Furman V. Georgia Case Study

Furman V Georgia The ruling in Furman V Georgia by the United State Supreme Court set a major precedent regarding the death penalty. Furman was an impoverished, black man who was brought to local trial because of a murder he committed. He and his lawyer were given only $150 and a poor man’s trial to settle his case. Furman testified that he accidently killed the victim while trying to rob his house. Although most murder trials are complex, Furman’s trial lasted just one day. Initially, the Court rushed Furman to the Georgia Central State Hospital and concluded that he was mentally ill. The court rejected his insanity plea and sentenced him to death. Furman argued that the random, racial bias was unconstitutional. In a 5-4 decision, the United

The 14th amendment states that no state “shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny equal protection of the laws” (US Const. amend. XIV). Furman was not given the same “due process” as any other person since he was assigned to a poor man’s court and given so little money. Usually, people convicted of murder are given more accommodations since “murder cases can be complicated” (Furman v. Georgia (1972)). Furman was not even given a decent lawyer at the local level, which proves how little chance he had to win his case. According to many studies around the time, many “defendants who were black or mentally ill received the death penalty more often than those who were white, and mentally healthy” (Lane). This

amend.VIII). In his concurring statement, Justice Douglas “noted that under English law, the death penalty was “unusual” if it was applied unevenly to minorities, outcasts, and unpopular groups” (Furman v. Georgia(1972)).

Justice Douglas concluded that Furman was discriminated in his local court (Furman v. Georgia(1972)). He decided that the death penalty should be changed procedurally and should not discriminate against a defendant because of his race, religion, wealth, or social position.

The ruling in Furman V Georgia was highly controversial among the justices. The 4 justices who ruled against Furman argued that the death penalty was a necessity to keep order in the country and that it was not racially unequal. Justice Blackmun argued that unless an African American can specifically prove that that they have been given the death penalty more than any other person, the court cannot establish that the constitution was violated (Furman v. Georgia, 408). He established in his dissenting opinion that just because more Africans Americans are given death row than whites, one cannot blame discrimination, as the Africans Americans may have committed more of the crimes. However, Justice Brennan argued that “although studies indicate that while the higher rate of execution among Negroes is partially due to a higher rate of crime, there is