Furman v. Georgia

E8035

Eighth Amendment case Fourteenth Amendment case United States Supreme Court case criminal law case death penalty case landmark decision

Furman v. Georgia is a landmark 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case that temporarily halted capital punishment nationwide by ruling existing death penalty schemes unconstitutional under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form	As subject	As object
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)	0	1
William Henry Furman v. State of Georgia	0	1

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Eighth Amendment case → Fourteenth Amendment case → United States Supreme Court case → criminal law case → death penalty case → landmark decision →
areaOfLaw	capital punishment law → constitutional law → criminal procedure →
citation	408 U.S. 238 →
constitutionalProvision	Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution → Fourteenth Amendment → surface form: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
country	United States of America → surface form: United States
court	Supreme Court of the United States →
decisionDate	1972-06-29 →
effect	invalidated then-existing death penalty statutes nationwide → required states to revise death penalty statutes → temporarily halted capital punishment in the United States →
fullCaseName	Furman v. Georgia self-linksurface differs → surface form: William Henry Furman v. State of Georgia
holding	existing death penalty schemes violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments →
impact	led to a de facto moratorium on executions in the United States → prompted states to adopt guided discretion death penalty statutes →
jurisdiction	federal →
justiceInDissent	Blackmun → surface form: Harry A. Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. → Warren E. Burger → William H. Rehnquist →
justiceInMajority	Byron R. White → Potter Stewart → Thurgood Marshall → William J. Brennan Jr. → William O. Douglas →
legalIssue	arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty → constitutionality of existing death penalty schemes → cruel and unusual punishment →
majorityType	per curiam opinion →
petitioner	William Henry Furman →
precedentFor	later death penalty jurisprudence in the United States →
relatedCase	Branch v. Texas → Gregg v. Georgia → Jackson v. Georgia →
respondent	U.S. state of Georgia → surface form: State of Georgia
result	remanded for further proceedings consistent with the Court's opinion →
shortDescription	1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down existing death penalty schemes as unconstitutional →
temporalContext	pre-Gregg death penalty era →
vote	5-4 decision →
yearDecided	1972 →

Referenced by (11)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

William Henry Furman → associatedCourtCase → Furman v. Georgia →

William Henry Furman → caseCitation → Furman v. Georgia →

this entity surface form: Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)

Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution → centralIssueInCase → Furman v. Georgia →

William Henry Furman → defendantIn → Furman v. Georgia →

Furman v. Georgia → fullCaseName → Furman v. Georgia self-linksurface differs →

this entity surface form: William Henry Furman v. State of Georgia

United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court → hasNotableCase → Furman v. Georgia →

Thurgood Marshall → notableDissent → Furman v. Georgia →

Gregg v. Georgia → overruledCaseInPart → Furman v. Georgia →

Gregg v. Georgia → precededBy → Furman v. Georgia →

Jackson v. Georgia → relatedCase → Furman v. Georgia →

Branch v. Texas → relatedToCase → Furman v. Georgia →