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Challenges of the criminal justice system
Challenges of the criminal justice system
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New York Times (NYT) column-writer, conversely a certified lawyer, Adam Liptak, in his article, “Supreme Court Rejects Alabama Death Row Inmate’s Appeal”, describes how a death-row inmate from Alabama requests death by a firing squad as opposed to lethal injection, that contains the sedative midazolam, for his death sentence, but was rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States. Liptak’s purpose is to demonstrate that the Supreme Court’s decision to reject the appeal may have been unconstitutional due to the means of execution by lethal injection causing “prolonged torture” rather than a quick death due to midazolam, which disputes the eighth amendment in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Liptak develops
The eighth amendment is a protection for American citizens against “cruel and unusual punishment” and “excessive bail”. Roper v Simmons also violates the fourteenth amendment which addresses rights and citizenship, this became another hurdle in the case. The fourteenth amendment states “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” , in Roper v Simmons the Missouri Supreme Court was close to depriving Christopher Simmons of his life. Since Roper V Simmons states have reevaluated their minimum age for death penalty, 30 states do not even have a death penalty or capital punishment anymore. Cornell Law has also argued that because of Simmons’s age he was mentally incompetent, at the age at 17 Simmons is not eligible to “drink, serve on juries or even see certain movies…” , this was very intimidating and scary to Simmons’s prosecutor.
Melissa Kay Olivieri 2516826 March 8,2017 Throughout Chapters 4 and 5 of America’s Constitution: A Biography, Akhil Reed Amar details the president 's powerful responsibilities and limits as well as how those relate to either a monarch or a governor. In Chapter 4 Amar focuses on how the president 's power will compare with other types of political power both foreign and domestic. One of the differences included the amount of time a single term of presidency would be-four years as opposed to a monarch 's lifetime reign, or a governor’s one year period. An important change in how the president came to be in office was that he was chosen from the people he would govern, this was not true of either monarchs or governors.
The most important issue that must be addressed in this case is the principle of the “evolving standards of decency” and the uses of a national consensus. The “evolving standards of decency” were developed by Trop v. Dulles and have been implemented in one way or another in all of the precedents dealing with “cruel and unusual” punishment. It is important to treat these principles as an important aspect of “cruel and unusual” punishment jurisprudence, therefore turning from these set of principles would be foolish and a disregard for every precedent. However, it is important to acknowledge that each case satisfies the standards by using a different method; some use the presence or lack of state legislature as a judgment of consensus while others look at foreign countries.
The interpretation of the Eighth Amendment has been changed throughout history in terms of who receives the death penalty, why it is applied, and how it is carried out. In the case, Atkins v. Virginia, Daryl Atkins was sentenced to death, but later was found to have a mental deficiency. When taken to a higher court, the defendant used the case Penry v Lynaugh as a precedent which contributed to the final 6-3 decision favoring Atkins. This illustrates that any person that commits a crime that is usually ruled as a death sentence, but has a mental deficiency, cannot be sentenced to death.
In the scenario, a community corrections officer subdues an unruly offender who is in custody by spraying mace on the offender, and it also affects another alleged violator in an adjoining area. The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that there should not be any cruel or unusual punishments inflicted (U.S. Const. amend. VIII). Based on the facts in the scenario, I do not believe that the offender in custody or the alleged probation violator waiting had their Constitutional rights violated.
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.
I am studying the tenth amendment and my interpretation of this amendment is that it is stating what rights the state's/government has over the people. The tenth amendment was incorporated into the constitution because the states and their citizens feared that the federal government would leave them with no power. The Tenth Amendment was added to the United States Constitution on December 15, 1791. This amendment was proposed by congress in 1989. The tenth amendment didn’t exactly confirm the amount of power given to the government and the state's’/citizens.
One element I find very interesting of the United States Constitution is the Tenth Amendment. The Tenth Amendment says, “The power not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” This is basically alluding to the idea that if a power is not directly given to the federal government is given to the states. I believe that one of the main reasons that this amendment was included in the Constitution because the Founding Fathers knew it needed to be a vital rule set from the beginning because it helped further their ideals of the balance of power.
The First Amendment, Freedom of Speech could probably be considered the most powerful amendments of the Constitution. If we didn’t have this right, many of our ideas and beliefs would not be real today. All American citizens have the right to talk about what’s on their minds and say what they believe in. As Derek Bok mentions in his essay and unfortunately for people who disagree, With the Supreme Court’s rulings, the demonstration of these flags clearly falls within the protection of the free-speech clause of the First Amendment and that they can in no way be banned merely because they may seem offensive or may someone else’s feelings. “These rulings apply to all agencies of government, including public universities”.
Brandon Bjoin CJST 352 Research Paper Capital Punishment Capital punishment is a growing concern within the United States. Just as many people are for using the death penalty as there are people who are against it. The people who are opposed, state that it violates the inmate’s Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. The Eighth Amendment is stated as follows, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” So does the death penalty violate this right?
However, a juvenile’s brain is not fully developed so rehabilitation is possible or more likely than it is for an adult. Therefore, the death penalty for juvenile offenders is a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Our justice system works to ensure that punishments match the crime and the person who committed that crime. The Eighth Amendment states that no cruel or unusual punishments should be inflicted upon any citizen of this country.
The eighth amendment says, excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. “In 1977 the supreme court, by a 7 to 2 vote, ruled that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment for the rape of an adult woman.” Totenberg, Nina. “Justices Weigh Death Penalty for Child Rape.” 16 April 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89660806.
”(Breyer) The eighth amendment says that we don’t allow cruel and unusual punishments.
Cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional. The constitution granted the american people basic rights and protections the eighth amendment is one of them. The eighth amendment bans all methods of punishment that may be considered cruel and unusual. The constitution is not flexible and demands zero errors. States are breaking this constitutional right by using experimental drugs that have led to botched executions.