Capital punishment refers merely to the death penalty. It is the execution of a criminal within legal standards. Capital punishment has been there since the ancient times. Biblically, executions were carried out by stoning or even crucifixion. In America, methods of capital punishment that have been used include hanging, lethal injection, death by shooting and even poison gas. Lately, capital punishment has been a topic that elicits a lot of emotion for those who are its proponents and for those who oppose it.
British laws profoundly influenced the history of capital punishment in America. As early as 1630, legal executions were taking place in all American colonies. Death penalties imposed in England were effectively applied in America for crimes as minor as stealing a loaf of bread. All these executions were done publicly allowing thousands of people to witness them. In the 1800s, a total of 270 crimes in England were considered capital offenses and therefore punishable by death (Crf-usa.org, 2017). This number was gradually reduced in both America and England and focus was put on murders showing premeditation, willfulness and deliberation, that is, first-degree murder. Executions were also moved into prisons and not done publicly anymore.
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The 1800s saw an increase in opponents against the death penalty. Wisconsin and Michigan abolished capital punishment in 1845 and 1848 respectively. After the Second World War, most of the Western democracies abolished the death penalty except for the United States. In the 1950s and 1960s, an unofficial moratorium on executions began with the States waiting for the Supreme Court to rules on capital punishment constitutionality. The case of Furman v. Georgia in 1972 had the Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional. According to the Supreme Court, the death penalty at that time was in violation of the Eighth Amendment as there was inconsistency in who received the death sentence and who did not (Crf-usa.org, 2017). States were to, therefore, come up with new laws that were clear on the standards necessary for imposing capital punishment.
Thirty-five states compiled new laws on capital punishment between 1972 and 1976 in a bid to meet the suggestions provided by the Supreme Court. The new laws fell into two broad categories. The first category described the capital crimes that were punishable by death and set a weighing system that could be used to determine when the death penalty could be applied. The weighing system was based on mitigating and aggravating circumstances that could be used to excuse or worsen a criminal’s behavior. If the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating, then the death penalty could be applied. These laws were compiled by the states of Florida, Georgia, and Texas (Crf-usa.org, 2017). The second category of laws made the death penalty mandatory for any capital crime in the states of Louisiana and North Carolina. This second category was struck down by the Supreme Court while the first was declared constitutional and upheld in 1976.
Capital punishment resumed in 1977, but landmark cases would highlight the equality in its application and its application to persons under the age of 18. The case of McCleskey v. Kemp in 1987 revealed racial discrimination when applying the death penalty. Through a study conducted by Professor David Baldus, it was revealed that black people were sentenced to die four times more than white people (Crf-usa.org, 2017). The statistics were acknowledged by the Supreme Court although they ruled that a death penalty could be only overturned if there was proof of discrimination.
The case of Roper v. Simmons in 2005 also highlighted the issue of whether it was constitutional to execute murderers under the age of 18. The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional with a 5-4 majority (“A History of the Death Penalty in America,” 2012).
In recent years, other states have also banned death penalties. These states include New York (2004), New Jersey (2007), New Mexico (2009), Illinois (2011) and Connecticut (2012) (Crf-usa.org, 2017).
The Constitutional Ban on “Cruel and Unusual Punishment”
The constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” is provided for by the Eighth Amendment. This Amendment was derived from the English Bill of Rights of 1684 which was against the application of any harsh penalties in a manner that is irregular or selective (Furman, 1972). The Eighth Amendment states that: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." This provision has always been an issue of discussion as to what punishments can be labeled as “cruel and unusual.”
In the Furman v. Georgia case of 1972, Judge William J. Breenan, Jr. provided four principles by which the Supreme Court interpreted the Amendment. The first principle, which he believed to essential in the application of the rest, is that punishment must not degrade human dignity by its severity (Furman, 1972). The Court believed that it was highly unlikely for a punishment so degrading to human dignity to be addressed in any case.
The second principle is that the State must not inflict a severe punishment arbitrarily. This principle is applicable when the State inflicts severe punishment on a select few and not on others. The third principle states that a severe punishment is one that is unacceptable to the contemporary society. To determine whether a severe punishment is acceptable or not, the Court would have to review the history of the punishment and determine its use in the society’s current practices (Furman, 1972). Authorization by the legislature or the punishment’s availability in the society is not used to measure its acceptability but by the society’s decision to inflict it or not.
The fourth principle states that any severe punishment applied must not be excessive. Any punishment is considered excessive if it is pointless. If there is a less severe alternative to the punishment and it is also disproportionate to the crime, then it is considered excessive (Furman, 1972). Using these four principles, the Supreme Court ruled death penalty as unconstitutional.
Coker v. Georgia
Ehrlich Anthony Coker escaped prison, broke into a house and raped its resident, an adult woman and stole a vehicle. At the time he was facing several sentences for aggravated assault, rape, murder, and kidnapping. He was arrested, and the jury found him guilty of rape and armed robbery. However, his rape charge earned him a death conviction. The death sentence was because of Coker having prior convictions for capital felony and the rape being committed during another capital offense, armed robbery (Coker, 1977). The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
When Coker appealed before the Supreme Court of the United States, the death sentence was reversed. Mr. Justice Stewart, Mr. Justice Stevens, Mr. Justice Blackmun and Mr. Justice White all concurred that the sentence of death for the crime of rape of an adult woman despite the petitioner’s (Coker) guilt was a disproportionate and excessive punishment and was therefore in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s clause on Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
References
Crf-usa.org., (2017). History of the Death Penalty in America: Constitutional Rights Foundation. Retrieved 11 December 2017, from http://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/HistoryoftheDeathPenaltyinAmerica.pdf
Coker v. Georgia, (1977). 433 U.S.584. Justia Law Retrieved 11 December 2017, from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/433/584/
Justia Law. (2017). Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) Retrieved 11 December 2017, from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/408/238/case.html
