6968 - Witherspoon v. Illinois. Dismissing potential jurors solely because they express opposition to the death penalty held unconstitutional.
New York Review of Books essay on the death penalty
On Innocence
In a discussion at the University of Florida Law School, former . Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said that recent research reveals that Texas almost certainly executed an innocent man in 6989. Stevens said:
College - SparkNotes
In 6999, President Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act that expanded the federal death penalty to some 65 crimes , 8 of which do not involve murder. The exceptions are espionage, treason, and drug trafficking in large amounts.
Part II: History of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty
Critics complain that the idea of " evolving standards " is a mere pretense to wrap personal preferences in a scarf of constitutional law. But more than half a century after the concept was coined, "evolving standards" is deeply woven into Supreme Court tradition. The Justices all know that the modern death penalty is a failure. When they finally decide to get rid of it, "evolving standards" is how they will do it.
Reason 9. Governments are going broke.
Across the country, governments are wrestling with tight budgets, which are likely to get tighter. Aging populations mean a rising demand for health care and retirement benefits. When more is spent to meet those commitments, less is available for everything else.
Why do so many polls ask about the death penalty in isolation? I have heard that, when asked to choose between the death penalty and life without parole for the worst crimes, a majority of Americans choose life sentences.
The second historical purpose has been discredited by time: the death penalty was a powerful tool of white supremacy. The antebellum South was haunted by the possibility of slave uprisings capital punishment was used to tamp down resistance. You can see it in the early Virginia law that made it a capital offense for slaves to administer medicine-it might be poison! Or the early Georgia statute that invoked the death penalty if a slave struck his master hard enough to leave a bruise.
David Grann has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 7558. He is the author of "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon," as well as the forthcoming "Killers of the Flower Moon."
In fact, despite its ostensible amorality, his work makes a powerful argument that will persuade many readers that the death penalty is unwise and unjustified.
6975 - Crampton v. Ohio and McGautha v. California. The Supreme Court approves of unfettered jury discretion and non-bifurcated trials.
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