1. Gregg vs. Georgia Ethan Reinheimer 10/28/13 Block 2

2. Name and Year The official name of the case is “Gregg vs. Georgia” The official year the case was heard and decided was 1976

3. Public Policy Criticism from the Arbitrary Administration of Capital Punishment led to judicial challenges based on the Eighth Amendment. Saying that capital punishment is cruel and unusual. Georgia wanted to address these concerns and its legislature passed a comprehensive -death -penalty- reform law. In this new law were 14 aggravating circumstances any of which could justify the death penalty.

4. Georgia (Plaintiff) Georgia charged Tony Gregg with two counts of armed robbery and murder. There was evidence of aggravating circumstances to back up these charges. They found Tony Gregg guilty and charged him with the death penalty. The jury found beyond a reasonable doubt and these two crimes sustained the death penalty.

5. Tony Gregg (Defendant) When the jury found Tony Gregg guilty he appealed to the Georgia Supreme court. The Georgia Supreme court upheld the decision but only for the second aggravating circumstance. Gregg appealed to the U.S. supreme court.

6. Amicus Curiae Briefs Arthur M. Michaelson filed a brief for Amnesty International as amicus curiae for a reversal on the final verdict. But it did not get reversed.

7. U.S. Supreme Court Decision The Supreme court upheld the decision of guilty by a 7-2 vote of the justices. The justices felt it was not inherently cruel and unusual. The precedent of future cases is that the Eighth Amendment incorporated a "basic concept of dignity.“ As long as it was proportional to the severity of the crime, the death penalty was not unconstitutional.

8. Dissenting Opinions There were two dissenting opinions of the justices. Justices Brennan and Marshall dissented on absolutists grounds, arguing that time had passed for the state to execute criminals.

9. Long term affects on Public Policy The death penalty is now constitutional as long as it is proportional to the severity of the crime.

10. Bibliography http://lawbrain.com/wiki/Gregg_v._Georgia http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi- bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=428&invol=153http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi- bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=428&invol=153 http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970- 1979/1975/1975_74_6257/http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970- 1979/1975/1975_74_6257/