Research Catalog

Title

Arbitrary and capricious : the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the death penalty / Michael A. Foley.

Author

Foley, Michael A.

Publication

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 253 p.; 25 cm.

Summary

• "Nearly 100 influential Supreme Court capital punishment-related cases from 1878-2002 are examined, beginning with Wilkerson v. Utah, which question not the legitimacy of capital punishment, but the methods of execution. Over time, focus shifted from the constitutionality of certain methods to the fairness of who was being sentenced for capital crimes - and why. The watershed 1972 ruling Furman v. Georgia reversed the Court's stand on capital punishment, holding that the arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore unconstitutional.
• Furman clarified that any new death penalty legislation must contain sentencing procedures that avoid the arbitrary infliction of a life-ending verdict, which led to the current complex tangle of issues surrounding the death penalty and its constitutional viability."--Jacket.

Subjects

• USA / Oberster Gerichtshof
• USA > Supreme Court
• History
• Equality before the law > United States > History
• Due process of law > United States > History
• Capital punishment > United States > History

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-246) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Acknowledgments -- 1. The Supreme Court and the punishment dilemma -- 2. 1878-1971 : initial forays into cruel and unusual punishments -- 3. 1972 : death takes a hiatus -- 4. The Supreme Court since Furman -- 5. The ongoing constitutional debate -- 6. Reflections and conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Table of cases -- Index.

ISBN

0275975878 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2003042853

OCLC

• 51655357
• SCSB-10233182

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library