Elaborate on the Court's Involvement in Concerns Over the Death

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The Answer is The constitutionality of the death penalty has been a concern of the nations' courts. In 1972, the case of Furman v. Georgia took up the issue of whether the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. The Supreme Court did not completely rule out the use of capital punishment but rather objected to the arbitrary and capricious nature in which it was imposed. Then in July 1976, the court ruled on the constitutionality of five state death penalty statutes including Gregg v. Georgia that found that at least one aggravating circumstance needs to be found by jury out of a total of 10 for a death penalty finding. The court has limited crimes for which the death penalty can be used by ruling that it is not permissible to punish rapists, even those who rape children. In addition, the mentally ill may not be executed and the court in 2005 set a limit that those youth that were not 18 at the time of their offense could not be sentenced to death.

Elaborate on the Court's Involvement in Concerns Over the Death

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