ABSTRACT
In Gregg v. Georgia 1 and its four companion cases, 2 all decided on July 2, 1976, the Supreme Court announced the broad constitutional principles that govern modern death penalty jurisprudence. These decisions established the following propositions. Capital punishment for the crime of aggravated murder is not inherently (or per se) cruel and unusual, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Yet death, in its severity and finality, is qualitatively different from other criminal sanctions. Death sentences consequently must satisfy a heightened standard of reliability. To minimize the risk of arbitrary capital sentencing decisions, legislation must define a relatively narrow range of death penalty–eligible crimes, the sentencing authority must give individualized consideration to relevant offense and offender circumstances and have discretion to impose a sentence less than death, and appellate court review of cases resulting in a death sentence must be available.
