Number: RL31494
Title: Capital Punishment: Summary of Supreme Court Decisions of the 2001-02 Term
Authors: Paul Starett Wallace, Jr., American Law Division 
Abstract: Legal challenges to the death penalty reached a crest in a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia, which struck down federal and state capital punishment laws permitting a wide discretion in the application of the death penalty. Characterizing these laws as "arbitrary and capricious," the majority ruled that they constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment and due process guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment. Since the Supreme Court decision in Furman, there has been a gradual refinement in the death penalty laws in the Court's jurisprudence. However, death penalty verdicts in the United States still appear to be without any uniformity. A review and summary of the cases involving capital offenses which were decided during this term of the court, reviewed in this report, seem to support this notion.
Pages: 8
Date: Updated July 8, 2002