Capital punishment was struck down because juries imposed it arbitrarily and freakishly.

Evidence

These death sentences are cruel and unusual in the same way that being struck by lightning is cruel and unusual. For, of all the people convicted of rapes and murders in 1967 and 1968, many just as reprehensible as these, the petitioners are among a capriciously selected random handful upon whom the sentence of death has in fact been imposed. [The Constitution] cannot tolerate the infliction of a sentence of death under legal systems that permit this unique penalty to be so wantonly and so freakishly imposed.’ — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2002

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the course theme of due process shifting with time and the equal-protection/8th Amendment values debate; also the lightning analogy is a famous teachable line for the class. — connects to: Executions concentrate in the South and overwhelmingly involve white victims — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1989; The 1976 Gregg ruling made bifurcated capital trials universal across death-penalty states; Unclear capital sentencing instructions cause jurors dangerous confusion. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1999 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Unclear capital sentencing instructions cause jurors dangerous confusion. #qualifies (0.85) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1999
• Unintelligible sentencing instructions let jurors displace responsibility for death sentences #expands (0.80) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1995
• Jurors displace moral responsibility onto incomprehensible sentencing instructions. #expands (0.78) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1995
• Trial procedure itself biases jurors toward the death penalty after a guilty verdict #complicates (0.70) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2004