Thurgood Marshall

Logan Heusser        

Christian Ethics        

Thurgood Marshall

        Thurgood Marshall was a big part in the Furman v. Georgia (1972) death penalty case. First here is a little history on the death penalty. The death penalty dates back to the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Babylonian era. In America it was brought over by Britain settlers. The first recording of capital punishment in America was in 1612. Then skip a couple of hundred years and in 1966 the support for capital punishment was almost completely extinct. Also helping to dispute the death penalty was the 8th amendment, which states that cruel and unusual punishment was prohibited. Then came around the case of Furman v. Georgia (1972) and they believed that capital punishment was not a cruel or unusual punishment for the crimes committed (rape/murder). Thurgood Marshall, a Supreme Court justice, was in strong disagreement with the death penalty. He it points in every which way during this court case to disprove that the death penalty was the right punishment for the crimes committed.^[a]

        There are two main points in his first argument. One that under the eighth amendment, the death penalty is excessive, meaning it is unconstitutional. Two is that it is morally unacceptable.^[b] The constitution is the biggest form of law in our national government. So if the death penalty is unconstitutional, with the exception of air piracy resulting in death, then it should not be allowed to be an acceptable punishment. Also he states that most of the population that is uneducated on the death penalty would more than likely change their view on the death penalty if they were to be educated about it. Also the people are not the ones with the final say on the punishment. So they are not completely aware of the moral side of capital punishment. One because then you start to realize, who are you the one that gets to decide if this criminal get to live or get sent to the death bed. Two is you never know how bad you will fill guilty in a moral sense for sending someone to death, and in a way committing murder, which is what you just sent this criminal to death for. ^[c]

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