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Pros And Cons Of The 8th Amendment

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The Eighth Amendment or Amendment VIII of the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights, and declares that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” , thus proscribes disproportionate bails , inequitable and degrading to human dignity sanctions for any types of criminal offenses, as well as monetary penalties that are exceptionally high. Amendment VIII is significant because according to the legal system of the United States of America, an individual accused of a crime is “presumed innocent until proven guilty” and therefore, allowing disproportionate bail amounts to be set, would carry the risk of holding innocent people in custody, sometimes …show more content…

Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the United States Supreme Court defined a cruel and unusual punishment as a punishment that is either overly severe compared to the nature of the crime, or arbitrary, or offensive to society ‘s sense of justice or just not as effective as a lesser sanction that would accomplish the purposes for which the punishment is imposed . Justice William Joseph Brennan Jr. who wrote a concurring opinion for the majority asserted at that time, that "there are, then four principles by which we may determine whether a particular punishment is 'cruel and unusual." He went on stating that the "essential predicate” is that “a punishment must not by its severity be degrading to human dignity", and clarifying further his definition of a “cruel and unusual punishment”, he added that it is “A severe punishment that is obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion." and "A severe punishment that is clearly and totally rejected throughout society.", as well as "A severe punishment that is patently …show more content…

Georgia, making sure that capital punishment sentences could not be administered in a discriminatory or erratic manner, it nonetheless did reaffirm the death penalty in Gregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 153, and subsequently Georgia instituted a "bifurcated trial" system, which means that criminal trials that carry a capital punishment sentence in the state of Georgia would have as sentencing date separate from the conviction day, which would, in turn, be imposed based on aggravating factors and mitigating considerations . Following Georgia example, all the U.S states that were allowing the death penalty rewrote their laws after the model of the "bifurcated trial" system (e.g.

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However, both Atkins and Jones claimed the other shot Nesbitt, rather than themselves. Atkins was convicted of capital murder and related crimes by a Virginia jury and sentenced to death. Affirming, the Virginia Supreme Court relied on Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U. S. 302, in rejecting Atkins' contention that he could not be sentenced to death because he is mentally retarded ("FindLaw's United States Supreme Court case and opinions.", 2017) The Constitutional principles this case is based on the Eight Amendment which says, Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

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The 14th Amendment passed by Congress and the amendment that we created in class show similar and different sections and information. The 14th amendment passed by Congress and our class express pros and cons that affect the United States heavily. The class amendment has a chance of being ratified if some articles/sections are changed. The South would be deeply affected if the amendment was to be passed. Clearly the 14th amendment passed by Congress and by the class would affect the South deeply and heavily.

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Context and Constitutional Question Gregg v. Georgia is a court case that started with the “prosecution for a double murder committed in the course of a robbery”(Coenen, 2004). It was a court case among many others involving the issue of the death penalty. The constitutional question that gave Gregg v. Georgia importance was whether “the imposition of the death sentence prohibited under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment?”(Gregg v. Georgia). The case was basically about if the death penalty violates the 8th and 14th amendment of the constitution because it can be viewed as a punishment that is too cruel or severe, as killing someone over a crime is unusual to some extent. This was the main question of the

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Janise Miescke Govt 2305 7/27/2017 What’s It Mean Anyways

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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.

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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.

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advantage, powerful military leaders which served them nicely in the beginning battles. However motivation for equality drove the Union to victory. Although, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and pushed for the 13th amendment, which he believed was crucial for peace, he did not live to see the abolishment of racial prejudice. The 13th Amendment commands that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, exceptas a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United.

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As the roaring twenties reached their end the battle against alcohol in the United States is just arising to a turning point. With serious controversy over the Volstead Act the country was greatly divided. There was also the extreme rising occurrences of crime, the creation of gangs and a newly established, unorganized criminal justice system. Prohibition was a disaster across America and the more reforment from the government just made things worse.

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The Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education 349 U.S 294, dealt with the segregation of black children into “separate but equal schools.” The Brown vs. Board of Education was not the first case that dealt with the separating of the whites and blacks in schools. This case was actually made up of five separate cases heard in the United States Supreme court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel were the five cases that made up the Brown case. Thurgood, Marshall, and the National Association for the Advance of Colored People (NCAAP) handled these cases.

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On July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth amendment was formally introduced to the Constitution and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” These words have as an ideal purpose that all levels of the federal government must operate within the law and provide fair conditions for all people. As a result, the states had a obligation to the public. Through the Fourteenth amendment, states were forbidden from denying any person “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” or to “deny any person within jurisdiction the equal protection of laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the Fourteenth amendment also expanded civil rights to African American slaves who had been emancipated after the American Civil War.

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Chapter 13 Article Respecting the Seventh Amendment Chapter 13 of the textbook, Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice System by J. Scott Harr, Karen M. Hess, Christine Orthmann, and Jonathon Kingsbury, discusses in great detail all of the more uncommon amendments under the United States (U.S.) Constitution. These amendments consist of the third, seventh, ninth, tenth, eleventh, thirteenth, and finally, the fourteenth amendments (Harr, Hess, Orthmann, & Kingsbury, 2015, p. 437-443). All of these seven amendments are for the most part, not highly discussed in today’s society; however, as of late the seventh amendment has been receiving more and more attention. To briefly sum up, the seventh amendment is part of the Bill or rights in the

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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.

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The Constitution of the United States is the concrete platform that the nation is built upon which contains fundamental principles in which our nation is governed by. However, much of the Constitution is very ambiguous which leads to controversy in the court room. For example, the Eighth Amendment which states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (Baltzell). The first part of the Eighth Amendment protects accused citizens of the United States from unreasonable and extreme amounts of bail that would prevent them from being released from pretrial containment and it also limits the amount of a fine that can be given to a convicted person (8th Amendment)(Kurt). The

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Capital punishment commonly referred to as the death sentence or penalty is a topic of widespread controversy. The question of whether capital punishment is “cruel and unusual” provokes questions about societal values and the philosophy behind punishments. As decreed in the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution it declares the use of “cruel and unusual” punishments is to be prohibited. With many execution methods such as lethal injection, electrocution, beheading, hanging, firing squads, and stoning, it sparks the question. Do these fall under the Eighth amendment?

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There was a recent storm in Hollywood, Florida that left many homes without power. This storm also affected prisoners that were still kept in prisons that lacked of power, supplies, and plumbing during the emergency. This situation relates to The Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment protects people from “cruel or unusual punishment”. Some might view that keeping them in prisons is wrong and against their will.

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