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DEATH PENALTY DENIED:
The 1972 Furman v. Georgia Ruling
JUNE 29, 1972 …
Movies – C onquest of the P lanet of the A pes and T he
C andidate were coming out
JUNE 29, 1972 …
#1 songs - The Candy Man (Sammy Davis),
Song Sung Blue (Neil Diamond)
JUNE 29, 1972 …
Watergate story - that five men had been arrested for
breaking into the Democratic National Committee
headquarters in the Watergate Hotel was not yet big news.
The top story on June 29, 1972, was that the death penalty
was declared unconstitutional!
http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/supreme-court-death-pena
The hiatus lasted just 4
years; executions returned
in 1977 …

… and the U.S. has executed 1200+ since then.




Why was the death penalty found unconstitutional in 1972?
And is it really so different now?

5 Justices gave 4 reasons:
Furman at-40
Brennan: “W hen examined by the principles
    applicable under the C ruel and U nusual
    P unishments C lause, death stands condemned
    as fatally offensive to human dignity.”


 
    Marshall: “T he question then is not whether we
    condone rape or murder, for surely we do not; it
    is whether capital punishment is 'a punishment
    no longer consistent with our own self-respect’
    and, therefore, violative of the E ighth
    A mendment.”
Five years after Furman, Amnesty International took up the
call to campaign for an end to the death penalty throughout
the world.

Today, almost 100 countries have abolished the death
penalty, and two-thirds of the world’s nations have
abandoned capital punishment in law or practice.

There is a growing global consensus that the death penalty
is, indeed, “offensive to human dignity.”
Furman at-40
Furman at-40
Even in the U.S., the public is turning away from the death
penalty, as death sentences have dropped precipitously in
the last 12 years …
Furman at-40
Douglas: “T hey are pregnant with discrimination
and discrimination is an ingredient not
compatible with the idea of equal protection of
the laws that is implicit in the ban on ‘cruel and
unusual’ punishments.”
Furman at-40
Stewart: “T hese death sentences are cruel and
             unusual in the same way that being struck by
             lightning is cruel and unusual.”




Today, death
sentences are
determined, not by the
nature of the crime,
but by the ability of the
defendant to afford a
good lawyer, and by
w he re the
c r im e is
c o m m it t e d .
Furman at-40
White: “a maj goal of the criminal law – to
                             or
deter others by punishing the convicted
criminal – would not be substantially served            where the
penalty is so seldom invoked that it           ceases to be the
credible threat essential to           influence the conduct of
others… its imposition would then be the pointless and needless
extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any
discernible social or public purposes. A penalty with such
negligible returns to the State would be patently excessive and cruel
and unusual punishment violative of the E ighth A mendment.”
Today, 88% of criminologists agree that there is no evidence
that the death penalty deters more than other punishments …




Even murder victim family members are increasingly saying
they don’t need it …
What about the 4 dissenters? They said the death penalty
was not cruel and unusual, and that the court should not
intervene in the states and the legislative branch.


         Blackmun: “ lthough personally I may rej at the C ourt's result, I find it
                        A                                oice
         difficult to accept or to j
                                   ustify as a matter of history, of law, or of constitutional
         pronouncement. I fear the C ourt has overstepped.”
          


         Powell: “L ess measurable, but certainly of no less significance, is the shattering effect
         this collection of views has on the root principles of stare decisis, federalism, j
                                                                                           udicial
         restraint, and -- most importantly -- separation of powers.”
          

         Rehnquist: “ hatever its precise rationale, today's holding necessarily brings into
                        W
         sharp relief the fundamental question of the role of j udicial review in a democratic
         society. H ow can government by the elected representatives of the people co-exist with the
         power of the federal j udiciary, whose members are constitutionally insulated from
         responsiveness to the popular will, to declare invalid laws duly enacted by the popular
         branches of government?”
All 3 of these voted for reinstatement in 1976, but Powell
and Blackmun later recanted:


           “ would vote the other way in any capital case. … I have come to think that capital
            I
           punishment should be abolished.” –Supreme Court Justice L e w i s
           P o w e l l , to his biographer in 1991.




           “ rom this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death … the
            F
           basic question – does the system accurately and consistently determine which defendants
           ‘deserve’ to die? – cannot be answered in the affirmative.” – Supreme Court Justice
           H a r r y B l a c k m u n , in a dissent in C allins v. C ollins (1994)
Even Chief Justice Burger, expressed his personal objection
to the death penalty, and the need to limit it to the worst
cases.


           “I f we were possessed of legislative power, I would either
           j with M R . JU ST I C E B R E N N A N and M R .
            oin
           JU ST I C E M A R SH A L L or, at the very least,
           restrict the use of capital punishment to a small category
           of the most heinous crimes.”
But he also provided a roadmap for States to avoid
randomness and make their new death penalty laws
constitutional by l i m i t i n g t h e d e a t h p e n a l t y
t o o n ly t h e w o r s t c r im e s .

            Burger: “I f state legislatures and the C ongress wish to
            maintain the availability of capital punishment …
            legislative bodies may seek to bring their laws into
            compliance with the C ourt's ruling by providing
            standards for j uries and judges to follow in determining
            the sentence in capital cases or by more narrowly defining
            the crimes for which the penalty is to be imposed.”
As we have seen, this did not work …death sentences are
still determined more by race and location …
Today’s death penalty, designed to be limited to the “worst of
the worst”, has also instead ensnared the innocent. 140
people have been exonerated from death row since F urman.




Many more have been executed
despite s e r i o u s d o u b t s
a b o u t t h e ir g u ilt .
What happened to those whose death sentences were
commuted by the F urman decision?


                    A total of 589 death sentences were commuted
                    following F urman. Joan Cheever’s book “B ack from the
                    D ead” follows the 322 inmates who were released from
                    prison after F urman.

                    Of the 322 released:
                         •211 n e v e r c o m m i t t e d a n o t h e r
                         c r i m e , and 7 were e x o n e r a t e d by courts
                         post-release
                         •33 were re-incarcerated for a small number of
                         days for “technical violations” of their parole.
                         •42 were re-incarcerated for non-violent crimes,
                         •29 for more violent felonies
                         •2 of the parolees were convicted of attempted
                         murder
                         •2 for manslaughter
                         •3 for murder.
I n 1 9 7 2 , 40 states + Washington, DC, had the death
penalty…

No w, just 33 states have the death penalty (DC does not)

I n 1 9 7 2 , 49% of the public supported the death penalty

No w, 61% of the public supports the death penalty (but only
49% if the alternative of life without parole is suggested)
As in 1972, the death penalty today is still “wanton and freakish”, “pregnant with
discrimination,” and a “pointless and needless extinction of human life” that is “fatally
offensive to human dignity”.

And, as in 1972, support for abolition of the death penalty is growing. Four
Governors have signed death penalty abolition bills since December 2007.




                                          Yo u r S t a t e c o u ld b e n e x
We lived without the death penalty for four
years after Furman. What will it be like when
we abolish the death penalty again?
Resources will be devoted to more effective and more human polices:
Prevention policy: violence, drug/alcohol abuse, treatment for the mentally ill
Public Safety: resources for community policing and other social services
WHAT CAN YOU DO?

 EDUCATE THE PUBLIC
    Leaflet, table, set up a display,
     organize a panel discussion,
     host a speaker, present to a
     class/civic/religious group, wear
     abolition button/shirt, etc.
 WRITE/ORGANIZE ON AI DEATH
  PENALTY CASES
 WORK ON DEATH PENALTY                  www.amnestyusa.org/abolish
  ABOLITION IN YOUR STATE                  DPIntern2@aiusa.org
                                               202-544-0200
JOIN US TODAY!
 a member
Join a local or student group
   • Become a member
Become an on-line activist
Become a volunteer leader or student
   • Join a local        group
  • Become an on-line activist
  • Become a volunteer leader


                    1- 8 0 0 - A M N E S T Y
              w w w .a m n e s tyu s a .o r g
  Y o u r R e g i o n a l O f f i c e : 1- 8 6 6 - A R E G I O N
THANK YOU!

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Furman at-40

  • 1. DEATH PENALTY DENIED: The 1972 Furman v. Georgia Ruling
  • 2. JUNE 29, 1972 … Movies – C onquest of the P lanet of the A pes and T he C andidate were coming out
  • 3. JUNE 29, 1972 … #1 songs - The Candy Man (Sammy Davis), Song Sung Blue (Neil Diamond)
  • 4. JUNE 29, 1972 … Watergate story - that five men had been arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel was not yet big news.
  • 5. The top story on June 29, 1972, was that the death penalty was declared unconstitutional!
  • 7. The hiatus lasted just 4 years; executions returned in 1977 … … and the U.S. has executed 1200+ since then. Why was the death penalty found unconstitutional in 1972? And is it really so different now? 5 Justices gave 4 reasons:
  • 9. Brennan: “W hen examined by the principles applicable under the C ruel and U nusual P unishments C lause, death stands condemned as fatally offensive to human dignity.”   Marshall: “T he question then is not whether we condone rape or murder, for surely we do not; it is whether capital punishment is 'a punishment no longer consistent with our own self-respect’ and, therefore, violative of the E ighth A mendment.”
  • 10. Five years after Furman, Amnesty International took up the call to campaign for an end to the death penalty throughout the world. Today, almost 100 countries have abolished the death penalty, and two-thirds of the world’s nations have abandoned capital punishment in law or practice. There is a growing global consensus that the death penalty is, indeed, “offensive to human dignity.”
  • 13. Even in the U.S., the public is turning away from the death penalty, as death sentences have dropped precipitously in the last 12 years …
  • 15. Douglas: “T hey are pregnant with discrimination and discrimination is an ingredient not compatible with the idea of equal protection of the laws that is implicit in the ban on ‘cruel and unusual’ punishments.”
  • 17. Stewart: “T hese death sentences are cruel and unusual in the same way that being struck by lightning is cruel and unusual.” Today, death sentences are determined, not by the nature of the crime, but by the ability of the defendant to afford a good lawyer, and by w he re the c r im e is c o m m it t e d .
  • 19. White: “a maj goal of the criminal law – to or deter others by punishing the convicted criminal – would not be substantially served where the penalty is so seldom invoked that it ceases to be the credible threat essential to influence the conduct of others… its imposition would then be the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purposes. A penalty with such negligible returns to the State would be patently excessive and cruel and unusual punishment violative of the E ighth A mendment.”
  • 20. Today, 88% of criminologists agree that there is no evidence that the death penalty deters more than other punishments … Even murder victim family members are increasingly saying they don’t need it …
  • 21. What about the 4 dissenters? They said the death penalty was not cruel and unusual, and that the court should not intervene in the states and the legislative branch. Blackmun: “ lthough personally I may rej at the C ourt's result, I find it A oice difficult to accept or to j ustify as a matter of history, of law, or of constitutional pronouncement. I fear the C ourt has overstepped.”   Powell: “L ess measurable, but certainly of no less significance, is the shattering effect this collection of views has on the root principles of stare decisis, federalism, j udicial restraint, and -- most importantly -- separation of powers.”   Rehnquist: “ hatever its precise rationale, today's holding necessarily brings into W sharp relief the fundamental question of the role of j udicial review in a democratic society. H ow can government by the elected representatives of the people co-exist with the power of the federal j udiciary, whose members are constitutionally insulated from responsiveness to the popular will, to declare invalid laws duly enacted by the popular branches of government?”
  • 22. All 3 of these voted for reinstatement in 1976, but Powell and Blackmun later recanted: “ would vote the other way in any capital case. … I have come to think that capital I punishment should be abolished.” –Supreme Court Justice L e w i s P o w e l l , to his biographer in 1991. “ rom this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death … the F basic question – does the system accurately and consistently determine which defendants ‘deserve’ to die? – cannot be answered in the affirmative.” – Supreme Court Justice H a r r y B l a c k m u n , in a dissent in C allins v. C ollins (1994)
  • 23. Even Chief Justice Burger, expressed his personal objection to the death penalty, and the need to limit it to the worst cases. “I f we were possessed of legislative power, I would either j with M R . JU ST I C E B R E N N A N and M R . oin JU ST I C E M A R SH A L L or, at the very least, restrict the use of capital punishment to a small category of the most heinous crimes.”
  • 24. But he also provided a roadmap for States to avoid randomness and make their new death penalty laws constitutional by l i m i t i n g t h e d e a t h p e n a l t y t o o n ly t h e w o r s t c r im e s . Burger: “I f state legislatures and the C ongress wish to maintain the availability of capital punishment … legislative bodies may seek to bring their laws into compliance with the C ourt's ruling by providing standards for j uries and judges to follow in determining the sentence in capital cases or by more narrowly defining the crimes for which the penalty is to be imposed.”
  • 25. As we have seen, this did not work …death sentences are still determined more by race and location …
  • 26. Today’s death penalty, designed to be limited to the “worst of the worst”, has also instead ensnared the innocent. 140 people have been exonerated from death row since F urman. Many more have been executed despite s e r i o u s d o u b t s a b o u t t h e ir g u ilt .
  • 27. What happened to those whose death sentences were commuted by the F urman decision? A total of 589 death sentences were commuted following F urman. Joan Cheever’s book “B ack from the D ead” follows the 322 inmates who were released from prison after F urman. Of the 322 released: •211 n e v e r c o m m i t t e d a n o t h e r c r i m e , and 7 were e x o n e r a t e d by courts post-release •33 were re-incarcerated for a small number of days for “technical violations” of their parole. •42 were re-incarcerated for non-violent crimes, •29 for more violent felonies •2 of the parolees were convicted of attempted murder •2 for manslaughter •3 for murder.
  • 28. I n 1 9 7 2 , 40 states + Washington, DC, had the death penalty… No w, just 33 states have the death penalty (DC does not) I n 1 9 7 2 , 49% of the public supported the death penalty No w, 61% of the public supports the death penalty (but only 49% if the alternative of life without parole is suggested)
  • 29. As in 1972, the death penalty today is still “wanton and freakish”, “pregnant with discrimination,” and a “pointless and needless extinction of human life” that is “fatally offensive to human dignity”. And, as in 1972, support for abolition of the death penalty is growing. Four Governors have signed death penalty abolition bills since December 2007. Yo u r S t a t e c o u ld b e n e x
  • 30. We lived without the death penalty for four years after Furman. What will it be like when we abolish the death penalty again? Resources will be devoted to more effective and more human polices: Prevention policy: violence, drug/alcohol abuse, treatment for the mentally ill Public Safety: resources for community policing and other social services
  • 31. WHAT CAN YOU DO?  EDUCATE THE PUBLIC  Leaflet, table, set up a display, organize a panel discussion, host a speaker, present to a class/civic/religious group, wear abolition button/shirt, etc.  WRITE/ORGANIZE ON AI DEATH PENALTY CASES  WORK ON DEATH PENALTY www.amnestyusa.org/abolish ABOLITION IN YOUR STATE DPIntern2@aiusa.org 202-544-0200
  • 32. JOIN US TODAY! a member Join a local or student group • Become a member Become an on-line activist Become a volunteer leader or student • Join a local group • Become an on-line activist • Become a volunteer leader 1- 8 0 0 - A M N E S T Y w w w .a m n e s tyu s a .o r g Y o u r R e g i o n a l O f f i c e : 1- 8 6 6 - A R E G I O N

Notes de l'éditeur

  1. -If 139 countries don’t have the death penalty, couldn’t the US also live without it? -Remind folks of the cost slide – Florida spends $51 million/year over what they would have spent on permanent incarceration and California - $137 million/year!! -What could $51 million to $137 million/year be used for instead of the death penalty? -do not reveal any of the ideas here initially. Click to pop up each question, then give some time to get folks to try to provide their own ideas. There are no right/wrong answers. Try not to judge or correct people’s answers, even if you don’t like them. If they say something extreme, you may want to ask a question (even if it’s rhetorical), but let people offer ideas freely. -Note: AI doesn’t have an official position on any of these solutions, nor an official statement on alternatives, but clearly many of these solutions are human rights friendly as they focus on human needs. -Notes about the slide’s suggested solutions: Under “Prevention”, note that many who commit murder have been subjected to violence themselves, including child abuse when they were children or may have come from communities where violence was prevalent. Many murders have also been committed while people have been under serious alcohol and drug impairment. Mental illness is not a bar to receiving the death penalty in the US. It’s important not to misinform people that most people on death row are mentally ill, but this is a serious problem with many offenders – some of whom may not have committed murder had they had access to adequate mental health services. -Graph (text from Death Penalty Information Center): Police Chiefs Poll The poll was commissioned by the Death Penalty Information Center and conducted by R.T. Strategies of Washington, D.C., surveying a national sample of 500 randomly selected police chiefs in the United States. The police chiefs had the opportunity to identify what they believe is most effective in fighting crime. As leaders in law enforcement, they were asked where the death penalty fit in their priorities. The poll found: • When asked to name one area as “most important for reducing violent crime,” greater use of the death penalty ranked last among the police chiefs, with only 1% listing it as the best way to reduce violence. Instead, increasing the number of police officers, reducing drug abuse, and creating a better economy and more jobs all ranked much higher than the death penalty. • The death penalty was considered the least efficient use of taxpayers’ money. Police chiefs ranked expanded training for police officers, community policing, programs to control drug and alcohol abuse, and neighborhood watch programs as more cost-effective ways to use taxpayers’ money.