Supreme Court Case: Furman V. Georgia

Furman v. Georgia
Any case that can make its way to the level of the supreme court shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s probably a case that can cause controversy or is because of controversy. Back in 1972, there was a case known as Furman v. Georgia. This particular case circled around the issue of placing the death penalty as the final verdict of a person convicted as guilty. Though the person convicted was guilty of murder, the case was brought to the supreme court to dispute the punishment of the case. There was a disagreement on whether or not the death penalty was a violation to the convicted person’s rights. The person under the death penalty was caught breaking into a private home when they were caught in the act. As the person tried to leave the scene, they tripped and fell causing the gun in their hand to fire a shot that unfortunately killed a resident in the home (Furman). From there, the lower leveled court found the person guilty and he was sentenced to death. Though the person was found guilty of murder, their lawyers didn’t believe they should have been convicted with the death penalty and had challenged to overturn the punishment to something less severe as the death penalty. …show more content…
The petitioner believed the eighth amendment and the fourteenth amendment were violated as they stated Furman, the person who was found guilty, was given the death penalty. The reason this was an issue was that the petitioner found the use of the death penalty was inconsistent with other trials that were similar to the trial Furman was in. The petitioner argued that there was discrimination amongst the use of the death penalty in Georgia stating that more blacks had received the death penalty than whites or any other racial group in similar