Furman v. Georgia 408 U.S. 238 (1972) is a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which established a moratorium on the death penalty throughout the United States. It all happened when the plaintiff, William Henry Furman, shot the owner of the house into which he climbed to commit theft but the exact circumstances of the murder are unknown. When questioned by the police, Furman stated that he fired blindly during the retreat. At the trial, he said that the shot was careless; however, the court found Furman guilty and sentenced him to death (Furman v. Georgia, 1972). Two previous defendants (Jackson v. Georgia and Branch v. Texas) accused of murder faced death penalty too.
The case had a decisive role in the issue of preserving or abolishing the death penalty in the United States. After long discussions – from January to June 1972 – it turned out that there was no agreement between the judges on the final decision (Furman v. Georgia, 1972).
The position of each of the judges was very different from the opinion of other colleagues, and no one expected that his project would receive majority support. By five votes to four, the Supreme Court ruled that “the arbitrary and inappropriate use of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.” As a result, the Court did not ban the death penalty in principle, but determined that the current laws and legal procedures contain inconsistencies and ambiguities. But a number of states dissatisfied with such a decision have changed their legislation to completely exclude from the death penalty procedure all controversial points that the Supreme Court drew attention to.
Reference
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972). Web.