Furman V. Georgia Case Analysis

the Chapter 489 Laws of New York of 1888 which stated, “a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death’ for offences committed after January 1st, 1889.” Twenty-six states adopted the use of the electric chair before 1967, and up until 1967 over four thousand people had been killed using this device. In Indiana, which used the electric chair for every execution between 1913-1994, shows that out of 57 people put to death by the electric chair fifteen of them were African American. African Americans, especially in the South, suffered from the hands of the electric chair. In Alabama from 1926-1965 of the 152 people killed by the electric chair, over one hundred and twenty-five of the killed are African American. If one is to look at the state of New York one could see that out of the 211 people put to death by the electric chair from 1926-1940, African Americans make up less than 18% of those killed. There appears to be a correlation between Southern states using the death penalty more against African Americans, and South Carolina is no different because out of the 154 …show more content…
The Furman v. Georgia case of 1972 put a temporarily hold on the death penalty in the United States. Supreme Court Judges found that the death penalty in this case where Furman dropped his gun while running away from the scene of the crime, and the gun went off and killed a resident, “constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated the Constitution.” Not only did this case suspend the death penalty but it also made crimes such as rape not punishable by death, “on June 29, 1972, the Supreme Court effectively voided 40 death penalty statutes…and suspending the death penalty because existing statutes were no longer valid.” The Furman v. Georgia case would change the face of death penalty cases for the foreseeable future in the United