Case brief summary
The Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment, does not always forbid the death penalty if the law guides the decision-makers and checks for unfairness.
Facts
Troy Gregg robbed and shot two men who had picked him up hitchhiking, and a jury convicted him of murder and armed robbery under Georgia's death penalty law.
Procedural history
A Georgia jury sentenced Gregg to death for murder, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the murder death sentences but threw out the robbery death sentences, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review only the death sentence issue.
Issue
Does sentencing someone to death for murder under Georgia's revised death penalty law violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment?
Holding
The Supreme Court upheld Georgia's death penalty law and Gregg's death sentence, ruling that the death penalty is not always unconstitutional.
Reasoning
The Court said history, state laws, and jury decisions show society still accepts the death penalty, and Georgia's law controls jury choices by requiring proof of specific serious factors and court review.
Opinions
Majority (Stewart, joined by Powell and Stevens): Georgia's system of requiring proof of an aggravating factor and automatic state court review adequately limits arbitrary death sentences, so the death penalty here is constitutional.
Concurrences (White, joined by Burger and Rehnquist, and Blackmun): Georgia's law sufficiently channels jury discretion through required aggravating factors and appellate review, so the death sentence should stand.
Dissent (Brennan): The death penalty always violates human dignity and is unconstitutional no matter what procedures are used to impose it.
Dissent (Marshall): The death penalty is excessive punishment because it does not deter crime better than life imprisonment and relies on an unacceptable notion of pure revenge.