A Brief Moratorium

   In 1972, the United State's Supreme Court ceased all executions when it decided in the case Furman v. Georgia, that the death penalty as administered was racially biased, and that it violated the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the 8th Amendment. 

   However, the decision was reversed by the Supreme Court in 1976 in the case Gregg v. Georgia, once Georgia and other states had changed their sentencing proceedures in an attempt to standardize administration of the death penalty. Gregg established a two-part trial for defendants, consisting of a trial to establish guilt and a separate hearing for sentencing. If sentenced to death, the defendant automatically receives an appeal to the state's highest court*.

   These measures taken by the states were deemed a good enough assurance for the Supreme Court that death penalty sentences would be less arbitrary and racially biased, and more based on viciousness of the actual crime that occured. Despite however well intentioned these efforts were, they haven't proven as effective as the Supreme Court or society would like.