On June 29, 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in Furman v. Georgia, effectively striking down the death penalty across the nation and changing the landscape of capital punishment. The court ruled that the death penalty, as administered at the time, constituted “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. This landmark decision led to a temporary halt in executions until the death penalty was reinstated under new statutes, sparking ongoing debates about law, ethics, and justice in capital cases.
