The death penalty framework in Gregg v. Georgia was later reconsidered in which case?

• A. Roe v. Wade
• B. Zurcher v. Stanford Daily
• C. Furman v. Georgia
• D. Plyler v. Doe

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is how the Court’s approach to the death penalty changed through the early 1970s. In Furman v. Georgia, the Court struck down existing death-penalty statutes because the way sentences were being imposed was arbitrary and thus unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. That ruling forced a complete rethinking of how death sentences could be validly issued, leading to revised statutes and procedures. When those revisions were challenged, the Court upheld them in Gregg v. Georgia, allowing the death penalty to continue under a guided-discretion framework. So Furman v. Georgia is the case that set the reconsideration in motion, prompting the Gregg framework. The other listed cases address topics unrelated to death penalty jurisprudence.