Capital punishment is publicly debated throughout our society. The death sentence has been an accepted part of the American code of justice since the first European settlers arrived in America. In the year Furman v. Georgia reached the Supreme Court, 1972, the death penalty was a part of the criminal codes in 40 of the 50 States.1 Furman v. Georgia consolidated appeals from three convicted murderers serving out sentences on death row. The lead case was that of …showed first 75 words of 882 total…

…showed last 75 words of 882 total…In Furman the Supreme Court ruled that the sentence of death, itself, was not unconstitutional, but that the procedures and applications as practiced by the States were. Many States rewrote their criminal codes immediately, to more narrowly define and apply the death sentence. The newer codes have been upheld in such cases as Proffit v. Florida, 1976, and Jurek v. Texas, 1976. A more famous case, Gregg v. Georgia, further upheld the constitutionality of the death sentence.