What Is The Case Of Furman Vs Georgia

Furman V. Georgia

Robert Lloyd

CJS/221

January 11, 2016

Ebony Pullins-Govantes

Furman V. Georgia

Furman V. Georgia is a landmark case in the criminal justice system in America. This was the first time the Supreme Court had to face the difficult decision of capital punishment. Capital punishment has and will always be debated in the United States. When you put in racial discrimination the situation gets worse. This case is so controversial because of the speculation that Furman was only sentenced to death because he was a black male, and his conviction was overturned after he passed away.

In this case Furman was attempting to burglarize a home in Savannah, Georgia when the person who resided in the home discovered him. Originally Furman said he had turned and fired blindly when he was discovered, but later he changed his story. He later said he tripped and fell in which made him discharge his firearm. Either way the shots hit a target of the homeowner in which killed him and Furman now with conflicting stories was found guilty. Furman was then sentenced to death under the felony murder law.

The felony murder law is a legal doctrine that classifies murder into two groupings. The first is when somebody is in the act of committing a felony and regardless of accidental

The Supreme Court came back with a decision six months later with a 5-4 decision. This meant that 5 judges were for the death penalty and 4 were against. Justices Douglass, Brennan, Stewart, White and Marshal all concurred that executing Furman was wrong. Justices Burger, Blackmun, Powell, and Rehnquist all voted that the execution was the correct action to take against Furman. The court’s decision was that giving Furman the death penalty was cruel and unusual and in clear violation of the constitution. Justice Potter and Douglass both agreed that there was racial bias for the death penalty against African