The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of the United is one of the shortest amendments, but its understanding has caused many debates. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted (). The 1960s brought challenges to the fundamental legality of the death penalty. Before then, the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments were interpreted as permitting the death penalty (Death Penalty Information Center, 2015). The eighth Amendment was born from the 1689 English Bill of Rights. The Amendment became law in 1791. This amendment was brought upon because of the practice of some judges, who set bails high to avoid having to release defendant's on writs of habeas corpus(). In American practice, bail is determined case-by-case to ensure the defendant's presence at trail. The court takes into account the character of the defendant's and the previous behavior to declared that a bail amount would be "excessive" under the Eighth …show more content…
It was not until the 21 century that the Supreme Court extended this to cover execution of those below 18 year of age and those who have a mental handicap. But they also ruled that other punishments should be considered cruel and unusual under circumstances, as in the 1958 case Trop vs. Dulles (). This case stated that the removal of a person's U.S. citizenship was unconstitutional because it caused them to be total destruction of society. Another case in 1977 was Coker vs. Georgia were the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional, for those found guilty of rape but the victim was not killed, to be sentenced to death (). These additions were a bad debate and highly controversial. In that they failed to take account the American legal history and only looking at cases from the previous
The interpretations and amendments are what shape and form our country in its ability to work smoothly. The Tenth Amendment ratified on december 15, 1791 is responsible for the extremely loose interpretation of the constitution that the United States employs today.
March 15th, 2023 Nicholas Sparacino 8A Social Studies Teacher of North Point Middle School 2275 W Meyer Rd, Wentzville, MO 63385 Dear Mr. Sparacino, Is our country's “most valuable” resource ever meant to exist? Are the banks and money we have now considered…..unconstitutional? After the USA became independent in 1776, we were put in serious national debt and our founding father Alexander Hamilton wanted to create a national bank to support our economy.
They ruled this because it was deemed as “ Cruel and Unusual Punishment” and was a violation of the eighth
Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens sees the inherent injustices taking place in the United Stated due to the ambiguity of the Constitution. In his book titled Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution, former Justice Stevens discusses these problems, and proposes solutions to these constitutional controversies. Former Justice Stevens recounts a celebration for the fortieth anniversary of an organization formed to maintain friendly relations between Finland and the United States. While in the country, he was confronted with defending the United States’ continued use of the death penalty, an institution Finland has not participated in since 1825. His response, “our decisions upholding the constitutionality of
Sam-The Eighth Amendment ways have always been changed and interpreted throughout years. To begin with the Thompson v. Oklahoma case. Thompson, who was 15 participated in a brutal murder. He was then tried as an adult, and was ruled for the death sentence. However, it was then overturned since he was 15.
In the discussion of the 8th amendment, this paper will examine: the history of the 8th amendment, the interpretations made by courts regarding 8th, and how the 8th affects us today. The Amendment first was ratified in 1791 along with the nine other amendments to form the bill of rights. The bill of rights is used to “lists specific prohibitions on governmental power.” (“Bill of Rights”). By doing this, the government has less power to not make the citizens feel like that even the government has to follow some sort of procedure and would stabilize the power the government has from having either too much or too little.
Does the eighth amendment allow this? The eighth amendment is meant to protect our nation's people from excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment. The meaning and purpose of the eighth amendment has made an enduring impact on our nation. Meaning and Purpose of the Eighth Amendment To begin with, the eighth amendment is very important to the constitution.
And while standing before the Supreme Court on January 17th, 1972, he persistently argued that the death penalty in the state of Georgia did, in fact, violate the United States Constitution. Amsterdam stated how the 8th Amendment discusses that the government is not allowed to constitute cruel and unusual punishment
Despite the theory behind the Eighth Amendment, judges often use excessively high bail amounts to prohibit an arrested individual from getting out of jail. This type of excessive bail is often used for people that have been arrested on suspicion of dealing drugs, murder or other crimes where flight is a real possibility. Many people have argued that this type of high bail violates the Eighth Amendment, but almost all have been unsuccessful. There are also situations in which bail is set at a reasonable amount, but the arrestee still cannot afford to pay the bail. When this happens, the arrested individual must wait to ask the judge to lower the bail amount at a special bail hearing or during the defendant 's first court appearance.
The First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eight and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution all impact criminal procedure in its own significant way. Amendment 14 in my opinion is the foundation for all of those amendments. The 14th amendment defines what it means to be a citizen of the United States. It protects certain rights and privileges of the people.
The Tenth Amendment was first drafted by colonists to ensure that the new form of government they were trying to establish would never have an excessive amount of control over the population. While colonists were under British rule, they constantly encountered the problem of King George lll having total control over every single person. The Tenth Amendment states the federal government only has the rights delegated in the constitution, otherwise, it goes to the people or the states. The government and citizens are aware of their rights because the Supreme Court has ruled laws that go directly to the people, even though it doesn't specify what these powers are. The court case, McCulloch v. Maryland directly references the amendment in 1819.
Our class should study amendment number eight. The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” This amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing unduly harsh penalties on criminal defendants, either as the price for obtaining pretrial release or as punishment for crime after conviction. (Constitutioncenter.org) states that, "The Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause clearly prohibits cruel methods of punishment. " This means that if the federal government tried to bring back the rack, or thumbscrews, or gibbets as types of punishment, such efforts would violate the Eighth Amendment This amendment still
This specific amendment creates debates all over the world because of the death sentence. It raised a lot of questions but it cannot be helped if they do not specify. So with the cruel punishment rhea do not know how to measure how bad the crime is and give criminal the punishment, but then there are cases that people just can’t tolerant and need something more than just jail then the death penalty come in. Some people say it is too cruel or unjust but that is where the debates start. The criminal should pay for what they have done, if they think that the death penalty is cruel for them, they should thinking about how cruel they have hurt a human being.
Many people have experienced the need for this law in the past and had a big impact on cases nationwide. It has saved lives from the mistakes made before this amendment. The judge has the opportunity to assign legal punishments and penalties, but the purpose of this amendment was too protect them from the preposterous punishments like the excessive use of the death penalty for cases not necessary. The history of the amendment actually dates back to the roots of the amendment which was used in the Bill of Rights in 1689. The new amendment made in 1791 was a replica in a way of what was in the Bill of Rights.
It’s Not working out. By:Taija Jones. The 8th amendment says “Excessive bail shall not be required, Nor excessive fines imposed, Nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” . With that being said if the 8th amendment applies for cruel punishments of death penalties then why is it still happening.