| Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations, compiled by James B. Simpson. 1988. |
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| NUMBER: | 1693 |
| AUTHOR: | William J Brennan, Associate Justice, US Supreme Court |
| QUOTATION: | Death is not only an unusually severe punishment, unusual in its pain, in its finality and in its enormity, but it serves no penal purpose more effectively than a less severe punishment; therefore the principle inherent in the clause that prohibits pointless infliction of excessive punishment when less severe punishment can adequately achieve the same purposes invalidates the punishment. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Dissenting opinion in 7-2 ruling that upheld the death penalty, 2 Jul 76 |
| SUBJECTS: | The World: Law: Judicial Opinions |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
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