The Supreme Court Beck v Alabama - Case Study Example

The statute should be carefully drafted to ensure adequate information and guidance to the sentencing authority. For example, the Court struck down the death penalty statute in Lockett v. Ohio because it improperly limited the range of mitigating circumstances available for consideration.3. A bifurcated proceeding, which separates the question of guilt or innocence from sentencing, is preferable to a single hearing that addresses both issues.4. The statute should provide standards to give the sentencing authority specific, detailed guidance in applying the available information.5. The scheme should cause the sentencing authority to focus on the particularized nature of the crime and the individual offender.6. Appellate review by a court of statewide jurisdiction should be available.

Although Georgia's scheme of proportionality review may not be required, the system must guard against sentences wantonly or capriciously imposed."This controversial law is different than in the states which declare capital punishment illegal and do not partake in it. For instance, a crime that would give a person the death penalty in Alabama would not get the death in Alaska, where the death penalty is illegal and not part of the criminal justice system there. Alaska is just one of several states that find the death penalty illegal in their criminal proceedings.

These states would treat such crimes very differently than if the crime took place in Alabama, where the person would be tried for the death penalty.