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...

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Autores principales: Steiker, Carol S. (Autor) ; Steiker, Jordan M. (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Print Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2024
En: The Elgar companion to capital punishment and society
Año: 2024, Páginas: 63-73
Acceso en línea: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Verificar disponibilidad: HBZ Gateway
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Sumario: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.
Notas:Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 72-73
ISBN:9781803929149
DOI:10.4337/9781803929156.00011