Distinguish between the Furman and the Gregg decisions

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Both are U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The Furman decision (Furman v. Georgia, 1972) held that the death penalty, as it was then being administered constituted cruel and unusual punishment because it was applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner. It had the effect of beginning a moratorium on the death penalty but did not abolish capital punishment since the majority opinion was not that the death penalty itself was cruel and unusual—only the way it was being applied. The Gregg decision (Gregg v. Georgia, 1976) served to reinstitute the death penalty in the U.S. since the Court determined that death penalty statutes that used a bifurcated trial where jurors could consider aggravating and mitigating circumstances during the sentencing stage did not violate the Constitution.