Furman v. Georgia?

Question

I understand the basic of this case but i need more to it , explain and more detail please. all i know is Furman came to steal , killed a victim accidentally, and sentence to death and it involved the 8 ,14 amnedment

Answer 1

Furman's first statement was that he fired a random shot while fleeing but later stated that he fell during his escape and the gun accidentally discharged. Either way he killed a man during his attempted escape. In Georgia a murder committed during the commission of a felony carries the death penalty which the felony was burglary. Upon reaching the supreme court 2 justices concluded that the death penalty was arbitrarily handed down constituting cruel and unusal punishment citing several different cases in Georgia and elsewhere violating the 8th and 14th ammendments.. They were the majority and there were others who defended the death penalty in this case. All of the justices wrote separate answers to the case I supposed none could agree totally. That's about the most I can remember about it. I do remember that race became an issue and was thrown out because it was not an issue brought up by the defendant.

Answer 2

In the 5-4 Furman decision, the Court held that the death sentences were unconstitutional as applied. In separate opinions with differing reasoning, the majority found that the lack of standards for imposing the death penalty enabled the penalty to be selectively applied, allowing for arbitrary application. Part of the arbitrariness concern was that the death penalty had been imposed unevenly, infrequently, and often selectively against minorities. Under the cruel and unusual punishment clause, a penalty is considered unconstitutionally imposed if it is administered arbitrarily or discriminatorily.

In Furman, the Court effectively declared void every state’s existing death penalty statute, commuted the sentences of death row inmates around the country, and suspended the death penalty.