''South Carolina v. Gathers'', 490 U.S. 805 (1989), was a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case which held that testimony in the form of a

victim impact statement A victim impact statement is a written or oral statement made as part of the judicial legal process, which allows crime victims the opportunity to speak during the sentencing of the convicted person or at subsequent parole hearings. Overview One ...

is admissible during the

sentencing In law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences for mult ...

phase of a

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

only if it directly relates to the "circumstances of the crime." This case was later overruled by the Supreme Court decision in ''

Payne v. Tennessee ''Payne v. Tennessee'', 501 U.S. 808 (1991), was a United States Supreme Court case which held that testimony in the form of a victim impact statement is admissible during the sentencing phase of a trial and, in death penalty cases, does not viola ...

''..

Decision

In a

majority opinion In law, a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision. Not all cases have ...

by Justice Brennan, the Court held that '' Booth v. Maryland'' (1987) left open the possibility that the kind of information contained in victim impact statements could be admissible if it "relate directly to the circumstances of the crime." Though South Carolina asserted that such was the case, the Court disagreed, and held that the content of the cards at issue was irrelevant to the "circumstances of the crime." Justice O'Connor authored a dissenting opinion, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and

Justice Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Preside ...

Justice Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectua ...

also dissented and expressly argued that '' Booth v. Maryland'' should be overruled.

Aftermath

The impact of the case was somewhat short-lived, as two years later, the Rehnquist Court decided ''Payne'', which has had a significant impact in victim's rights,

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

, and the lives of the parties involved.

References

External links

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Discussion of the death penalty
{{US8thAmendment United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court 1989 in United States case law Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause and death penalty case law Victimology Capital punishment in South Carolina

Decision

Aftermath

See also

References

External links