Death penalty
Since our nations founding, the government has punished murder victims and in recent years rape with the ultimate sanction death. Over 13,000 people have been legally executed since colonial times. In the 1930's there were as many as 150 people executed each year. Legal challenges caused these executions to come nearly to a halt by 1967. By 1972 in Furman v. Georgia the supreme court excused hundreds of scheduled executions, declaring that existing state laws were applied in an “Arbitrary and Capricious” manner, and violated the 8th amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, the 14th amendments guarantee’s of equal protection of the laws and due process. In 1976 Gregg v. Georgia the court ruled that the penalty “does not invariably violate the constitution” if applied in a manner designed to guard against arbitrariness and discrimination. As of April 1, 2006 3,370 people are on death row. Many people have different views on capital punishment.......
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