Coker v. Georgia

Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court death-penalty decision concerning proportionality and non-homicide offenses.

Background

The case reached the Supreme Court through a capital prosecution and required the justices to define how constitutional protections apply when a state seeks or carries out a death sentence. It sits within the modern line of cases interpreting the Eighth Amendment and, where relevant, the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Supreme Court ruling

The death penalty was grossly disproportionate for the rape of an adult woman where the victim was not killed.

Why it matters

The decision became part of the operating constitutional framework for American capital punishment. Later courts, defense lawyers, prosecutors and corrections agencies have had to account for its rule when evaluating death eligibility, sentencing procedure or execution protocols.

Citation

433 U.S. 584 (1977) — decided 1977-06-29.

Sources

– U.S. Supreme Court — Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977) (opinion via Justia)