In the early 1970s, the Supreme Court held that the death penalty was constitutional (i.e., not cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment), but also held that because of the irreversible weight of the punishment, special due process requirements had to be met. In those early cases, the Court struck down mandatory death penatly statutes, holding that there should always be an individualized determination of aggravating and mititgating factors made by a finder-of-fact to determine whether the death penalty should be imposed. However, for the last 30 years, giving discretion to juries and to prosecutors has statistically produced controversial results that disturb even those people who favor the death penalty. For example, the average black defendant who is found guilty of murdering a white victim is several times more likely to get the death penalty (rather than life in prison) as a punishment versus a white defendant who is found guilty of murding a black victim
2006-11-30
04:10:51
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4 answers
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asked by
Steven B
2