The argument
    The arguments were for the defendant for not following the amendment. The State
    of Georgia argued that the death penalty had been lawfully applied. The Fifth and
    Fourteenth Amendments provide that no state “shall deprive any person of life, liberty or
    property without due process of law.” For Furman: Furman's attorneys argued that
    criminal justice could be served well enough with life imprisonment. " Most importantly,
    however, the attorneys argued that poor people and people of color routinely received
    the death penalty for capital offenses, at a rate vastly disproportionate to that of whites,
    particularly affluent whites, accused of similar offenses. This was a clear violation of the
    14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws.
    Supreme Court
    They took it to the Supreme Court because of the amendments not being followed.
    The Supreme Court agreed to hear it. There were two Supreme Court justices
    Brennan and Marshall believed the death penalty to be unconstitutional in all instances.
    They analyzed and took what information they have to conclude to there answer.
    Supreme Court Decision
    In a 5–4 decision, the Court's one-paragraph “per curium” opinion held that the
    imposition of the death penalty in these cases constituted cruel and unusual
    punishment and violated the Constitution. However, the majority could not agree as
    to a rationale. There was not any signed opinion of the court or any plurality opinion
    as none of the five justices constituting the majority joined officially with the opinion
    of any other. Instead of the death penalty he got life in prison instead. They found it
    cruel and unusual.
    Aftermath
    After the Fruman case, caused all death penalty to be reduced to life in prison.
    Considering this case ended this was. Barry Schweid even stated that it would be
    unlikely that the death penalty will be used or even exist in the United States
    anymore. In my opinion, I believe that it was fairly settled. There has always been
    cases were they have been falsely accused and been put to serve the death penalty,
    later on in a few years they realized they were wrong. This is a good option to
    hopefully not commit this horrible mistake.
    Sources
    ● https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/09-166.pdf
    ● https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/69-5030
    ● https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/furman_v_georgia_(1972)
    ● http://www.phschool.com/atschool/ss_web_codes/supreme_court_cases/furm
    an.html

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