NCJ Number
75477
Journal
Virginia Social Science Journal Volume: 12 Dated: (November 1977) Pages: 6-13
Date Published
1977
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Capital punishment issues facing State legislatures are reviewed, and standards and limitations established on capital punishment by the Supreme Court are considered.
Abstract
The Supreme Court has ruled that community decency standards, the ends which punishment should serve, and the forms which punishment should take are not national questions, but rather are questions which should be addressed by the State legislatures. The Court did not rule that these were issues which did not require consideration, but that they were not issues to be addressed by the courts. The Court also ruled that legislative standards must be established to guide judges and juries in imposing the death sentence. Because these standards will, of necessity be ambiguous, problems related to consistent, nonarbitrary interpretation may arise in the future. The issue of protecting society versus that of deterring criminal behavior will have to be resolved. As this built-in ambiguity leads to additional charges of unconstitutionality, the Supreme Court may become reinvolved. Footnotes are included.