Furman v. Georgia Brief Amicus Curiae
Public Court Documents
September 23, 1971

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Brief Collection, LDF Court Filings. Furman v. Georgia Brief Amicus Curiae, 1971. 78e6d78a-b29a-ee11-be36-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/7c1b0b2f-2241-4ddc-bef8-fda7514f1ce5/furman-v-georgia-brief-amicus-curiae. Accessed April 19, 2025.
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IN THE Supreme Court of The United States No. 69-5003 W illiam H usky F urman, Petitioner, v . State op Georgia, Respondent. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE T heodore L. S endak Attorney General of Indiana David O. Givens Deputy Attorney General Offices of the Attorney General 219 State House Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 Telephone: 317-633-5512 C entral Publish ing Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind. 46206 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Table of Authorities ...................................................... ii Question presented for review......... ............................ 2 Statement of the case .................................................... 2 Summary of the argum ent.................................. 2 Argument ............................................... 4 Conclusion ................................................. 15 i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases: Page Adams v. State (1971), 271 NE 2d 425 .................... 8 Bailey v. United States (1934), 74 F. 2d 451......... . 7 Robinson v. California (1962), 370 U.S. 660 ........... 4 Troy v. Dulles (1958), 356 U.S. 86 ..........................3, 5,6 Weems v. United States (1910), 217 U.S. 349 ............. 8 Miscellaneous: Barshay, Sr. Schol. 71:6 .............................. 15 Gerstein, J. Crim. L. 51:252 (1961) ......................... 10 Harvard Law Review, 79:635 (1966) ........................ 8,9 Parry, History of Torture in England 9 (1934) ......... 5 Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, Report 18, note 15 ....................................................................... 13 Sendak, Vital Speeches of the Day, July 1, 1971 . .11,12,13 Sherman, 14 Crim and Delinquency 73, (1968) ......... 5 William & Mary, Sess 2, Ch. 2 ..................................... 4 United States Constitution: Fifth Amendment ................................................... Passim Eighth Amendment ............................................... Passim Fourteenth Amendment ................ Passim Indiana Constitution: Article I, Section 16 .................................................... 1 Indiana Statutes: IC 1971 35-1-46-9 et. seq. (Burns’ Section 9-2236 et. seq.) ................................................ 2 ii IN THE Supreme Court of The United States No. 69-5003 W illiam H enry F urman, Petitioner, v. State oe Georgia, Respondent. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE The interest of the State of Indiana is in the preserva tion of the Indiana Constitution and statutes that are directly analogous to those in question. In the Bill of Rights of the Indiana Constitution, at Section 16, it is pro vided that: “ Excessive bail shall not .be required. Excessive fines shall not be imposed. Gruel and unusual punishments 1 2 shall not he inflicted. All penalties shall he propor tioned to the nature of the offense.” (My emphasis.) Indiana statutes, IC 1971, 35-1-46-9, as found in Bums’ (1956 Repl.) Section 9-2236 et. seq. provide for the death penalty by electrocution. QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW Whether Georgia’s statute allowing the death penalty for a conviction of. first, degree murder constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitu tion. ■ STATEMENT OF THE CASE The Statement of the Case contained in the Brief of Respondent is accurate and concise and is referred to here. ; y . v /; ;; . . - : / ■' » SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT Capital punishment is not “ cruel and unusual punish ment’’ in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The framers of the Bill of Rights had in mind the abolishment of other penalties such as those attributed to the infamous English Court of Star Chamber. The Fifth Amendment, which was ratified at the same time as the Eighth Amendment, only requires that due process be observed in assessing the ultimate penalty. The intent of the framers is to be found in the explicit language of the Fifth Amendment and not in the nebulous “ cruel and unusual punishment” phrase contained in the Eighth Amendment; which has until this day defied precise def inition. 3 Petitioners argue that the “ cruel and unusual punish ment” clause should be viewed from the ‘! evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” 1 In their view, a majority of the population is. opposed to capital punishment and, because of this, the penalty is no longer acceptable. Yet at the same time, they argue that neither legislation nor constitutional amend ment is an effective means for changing the law because public feeling is not strong enough to compel change, either in Congress or the state legislatures. By this reason ing, they attempt to justify: change in the law through judicial action rather than by proper legislation or consti tutional amendment. Capital punishment is a deterrent to future crime. It' is argued by opponents that statistical evidence refutes1 this reasonable conclusion. However, the statistics which form the basis of the petitioner’s argument omit all the essential subjective variables and are therefore of limited value. This issue is far too important to be decided ex clusively by bare statistics'. Capital punishment was contemplated by the framers of the Bill of Rights and the concept was re-affirmed in 1869 when the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment borrowed the explicit language of the Fifth Amendment which allows the death penalty provided due process, has) been, observed. ... . 1 Trop v. Dulles (1958), 356 U.S. 86, 101 ARGUMENT The issue involves a question of whether capital punish ment is in violation of the “ cruel and unusual punish ment” clause of the U. S. Constitution, Eighth Amend ment. This amendment provides that: “ Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments in flicted. ’ ’ The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States included capital punishment in its scope. Histori cally the Fifth and Eighth Amendments were ratified to gether as part of the Bill of Eights. The Fifth Amend ment states in part, that: “ No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; . . . ” This same language appears again in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which states, in part, that: “ . . . nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; . . .”2 The Eighth Amendment was adopted as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791. This wording initially appeared in the Act of Parliament of 1688,3 to abolish the atrocities of the English .Court of the Star Chamber. In that “ judicial” body, confessions were extracted in open court 2 Robinson v. California (1962), 370 US 660 3 William and Mary, Sess. 2, ch. 2 at 192 (1869) 4 5 through various diabolical means, and the punishments that were meted out included the loss of ears for perjurers, face branding and nose splitting for forgers and con spirators, and whipping for those guilty.of “ unnatural” offenses.4 The adoption of the Eighth Amendment ver batim from the 1688 Act of Parliament, with no reported controversy, would suggest that it was intended to apply to the kinds of medieval torture described above.5 Courts which have heard questions of “ cruel and un usual punishment” have refused to follow the inflexible theory that cruel and unusual punishment must be de termined by the same standards that were in effect at the time of the drafting of the Bill of Rights. They have con tinually applied a less rigid standard of “ a developing and maturing society.” Opponents of capital punishment have ignored this judicial test and have erroneously stated that our society has progressed to the point that capital punishment is no longer acceptable. Chief Justice Warren, in the majority opinion in Trop v. Dulles (1958), 356 U.S. 86, 100, explained that: “ The exact scope of the constitutional phrase ‘.cruel and unusual’ has not been detailed by this court. But the basic policy reflected in these words is firmly es tablished in the Anglo-American tradition of criminal justice. The phrase in our Constitution was taken directly from the English Declaration of Rights of 1688, and the principle it represents can be traced back to the Magna Carta. The basic concept under lying the Eighth Amendment is nothing less than the dignity of man. While the state has the power to pun ish, the Amendment stands to assure that this power be exercised within the limits of civilized standards.” 4 Parry, “The History of Torture in England,” 9 (1934)" ' 5 Sherman, “----Nor Cruel and Unusual Punishments In flicted,” 14 Crime and Delinquency 73, (1968) 6 Indeed, in the same decision, Trop v. Dulles, supra, Chief Justice Warren expressly recognized the necessity of the retention of capital punishment where the offense requires its imposition. He stated that: “Fines, imprisonment and even execution may be im posed depending upon the enormity of the crime, but any technique outside the bounds of these traditional penalties is constitutionally suspect . . . The Amend ment must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” (My emphasis.) It must be emphasized that although Chief Justice Warren recognized the flexible standard of contemporary society, he did not find that capital punishment was un constitutional when the facts of the case showed that the death penalty was proportionate to the severity of the crime. In the case presently being considered, the death penalty was imposed as a just and proportionate punish ment for a cold-blooded and wanton murder. Opponents have never presented sufficient evidence to show that opposition to the death penalty is, indeed, as widespread as they would have us believe. Chief Justice Warren, in Trop v. Dulles, supra, at 99, further stated that: “ Whatever the arguments may be against capital punishment, both on moral grounds and in terms of accomplishing the purposes of punishment—and they are forceful—the death penalty has been employed throughout our history, and, in a day when it is still widely accepted, it cannot be said to violate the con stitutional concept of cruelty.” (My emphasis.) At this point, opponents introduce numerous polls to show that a certain percent of the population is opposed 7 to capital punishment. Without going into the myriad of problems inherent in these polls and the accuracy of their findings, one point remains a mystery. If the anticapital punishment advocates are so sure of public opinion, why are they not willing to submit this question to the voters in a referendum; or why do they feel that state and federal legislators are not sufficiently in tune to realize the alleged feeling against this punishment! The fallacy in the reasoning of the opponents is quite obvious. They con tinually talk of the ‘great movement’ to abolish the death penalty. They say that since the citizens of the United States are against this punishment, it no longer meets the “ standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” At the same time, they state that this change must be initiated through the courts as public opinion is not sufficiently strong to influence this change through legislation. Obviously, one of their con clusions is erroneous, and they are asking the Court to usurp this legislative function. The fixing of penalties for crimes has always been a legislative function, and courts should intervene only when the legislative discretion is violated. In Bailey v. U.S. (1934), 74 P. 2d 451, the opinion of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals stated that: “ The fixing of penalties for crimes is a legislative function. What constitutes an adequate penalty is a matter of legislative judgment and discretion, and the courts will not intervene therewith unless the penalty prescribed is clearly and manifestly cruel and un usual.” (A reading of cases in this area fails to develop an ade quate definition of “ cruel and unusual.” Also, the courts which have considered whether there is a difference be 8 tween “ cruel” and “ unusual” have not arrived at a pre cise distinction between the two terms.) The dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice White in Weems v. U.S. (1910), 217 U.S. 349, stated that: “ This interpretation curtails the legislative power of Congress to define and punish crime by asserting a right of judicial supervision over the exertion of that power, in disregard of the distinction between the legislative and judicial departments of Government.” In Adams v. State (1971), 271 NE 2d 425, the Indiana Supreme Court viewed its function as follows: “ We feel the question in our jurisdiction hardly needs to be discussed, since precedent and authority have determined the question against the position taken by the appellant; and although a judge may personally not approve the punishment fixed by the legislature for some crimes, it is not the judge’s privilege, be cause he does not agree with the legislative policy, to attempt to nullify legislative enactment. We would be violating our oaths and stepping outside our juris dictional function to do so.” The entire argument of the desirability of legislative change or judicial decision was summarized in 79 Harvard Law Review 635, 639 (1966): “ In light of these difficulties and the uniform au thority sustaining capital punishment, to hold that it is a method of punishment wholly prohibited by the eighth amendment would be to confuse possible legislative desirability with constitutional require ments.” The desire of some advocates for social change should not be confused with the desire of the entire nation for a constitutional amendment. How can capital punishment 9 be abolished by a judicial tribunal, albeit the United States Supreme Court, without, in effect, amending the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments? Since the death pen alty is not cruel and unusual, any change ought to be sought through legislation or by a constitutional amend ment. There are several reasons for the privacy, not secrecy, of legal executions in the United States. An execution has a deterrent effect only to the degree that a person con templating the crime has knowledge of the penalty at tached to the crime committed. In this day and age, this knowledge is not acquired by means of public executions. Are the opponents so naive as to think the potential crim inal is unaware of the death penalty unless he is re minded by a public execution? The privacy of executions is evidence that as a develop ing and maturing society, we are simply insuring the dignity of man. There is no reason to put the families of those sentenced to execution through the traumatic experi ence of a public display since the deterrent effect is the knowledge that the death penalty is imposed. Any reason able person dislikes confinement but this attitude does not buttress the conclusion that he is against imprison ment for crime or that he wishes to abolish sentences of incarceration. It is well to remind ourselves of the purpose of legal punishment itself. “ Punishment is ordinarily justified under a utilitarian theory as being necessary for the achievement of a long-range benefit.”6 The long range benefit discussed in relation to punishment is its deterrent effect, which is often defined as the preventive effect 6 Harvard Law Review, 79:635 (1965-66) 10 which actual or threatened punishment of offenders has upon potential offenders. This principle has always in fluenced our penal codes and is largely responsible for the lawful and justified use of capital punishment. Bichard M. Gerstein, State Attorney for Dade County, Miami, Florida, stated that: “ As do many members of our profession, I take the position that deterrence is necessary for the mainte nance of the legal system and the preservation of society, as clearly stated by Sir John Salmond: ‘ Punishment is before all things deterrent, and the chief end of the law of crime is to make the evil doer an example and a warning to all who are likeminded with him.’ ” 7 The deterrent effect of the death penalty is a vital con sideration in discussing the necessity of its retention. The basic question to be considered here is the deterrent effect on potential offenders. In other words, does the knowl edge that he may be executed have a discernible influence on the potential murderer’s decision to commit the murder or the felony that leads to the murder. It is the contention of a vast majority of prosecutors that the deterrent effect of capital punishment is significant. Forgetting for the moment the wealth of evidence available to substantiate its deterrent effect, we should rely more on the prac titioner instead of the academic reformer. We should be lieve the person who deals with the accused murderer in the real-life situation, rather than the person who has an alyzed what he would or should have done in a clinical psychological vacuum. 7 Gerstein, J. Crim. L. 51:252 (1961) 11 Vital Speeches of the Day recently carried the following pertinent observations from a presentation on law enforce ment : “ The propaganda drive to abolish capital punishment appears to be a geared part of a general drive toward leniency in the treatment of criminals in our society. Such leniency has, in my opinion, had un deniable psychological impact on potential murderers, and has contributed to the upward spiral of the crime rate. There is a striking over-all correlation between the recent decline in the use of the death penalty and the rise in violent crime. Such crime has increased by geometric proportions. In the first three years of the last decade, the number of executions in the United States was by present . standards relatively high. Fifty-six persons were exe cuted in 1960; 42 in 1961; and 47 in 1962. During these same three years the number of people who died violently at the hands of criminals actually declined and the murder rate per 100,000 of population also declined. Beginning in 1963, however, there was a drop in the number of legal executions, and the graph line of violent crime simultaneously began moving up instead of down. In the following years the number of legal executions has decreased dramatically from one year to the next, until in 1968 there was none at all. But each of those years has seen murders increase sharply both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of popu lation. In 1964, for example, the number of legal executions dropped to 15. Yet the number of violent deaths moved up from 8,500 to 9,250, and the murder rate per 100,000 went up from 4.5 to 4.8. In 1965, the num ber of legal executions dropped to seven, while the number of violent deaths increased to 9,850, and the murder rate went to 5.1. Similar decreases in legal 12 executions have occurred in the following years ac companied by similar increases in the murder rate. In 1968, with no legal executions at all, the total number who died through criminal violence reached 13,650, while the murder rate climbed to 6.8 per 100,000. The movement in these figures, with murders increas ing as the deterrence of the death penalty diminished, confirms the verdict of ordinary logic: That a relaxa tion in the severity and certainty of punishment leads only to an increase in crime. These remarks concern the deterrent effect of the death penalty on those who might commit murder but do not. That is a negative phenomenon which can be inferred both from the record and the assessment of common sense. The repeal of the death penalty would not repeal human nature. To these truisms we may add the fact that there are numerous cases on record in which criminals have escaped the capital penalty for previous murders and gone on to commit others . . . Is a course of action humanitarian which actually en courages a vast and continuing increase in the number of people killed and maimed and otherwise brutal ized? There have been many sentimental journeys into the psychological realm of the criminals who are to be executed; I think there should be more sympathetic concern expressed for the thousands of innocent vic tims of those criminals. Opponents of the death penalty may rejoice that in 1968 there were 47 fewer murderers executed in this country than was the case in 1962; but, do they say anything of the fact that some 5,150 more innocent persons died by criminal violence in 1968 than was the case in 1962? In the question of human suffering, this is a stagger ing loss of more than 5,000 individual innocent lives. 13 What about the human rights and civil rights of the individual victim? Are not those 5,000 persons en titled to the dignity and sacredness of life! Is that a result of which humanitarians can be proud? I think, not. Only misguided emotionalism., and not facts, dispute the truth that the death penalty is a deterrent to capital crime. Individuals must be held responsible for their indi vidual actions if a free society is to endure.”8 Additionally, the Royal Commission on Capital Punish ment made the following finding in relation to deterrence and. the abolition of capital punishment: “ The general conclusion which we reach, after care ful review of all the evidence we have been able to obtain as to the deterrent effect of capital punish ment, may be stated as follows. Prima facie the pen alty of death is likely to have stronger effect as a de terrent to normal beings than any other form of punishment and there is some evidence (though no convincing statistical evidence) that this is in fact so.” (My emphasis.)9 The statistics used to minimize the deterrent effect of capital punishment categorically omit the essential vari ables that would have, otherwise, given these statistics some meaning. One of the most glaring omissions from the statistical standpoint is the input of common sense. If the death penalty is no more of a deterrent than life imprisonment, as the opponents would have us believe, 8 Sendak, Vital Speeches of the Day, Vol. 38, No. 18, page 574, (July 1, 1971) 9 Royal Commission on Capita] Punishment, Report 18, note 15 at page 24. 14 why do convicted murderers exhaust all legal barriers in attempting to get a death sentence commuted to life im prisonment! They want us to believe that at the time just prior to and during the act, the criminal sees no dis cernible difference between life and death, but upon ap prehension, he suddenly feels the importance of life imprisonment. It is the contention of this Amicus Curiae that deductive, reasoning leads to the conclusion that in view of the importance of life imprisonment over the death penalty to those who are awaiting execution, this same importance must, either' consciously or sub consciously, be in the mind of the potential slayer as he is preparing to perpetrate his crime. It is, therefore, a deterrent.. ; _ Further evidence of the unreliable nature of the op ponents’ statistics on the deterrent effect of the death penalty is that none of their statistics shows the number of persons who were aware that they could be put to death for their act, and for that reason decided not to perpetrate the crime. Their statistics only show the failure, i.e. the persons who were not deterred and actually committed the crime. No one can reduce to cold, impersonal, statisticaj.. columns: the number: of persons who have refrained from: murder because of Tear of the death penalty. There is’nd way to : gauge this most essential variable. Judge Hyman Barshay had this fact in mind when he made the follow ing observation: “ The death penalty is a warning, just like h light- v.: house throwing.its. beam.out ,to. ,sea. .We hear abqut the shipwrecks, but we do not hear aboyl jj*ei. ships' 15 that the lighthouse guides safely on their way. We do not have proof of the number of ships it saves, but we do not tear the lighthouse down.”10 CONCLUSION Capital punishment is not in violation of the United States Constitution. Attackers of the death penalty rely on the ambiguous and elusive “ cruel and unusual punish ment” clause of the Eighth. Amendment in the attempt to have it declared unconstitutional. These attackers ig nore the explicit language of the contemporaneous Fifth, and Fourteenth, Amendments that recognize capital pun ishment provided due process is observed. Those who wish to abolish capital punishment say, with out proof, that it is now offensive to the general popula tion. If and when the voice of the people is strongly against capital punishment, their representatives in Congress and the legislature will change the laws and amend the Constitution to abolish it. There have been, to date, twenty-six amendments to the United States Constitution which clearly shows that there is no necessity for the Judiciary to take over that procedure instead of utilizing the prescribed procedures for constitutional amendment. Opponents of capital punishment document their case with statistics which are intended to show that there is no deterrent effect in the death penalty. But strong sta tistics also buttress support of capital punishment. Capital punishment is, in fact a deterrent and is not in violation of the United States Constitution. 10 Sr. Schol., Capital Punishment: Pro and Con. 71:6. Therefore, the decision of the Georgia Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of capital punishment for conviction of first degree murder should he affirmed. Respectfully submitted, T heodore L. S en d a k Attorney General of Indiana D avid 0 . Giv e n s Deputy Attorney General Offices of the Attorney General 219 State House Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 Telephone: 317-633-5512 \ EDC? 6 l 6 / S p r i n g , 1978 Huffm an S tudy- Q u e s t io n s f o r C l i e n t - C e n te r e d T h erap y 1 . Do you b e l i e v e t h a t m ost c l i e n t s have th e c a p a c i ty to u n d e rs ta n d and r e s o l v e t h e i r own p ro b lem s w ith o u t d i r e c t i v e ty p e s o f i n t e r v e n t i o n by th e c o u n s e lo r ? Why o r why n o t? 2 . What p ro b lem s do you s e e f o r th e c o u n s e lo r who o n ly s u p e r f i c i a l l y a c c e p t s th e key c o n c e p ts and p h ilo s o p h y o f th e c l i e n t - c e n t e r e d a p p ro a c h ? Can a c o u n s e lo r who d o e s n 't f u l l y em brace t h a t p h i l o so p h y r e a l l y be e l l e n t - c e n t e r e d ? 3 . Do you t h i n k t h a t th e c l i e n t - c o u n s e l o r r e l a t i o n s h i p o f th e c l i e n t - c e n t e r e d m odel i s s u f f i c i e n t to e f f e c t b e h a v io r and p e r s o n a l i t y c h a n g e s i n th e c l i e n t ? Why o r why n o t? k . I n i t s s t r e s s on th e a c t i v e r o l e o f th e c l i e n t , do you se e th e a p p ro a c h a s r e l o c a t i n g th e c o u n s e lo r to a p a s s iv e r o l e ? E x p la in . 5 . Do you b e l i e v e t h a t m in im iz in g te c h n iq u e s and s t r e s s i n s c l i e n t - c o u n s e lo r r e l a t i o n s h i p s a r e s t r e n g t h s o r w e ak n e sse s in th e a p p ro a c h ? E x p la in . 6 . W hat, i n you v iew , a r e th e m a jo r s t r e n g t h s and w e ak n e sses o f th e c l i e n t - c e n t e r e d a p p ra c h ? E x p la in . 7 . R o v ers a d v o c a te s a p h e n o m e n o lo g ic a l a p p ro a c h n o t o n ly to h c o u n s e l in g b u t a l s o to r e s e a r c h . Can "p h e n o m e n o lo g ic a l kn o w led g e" be a c c e p ta b l e a s s c i e n t i f i c d a ta ? Why o r why n o t? . P r a c t i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n s - you sh o u ld be a b le t o : a ) i d e n t i f y i n c o n g r u i t i e s o r i n c o n s i s t e n c i e s i n what t h e c l i e n t s a y s o r does ( v e r b a l s and n o n - v e r b a l s ) and , b) u n d e r s t a n d t h e c l i e n t ' s i n t e r n a l f r ame o f r e f e r e n c e . 8