Reasearch Paper on Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Research Paper On CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT: A DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

The purpose of this research paper is to discuss “cruel and unusual punishment” within the evolutionary context of American government. The Eighth Amendment (part of The Bill of Rights) prohibits excessive bail or fines or cruel and unusual punishments. Those sections of The Bill of Rights that deal with perversions of justice are of particular interest, for they serve as the models for similar provisions in the American Bill of Rights. These sections provide that “excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (the direct ancestor of the Eight Amendment to the Federal Constitution). Although the French Declaration was the contemporary counterpart of the US Bill of Rights, crucial differences exist between the two documents that illustrate the basic dissimilarity between American and French Constitutional thinking. The French Declaration does not lay down practical rules, only general principles deemed fundamental to humankind and hence universally applicable. Madison had also included some general principles in his proposed amendments, but they were eliminate...

Such punishment as would amount to torture or barbarity, any cruel and degrading punishment not known to the Common Law, or any fine, penalty, confinement, or treatment that is so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community.

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from imposing cruel and unusual punishment for federal crimes. The amendment states, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars the states from inflicting such punishment for state crimes, and most state constitutions also prohibit the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment.

In...