Capital punishment and the constitution
For most of American history, capital punishment was not a subject of constitutional regulation. The death penalty was the exclusive province of the political branches. The long history of racial discrimination in the use of capital punishment eventually attracted the Supreme Court’s attention and l...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
The Elgar companion to capital punishment and society
Year: 2024, Pages: 63-73 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | For most of American history, capital punishment was not a subject of constitutional regulation. The death penalty was the exclusive province of the political branches. The long history of racial discrimination in the use of capital punishment eventually attracted the Supreme Court’s attention and led to a constitutional litigation campaign that invalidated the American death penalty in 1972. When the Court reauthorized capital punishment four years later, it set itself up as the ongoing arbiter of the contours of the American death penalty. The Court’s continuing constitutional regulation at first legitimated and entrenched the practice of capital punishment in the United States, but eventually contributed to the tremendous decline of the practice in the first decades of the twenty-first century. The current conservative Court now questions the foundations of its Eighth Amendment jurisprudence of the past 50 years, raising profound questions about the future of capital punishment and the constitution. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 72-73 |
| ISBN: | 9781803929149 |
| DOI: | 10.4337/9781803929156.00011 |
