PAYNE V. TENNESSEE This research paper summariz

By the mid-1980s, most state courts and federal courts as a result of legislation sponsored by the victims' rights movement, allowed or mandated that VISs be admitted into evidence at capital crime sentencing hearings. In Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496 (1987), the Supreme Court ruled five to four that such use of VISs constituted a per se violation of the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In South Carolina v. Gathers, 490 U.S. 805 (1989), the Court extended that ban to comments by prosecutors thereon. Only two years later, in Payne, the Court by a six to three margin reversed itself. This volte face reflected the increasingly conservative composition of the Court and its willingness to allow federal and state juries greater latitude in capital sentencing cases. Since Payne, the widespread use of VISs in such proceedings has narrowed the constitutional rights of the accused in capital cases and facilitated the imposition of the death penalty. Sound public policy considerations suggest that legislative and/or judicial safeguards be adopted to prevent the indiscriminate use of VISs in capital cases.

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uld flow from his crime (819-821). 2. The VIS evidence could not and was not used to show that Payne should be put to death because the lives of some victims are valued more highly than others, but rather to show the uniqueness of those victims. Justice David Souter in oral argument had asked the Tennessee Attorney General whether "it really is legitimate to value victims differently depending upon the circumstances of the lives they have chosen to lead" (Shapiro 61). The AG replied: "there can be no doubt that the taking of the life of a President creates much more social harm than the taking of the life of a homeless person" (Shapiro 61). 3. The harm done to the victims is an aggravating factor which in fairness to them and the state should be admissible just as the defendant can introduce mitigating factors. 4. Normally the state legislatures should be free of interference by the courts to determine what evidence juries should consider in deciding whether to impose the death penalty in capital cases. Rehnquist said the VIS
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Approximate Word count = 5459
Approximate Pages = 22 (250 words per page)