The debate over whether capital punishment should be legal continues to birth controversy in America. According to Laura E. Randa, the first reforms of the death penalty occurred at the hands of Thomas Jefferson (4). The most recent objections are tied to the Supreme Court cases of Furman vs. Georgia and Gregg vs. Georgia. Both cases took place in the 1970s. In his research, Barry Latzer explains that the death penalty was found unconstitutional in 1972 with the Furman case (19). Frank G. Carrington points out that Furman had initially intended to commit a felony burglary, but when the owner of the house startled Furman, he shot and killed the owner accidentally (158). The administration of the death penalty at the time of Furman vs. Georgia violated the cruel and unusual punishments provisions of the Eighth Amendment (Latzer 19). Furman won the case, on the grounds that the death of the house owner was accidental, and the ruling produced a new definition of the death penalty (Carrington 169). The new definition states "that punishment would be considered 'cruel and unusual' if any of the following were present: 1) it was too severe for the crime; 2) it was arbitrary; 3) it offends society's sense of justice; 4) it was not more effective than a less severe penalty" (Randa 10). The outcome of the case against Furman left confusion for many years (Latzer 45). Four years later in 1976, the case of Gregg vs. Georgia proved that the death penalty was not cruel and unusual in all cases (Randa 10). Unlike
             Furman who had accidentally killed, Gregg robbed and murdered two men (Carrington 181). After the ruling of both cases, a law was set up stating, "if you are committing a felony and someone is murdered in the process, you are guilty of capital murder" (Carrington 158). Generally, Americans support the death penalty and believe that the punishment of a crime should equal the crime committed, that execution is less expensive than housing...