The Supreme Court is willing to allow mandatory death penalty statutes as long as they are confined to a special category of victim, such as the killing of a police officer.

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The Supreme Court declared mandatory death penalty statutes unconstitutional in 1976, in Woodson v. North Carolina. It held that mandatory capital punishment violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court has subsequently held that any death penalty system must allow for consideration of the individual circumstances of the crime and the defendant. There is no special category of victim for which a mandatory death penalty would be constitutional.

The Supreme Court Is Willing to Allow Mandatory Death Penalty