Woodson v. North Carolina

Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court death-penalty decision concerning mandatory death penalty statutes.

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

Mandatory death sentences for first-degree murder were unconstitutional because capital sentencing requires individualized consideration.

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

428 U.S. 280 (1976) — decided 1976-07-02.

Sources

– U.S. Supreme Court — Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976) (opinion via Justia)