The US Supreme Court's 1976 decision in Gregg v. Georgia allowed capital punishment to resume in the United States after the 1972 Furman v. Georgia ruling had suspended it.

Is it true that the US Supreme Court's 1976 decision in Gregg v. Georgia allowed capital punishment to resume in the United States after the 1972 Furman v. Georgia ruling had suspended it?

Yes. One reference source states that Furman v. Georgia produced a de facto moratorium on capital punishment nationwide and that most rewritten state death penalty laws were upheld in the 1976 case Gregg v. Georgia, covering both halves of the claim. Other items confirm Gregg upheld capital punishment or that the death penalty returned after Gregg, but do not themselves address the Furman suspension.

Verdict: SUPPORTED · 4 sources for, 0 against · Last checked 2 Oct 2026

The private library was unavailable for some searches in this check. Missing library results are not evidence against the claim.

Furman v. Georgia - Wikipedia. (n.d.). en.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furman_v._Georgia

Gregg v. Georgia (1976). (2004). georgiaencyclopedia.org. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/gregg-v-georgia-1976/

Furman v. Georgia. (2023). doi.org. https://doi.org/10.3735/9781935306870.book-part-059

“‘A New Death Row’: Facing death in U.S. prisons in the first decade of the AIDS crisis”. (2026). hal.science. https://hal.science/hal-05698173v1