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Description: The modern era of death penalty statutes and procedures were a response to Furman v. Georgia (1972), a 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court declaring that the death penalty as it was then being practiced in the United States was unconstitutional. State legislatures throughout the country, including Texas, redrafted their death penalty statutes to address the concerns of the Court that the death penalty had been applied in a capricious and arbitrary fashion. These statutes were initially tested and modified by subsequent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court in cases such as Woodson v. North Carolina (1976), Gregg v. Georgia (1976), Jurek v. Texas (1976), and Lockett v. Ohio (1978). The resulting death penalty statutes and procedures reflect three primary themes: a restricted class of death-eligible offenses, an individualized determination of death-worthiness, and heightened standards of reliability.
Suggested Citation:
Cunningham, M. (2006). Special Issues in Capital Sentencing [Electronic Version]. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice,
2(3), 205-236.
Keywords:
Date: Sep 29, 2006 | File Size: 107.17 Kb | Downloads: 2399