Did the U.S. Supreme Court get it right when they decided Furman v. Georgia in 1972? The decision found that the death penalty was not cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment, but was unconstitutional arbitrary in its application.
Mass Murderers Are Evil, Not Insane
1 day ago
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Thiel Student #7:
The Supreme Court was correct in its judgment regarding Furman v. Georgia. While I am not a legal scholar and cannot speak to the Constitutionality of the Death Penalty in general, it is abundantly clear that the Death Penalty needed to be removed because of its arbitrary nature.
I do find error in the Court's refusal to outright declare the Death Penalty unconstitutional. I think the Death Penalty has reverted to its arbitrary status: whether you can be sentenced to death seems to have more to do with what state you live in than the severity of your crime. I think that, under the current system, the fair enforcement of the law as it relates to capital punishment is impossible. It is for this reason that I believe the Supreme Court should have declared the death penalty to be fully unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia. The Court's holding has solved nothing.
Thiel Student No. 2:
I think that the Supreme Court did get it right when they made their decision about Furman v. Georgia in 1972. The death penalty itself is not cruel nor unusual punishment, if it is utilized in a correct and consistent way. People who commit like mannered crimes should receive like mannered consequences, and this is why the death penalty needs to be consistent. If the death penalty is going to be considered to be non cruel, then it needs to be applied in the same way to all people who commit the same type of crime. When a court becomes inconsistent with its application, this is when it leans towards being cruel and unusual. There are some mitigating and aggravating circumstances that change a judge's choice of punishment, but this should not be applicable to death penalty cases if it is to remain Constitutionally sound and fair.
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