LAWS 2180 Lecture Notes - Intellectual Disability
Document Summary
So was it a violation of the 8th. Amendment as applied by the 14th amendment to sentence someone to death for robbery: the court said no, it was not cruel and unusual. Mcgoutha v. california (1971: naacp took it to the supreme court. Justice brennan: this is the end of the effort to end capital punishment. Aka he thought the argument held weight and was shot down anyways. 2 changes happened between 1971 and 1972: 1). Professor walter oberer: wrote an article arguing that a death qualifying jury is more likely to convict a person and use capital punishment. Number of people polled who said they were in favor of the death penalty declined to around 40%. His argument was agreed upon by the court as the greatest: death was a different penalty than any other penalty. Therefore, there must be a different set of criteria a different set of standards than any other penalties.
