Henry VIII the ruler of England from 1509 to 1547 prescribed the death penalty for anyone who imagined the death of the King. During the 18th century, the number of capital crimes grew to 300 and it is felt that executions reflected “God’s law” and were necessary for maintaining order. In France, the method of execution was intended to match the crime and the convict’s social rank. Those such as noblemen, of a higher rank were afforded with the most refined death, which is being beheaded by the sword. People of lower rank, however, were faced with being boiled alive, burned and beaten to death. Over the last 200 years, execution methods have changes as society has sought to make the process more “civilized and less painful.” However, those cannot be changed because there is no civilized way of killing; killing is killing.

Arguing against Furman and his lawye4r were states with death penalty. They reminded the Court that the Supreme Court had no right to interfere in the termination of the death penalty, that the right goes to the state legislatures. Their second point was that the execution itself was not cruel or unusual, as long as it was performed in a humane way- it conformed with the Eight Amendment. In this case, justices spent months discussing and arguing. Finally, on June 29, 1972, the Court issued nine separate opinions, one written by each justice, making it one of the longest decisions in the Supreme Court’s history.

Baldus’s research also showed that white-victim cases are almost 4.3 times more likely to produce a death sentence than black victim cases. When the races of both the murderer and the victim are considered, the rates at the death sentences are imposed: black defendant/white victim, 22%, white defendant/ white victim, 8%, black defendant/black victim, 1 percent, white defendant/black victims, 3%. The Supreme Court accepted Baldus’s findings to be valid but a 5-4 Court majority said that McCleskey had to prove that bias was involved in his specific case and that a study looking at the pattern of discrimination was irrelevant to his case.

The electric chair was first used on August 6, 1890, to execute William Kemmler of Buffalo, New York. Kemmler was convicted of murdering his girlfriend with an axe. Kemmler’s right leg and head were shaved and a white paste that enhances the flow of electricity was rubbed onto his head. The public came to believe that the chair was more efficient than hanging and that it lessened the suffering of the executed. However, after a 17-jolt of electricity, Kemmler appeared dead but jerked suddenly. Immediately, the current was turned back on. Kemmler groaned and jerked once more and witnesses of the execution vomited and fainted. This repulsive performance of execution is what society calls a “quick and painless killing.” Many people that opposed the death penalty saw this as a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which states that “… cruel and unusual punishments [shall not be] inflicted. ”

As a result, lawyers that represent death-row inmates began to appeal more and more cases to the Supreme Court. From 1967 to 1972, hundreds of cases piled up and without the Supreme Court’s decision, the executions could not take place, hence, by not acting, the Court established an unofficial suspension on executions. Leading the fight against capital punishment was the Legal Defense Fun f the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Since 1930, more than half of the people executed in America had been black, even though blacks committed much fewer than half of the crimes. Also, a black man who was convicted of raping a white woman had a much higher likelihood of being executed than a black man is convicted or raping a black woman or a white man convicted or raping either a black or white woman is. Blacks were often tried before a white judge before an all-white juries. The NAACP brought these

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