U.S. Supreme Court
Furman v. Georgia
408 U.S. 238 (1972)
A pivotal case holding that death sentences imposed in an arbitrary and capricious way violate the Eighth Amendment.
Legal Cases
Death penalty cases worth reading at the source.
A growing legal reading list for people who want to understand how courts have shaped capital punishment in the United States and New York.
Death Penalty Cases
Start with the decisions that define the modern legal fight over capital punishment, including New York's own death penalty ruling.
New York Court of Appeals
People v. LaValle
3 N.Y.3d 88 (2004)
A New York Court of Appeals decision that vacated a death sentence and held the state's jury deadlock instruction unconstitutional, making the death penalty unenforceable in New York without legislative repair.
U.S. Supreme Court
Gregg v. Georgia
428 U.S. 153 (1976)
A landmark U.S. Supreme Court case on the modern death penalty and the constitutional rules for guided sentencing.