On this day, June 29, in 1972

The Supreme Court, in Furman v. Georgia, declared all federal and state death penalty laws to be unconstitutional. Their decision stated that the death penalty was used arbitrarily and lacked consistency, even naming it cruel and unusual. It was also argued by a few Supreme Court Justices that racial bias was involved in the application of capital punishment, although the Court's final statement refused to acknowledge any truth to this. Four years later, the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, and now 37 states, the federal government, and the military all endorse capital punishment; and for some reason, people of color still make up an extremely disproportionate number of death row inmates.