Impact

      The case of Furman v. Georgia did not completley abolish the death penalty, but set certain restrictions on it. The supreme court determined that when the death penalty is applied selectively to minorities it is cruel and unusual punishment. Now, courts can not rule differently based on race, gender or anything else. This decision affected at least 600 on death row. Today, almost all of death penalty decisions are for intentional killing.

The graph shows how the death penalty has been used.