capital punishment

Historical Background

The history of capital punishment in the United States reflects a cycle of reform, reinstatement, and continued controversy. In 1972, the Supreme Court’s decision in Furman v. Georgia temporarily halted executions nationwide, finding that death penalty statutes were applied in arbitrary and capricious ways. Just four years later, in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. This decision upheld new death penalty statutes that aimed to address the arbitrariness concerns raised in Furman by providing revised sentencing guidelines and procedures for capital cases. These revised guidelines typically included a bifurcated trial process (separate guilt and sentencing phases) and required the identification of aggravating circumstances before a death sentence could be imposed.

Since then, abolition efforts have proceeded along two main paths: statutory repeal by state legislatures and judicial decisions striking down death penalty schemes. A small number of jurisdictions, such as Michigan and Puerto Rico, have gone further by embedding abolition directly into their constitutions; a step that offers stronger, more lasting protection.

For much of its history, the death penalty in the United States has been framed as a tool of justice—a way to hold the most vicious criminals accountable for their heinous acts. Stories of grisly murders and the suffering of victims’ families dominated the narrative, overshadowing questions about fairness or accuracy in the system. In this view, the focus was on the victims, while defense attorneys challenging death sentences were often portrayed as meddlesome “do-gooders” intent on exploiting legal technicalities to obstruct justice.

Today, the story has shifted dramatically. The modern narrative exposes a system riddled with errors, inequities, and deceptions—a bureaucracy that rushes individuals to death row without ensuring they are the right ones. According to the Death Penalty Information Center’s Death Penalty Census, the reality is stark: the most common outcome of a death sentence in the United States is not execution but reversal. Only 15.7% of death sentences ultimately result in execution, with the vast majority overturned due to errors or other issues.

With such a low “success” rate, one must ask: Why does this archaic punishment persist? Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cornwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College addresses this question in his recent posting, Why Does the United States Bother to Impose Death Sentences?, in VERDICT: Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia. In his posting, Professor Sarat concludes:

Articles Tagged with capital punishment

From Repeal to Permanence: Why Ending the Death Penalty Requires Constitutional Change

Historical Background