By Marshall Dayan
The modern death penalty in the United States turned 50 on July 2, 2026. In Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty after having struck down 539 death sentences across the country four years earlier in Furman v. Georgia.
The Court had invalidated the death penalty in 1972 for two reasons: capital punishment was being imposed in an arbitrary and capricious manner; and if not wholly arbitrary, it was being imposed in a racially discriminatory manner.
Both flaws violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The 50th anniversary of Gregg provides a timely opportunity to ask whether the death penalty’s use since that decision has been less arbitrary or less discriminatory.
