A more thorough explanation:

Definition: Woodson v. North Carolina (1976) is a U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled North Carolina's mandatory death penalty for individuals convicted of first-degree murder violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court held that the law was unconstitutional because it departed from contemporary standards and provided no standards to guide juries in their exercise of the power to determine life or death. The Court also required individualized considerations of the offense and offender to respect human dignity.

Example: North Carolina state law required the death penalty for all individuals convicted of first-degree murder, regardless of the circumstances of the crime or the offender's background. Woodson was charged with first-degree murder for his participation in an armed robbery where the cashier was killed. He argued that he was coerced into participating, but the jury convicted him of first-degree murder. Woodson challenged his conviction on the grounds that the mandatory death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Explanation: The example illustrates how North Carolina's mandatory death penalty law applied to Woodson's case and how he challenged it on constitutional grounds. The Court's ruling in Woodson v. North Carolina established that mandatory death penalty laws violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment because they do not provide individualized considerations of the offense and offender. The ruling also required states to provide some standards to guide juries in their exercise of the power to determine life or death.