Written Assignment #2
Stephen M. Diplan
Intro to Corrections
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Gregg v. Georgia decision legalized capital punishment in the USA. The law was adopted in connection to the crimes committed by Troy Leon Gregg - hence is the name. The trial was held in Georgia and the Georgian Supreme Court considered two options – either life-prison sentence or capital punishment (Legal Information Institute). The juries were presented with evidence and could not find any mitigating circumstances to the crime. On the contrary, the robbery with murder of two men was acknowledged to be a heavy breach of law and the criminal was sentenced to death. The sentence was executed in the year 1980.
Thus the previous decision of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, …show more content…
Capital punishment is allowed under the law of the United States (Legal Information Institute).
However, the further controversy was aroused by the debate over the question on whether the underage criminal (younger than 18 years-old) could be charged with the capital punishment. According to Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361 (1989), criminals having reached 16 years-old are prosecutable with all harshness of the law. Yet in the year 2005 Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 decision overruled this law showing its incompatibility with the fundamental legal tenements of the USA.
The reasons for the new ruling were explained by “evolving standards of decency” (Steinberg &Lawrence). It was understood that capital punishment for minors is inconsistent with the present norms of morality and humanity and cannot be justified on any conditions. The research was cited in the court room proving that under age criminals often lack maturity and are gullible in their character. The same research showed that the teenage defendants did not have the fully-developed (fully-fledged) sense of responsibility and thus some condescension in treatment of them is needed (Steinberg
Stephen M. Diplan
Intro to Corrections
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Gregg v. Georgia decision legalized capital punishment in the USA. The law was adopted in connection to the crimes committed by Troy Leon Gregg - hence is the name. The trial was held in Georgia and the Georgian Supreme Court considered two options – either life-prison sentence or capital punishment (Legal Information Institute). The juries were presented with evidence and could not find any mitigating circumstances to the crime. On the contrary, the robbery with murder of two men was acknowledged to be a heavy breach of law and the criminal was sentenced to death. The sentence was executed in the year 1980.
Thus the previous decision of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, …show more content…
Capital punishment is allowed under the law of the United States (Legal Information Institute).
However, the further controversy was aroused by the debate over the question on whether the underage criminal (younger than 18 years-old) could be charged with the capital punishment. According to Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361 (1989), criminals having reached 16 years-old are prosecutable with all harshness of the law. Yet in the year 2005 Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 decision overruled this law showing its incompatibility with the fundamental legal tenements of the USA.
The reasons for the new ruling were explained by “evolving standards of decency” (Steinberg &Lawrence). It was understood that capital punishment for minors is inconsistent with the present norms of morality and humanity and cannot be justified on any conditions. The research was cited in the court room proving that under age criminals often lack maturity and are gullible in their character. The same research showed that the teenage defendants did not have the fully-developed (fully-fledged) sense of responsibility and thus some condescension in treatment of them is needed (Steinberg