Gregg vs. Georgia

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that "Gregg" specifically reaffirms the continued importance of earlier Supreme Court decisions prohibiting the purposeful infliction of pain or torture in implementing the death penalty, as well as the imposition of capital punishment where the sentence is out of proportion to the crime. The author points out that, under "Gregg", state criminal courts may impose the death penalty, but only for crimes sufficiently heinous so as to be considered proportionately as serious to the victim as the consequences and severity of the punishment. Statutory schemes invalidated as unconstitutional under Gregg,include those non-homicidal crimes, such as rape. The paper states that the historic "Gregg" decision still inspires opposition on the part of those who sympathize with the dissenting opinion co-authored by Justice Thurgood Marshall and Justice Brennan; even its proponents acknowledge that statistical evidence of its value as an effective crime deterrent is inconclusive more than a quarter of a century later.

Table of Contents
Rationale for the Decision
Distinguished from Statutory Defects Underlying "Furman"
Elements of Statutory Constitutionality under "Gregg"

From the Paper:

"The main line of reasoning underlying the earlier Supreme Court ruling in Furman rested on the specific characterization of capital punishment as completely different in kind from all other forms of criminal sanctions. The Furman decision expressed grave concern that the statutes under consideration in that case allowed for the imposition of the death penalty under circumstances and sentencing procedures that failed to safeguard defendants against arbitrary, capricious or prejudicial motivation."

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