Capital Punishment: Just Say No This essay will show that the United States is on a rampage. Since capital punishment was reinstated by the Supreme Court in Gregg v. Georgia (Gregg) of 1976, more than 525 men and women were executed by the state. Since 1996, more than 150 such executions have occurred. Today there are 3,500 people on death row, waiting their turn next to the executioner. Capital punishment has existed throughout much of our nation's history. By the mid-1960s, however, public opposition to the death penalty had reached an all-time high, and the practice was banned by the Supreme Court in Furman v. . Georgia Decision (Furman). The Court found that state death penalty laws lacked any standard and therefore gave too much discretion to individual judges and juries to impose the ultimate punishment. Soon after the Furman decision, states began passing new laws that provided sentencing guidelines for juries. The Supreme Court had another opportunity to address the issue of capital punishment in 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia, and determined that "the death penalty does not invariably violate the Constitution." Since this ruling, capital punishment rates have grown exponentially in the United States. In 1994, the Federal Death Penalty Act authorized the death penalty for more than 60 crimes, including some crimes that do not involve murder. Furthermore, the Anti-Terrorism and Death Penalty Effectiveness Act of 1996 created new barriers to effective federal oversight of constitutional claims in capital cases. Congress and many states have also cut funding for most death row inmates representing…half of the document…just two. Southern states, particularly Texas (443 death row inmates in 1999), issue significantly more death sentences than the rest of the country. California, the state with the largest penal system, had 513 inmates on death row in the spring of 1999. Such state-to-state disparities exist because death penalty laws are a patchwork of disparate standards, rules and practices, and the consequence is the difference between life and death. Additionally, some prosecutors are more zealous than others in seeking the death penalty, particularly if they are running for re-election. /www.thinkquest.org/library/lib/site_sum_outside.html?tname=2760&url=2760/furman.htmGregg v. Georgia http://www.lectlaw.com/files/case26.htm