American courts and the criminal justice system Essay

American courts and the criminal justice system - Essay Example This killed his victim on the spot. The unsworn statement however contradicted his earlier statement to the police that indicated that he had fired blindly while escaping1. Whichever the case though, William Furman would have been found guilty of killing (murder). This was due to the fact that the shooting took place during the commission of a felony. The suspect was tried for murder and found guilty largely on the basis of his statement. After a one day trial, Furman was found guilty uf murdering William Micke and was sentenced to death on 20th September 1968. (Roensch 2007) The Furman v. Georgia raised an important question of law on whether the imposition and carrying out capital punishment in that particular case and two others constituted cruel and unusual punishment. If this was the case then the ruling on death penalty violated the Eighth an Fourteenth Amendments. In a five to four decision the court decided that the death penalty ruling did constitute to cruel and unusual punishment and thus violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment. The justices articulated their views on over two hundred pages of concurrences and dissents. The issue of race came up with concurrences on the arbitrary nature on death penalty passed on black defendants. The other two cases consolidated together with the Furman v. Georgia were Jackson v. ... He was thus convicted of both rape and robbery and sentenced to death. During the trial, a psychiatrist refuted claims that Jackson was schizophrenic. He therefore declared Jackson competent to stand trial. Branch v. Texas Branch was also an African American male in Texas convicted of rape on an elderly woman. Though the trial determined that Branch was of below average IQ (lowest fourth percentile in his class to be precise), he was sentenced to death. Furman v. Georgia Trial Concurrences The Furman v. Georgia and the other two consolidated case were presided by the United States Supreme Courts Justices named below The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Powell Mr. Justice White Mr. Justice Blackman Mr. Justice Marshall Mr. Justice Stewart Mr. Justice Brennan Mr. Justice Douglas Mr. Justice Powell Mr. Justice Rehnquist The concurring justices were Justice Douglas, Justice Brennan, Justice Stewart, Justice White, and Justice Marshall. This section will provide an articulation of the concurring judges and their respective arguments. It is important to note that the Furman v. Georgia case turned out to be a landmark case and revolutionary in some ways. It impacted or changed American Criminal Law in the following ways. The Branch v. Texas and Jackson v. Georgia case invalidated the death penalty on rape. This was a monumental ruling that had impact on thousands of cases throughout the United States since then up to this date. The decision ruled the requirement of for a degree of consistency in the application of the death sentence. The question of the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty on numerous cases throughout the United States arose. This was due to the fact that carrying out the death sentence on those and similar cases constituted to cruel