Capital punishment is defined as the obligation of the death penalty by the state. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court voided all federal and state laws calling for the death penalty on grounds that it was a violation of the 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but in 1976 this ruling would change. In 1976 the Supreme Court abolished the ruling from 1972, holding that "the punishment of death does not invariably violate the Constitution." The Court ruled that the new death penalty statutes contained "objective standards to guide, regularize, and make rationally reviewable the proc…
