The courts of the United States have the responsibility to make fair and accurate rulings in the administration of the death penalty. Several court rulings have resulted in changes in laws, such as the constitutionality of the execution of juveniles or the mentally ill, specific execution methods, and the overall use of capital punishment.
The case, Furman v. Georgia, concluded that the administration of capital punishment in most cases was unfair and unconstitutional. States could only sentence death as automatic punishments for crimes. This was overturned four years later in the Gregg v. Georgia case.
"In Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on June 29, 1972 that in all cases before the court, the death penalty as administered violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments... The Furman decision invalidated the death penalty statutes in several states. Thirty-five states responded to this ruling, not by abolishing capital punishment, but by using Furman as a guideline for developing a constitutionally acceptable statute. During this moratorium, hundreds of sentences were commuted to life imprisonment." - Professor Thomas Blomberg,
Florida State University |
This video talks about the suspension and reinstatement of capital punishment.
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Courts have the responsibility to fairly administer capital punishment. However, there are flaws with the accuracy of death sentences.
Bryan Stevenson, a human rights lawyer, talks about how court systems make errors in the enforcement of capital punishment
The insane and mentally retarded are safe from the death penalty due to Supreme Court rulings on several court cases:
"[In] Ford v. Wainwright 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court held [in a 5-4 vote on June 26, 1986] that the execution of an insane prisoner was an unconstitutional violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment."
- Stuart Kirk
The Supreme Court has the responsibility to protect the mentally unstable or immature to ensure that punishments are not cruel or unusual, which would violate the Eighth Amendment.
Student phone interview with Michelle Baldwin-Friendy, a social worker, on use of capital punishment for the mentally ill:
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Rulings from the Supreme Court also protect juveniles from capital punishment:
The case of Thompson v. Oklahoma declared it unconstitutional to sentence a minor to death:
"The main issue the Supreme Court considered in Thompson v. Oklahoma [1988] was whether it is constitutional to execute a person who was a 'child' at the time he committed the offence. Thompson's attorneys argued that he should not be executed because this would violate Thompson's rights, as a 'child,' under the Eighth Amendment, which forbids 'cruel and unusual punishment.' - Raymond Gibbs, PhD
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"At age 17, respondent Simmons planned and committed a capital murder. After he had turned 18, he was sentenced to death... Simmons filed a new petition for state postconviction relief, arguing that Atkins’ reasoning established that the Constitution prohibits the execution of a juvenile who was under 18 when he committed his crime. " - Roper v. Simmons, 2005
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In Roper v. Simmons, the Court ruled that criminals who committed crimes while under the age of eighteen could not receive death sentences once they turned eighteen years old.
"When a juvenile offender commits a heinous crime, the State can exact forfeiture of some of the most basic liberties, but the State cannot extinguish his life and his potential to attain a mature understanding of his own humanity."
- Supreme Court Justice, Anthony Kennedy
"As a society, we don't let adolescents consume alcohol, and we have different restrictions on them because we know they don't have the best judgment... I think we have to hold that view when we make them eligible for the death penalty." - Dale Baich, federal attorney
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"I have reached the conviction that the abolition of the death penalty is desirable. Reasons: 1) Irreparability in the event of an error of justice, 2) Detrimental moral influence of the execution procedure on those who, whether directly or indirectly, have to do with the procedure."
- Albert Einstein
- Albert Einstein