what does the 8th amendment mean

In Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 122 S. Ct. 2508, 153 L. Ed. 2d 144 (2003), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the three-strikes laws did not violate the Eighth Amendment. When the defendant appears for trial, the bail monies are returned. The framers of the American Constitution should be celebrated for creating a prohibition on punishments which are cruel and unusual; but it is incumbent on all of us to insist on a Court that applies the prohibition fairly, sensibly and justly for an evolving nation. Coming soon for this provision! It argues that the Constitution should be interpreted in accordance with its original public meaning, and it demonstrates what effect such an interpretation would have in the real world. 2d 306 [1989]). If James Madison or the other Framers intended to preserve these forms of punishment, they kept their intentions to themselves. Eighth Amendment The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. The Framers could have drafted the Eighth Amendment to explicitly outlaw certain barbaric punishments. The cruel and unusual punishments clause restricts the severity of punishments that state and federal governments may impose … But now it is part of the United States Bill of Rights and […] What did the term “bear arms” mean to the Revolutionary generation? the Eighth Amendment understood the words “cruel and unusual” to refer only to certain barbarous methods of punishment.4 If this his-torical account is correct, does this mean that the justification for find-ing a proportionality requirement in the Eighth Amendment — as the In Massachusetts, one representative expressed "horror" that Congress could "determine what kind of punishments shall be inflicted on persons convicted of crimes" and that nothing restrained Congress "from inventing the most cruel and unheard-of punishments" that would make "racks" and "gibbets" look comparatively "mild" (as quoted in furman v. georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S. Ct. 2726, 33 L. Ed. Accordingly, the Court categorically excluded the mentally retarded from execution under the Eighth Amendment. The case of Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11, 123 S. Ct. 1179, 155 L. Ed. Over the years the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution has often been cited by human rights groups as evidence that use of the death penalty does in fact go against the constitution’s own Bill of Rights as it condemns the use of “cruel and unusual punishments”. will tell you that there is such a necessity of strengthening the arm of government, that they must . It constitutionally prohibits the federal government of United States from imposing the punishments on prisoners which they do not deserve. Phrased differently, there is nothing in the Constitution that gives unelected judges the authority to overturn laws enacted by democratically elected legislatures, based on the judges’ own subjective ideas of what current “standards of decency” require. "Amendment VIII:Excessive bail shall not be… 1990. They also point out that the punishment is authorized in a majority of states, and public opinion polls continue to show broad support for it. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Punishments that are disproportionately harsh will be overturned on appeal. Should it exercise its own moral judgment, irrespective of whether it is supported by societal consensus? One of the most significant of these new powers was the power to create federal crimes and to punish those who committed them. Seven U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled that the prisoner had suffered cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Bail is the amount of money, property, or bond that a defendant must pledge to the court as security for his or her appearance at trial. "Eighth Amendment - Further Guarantees in Criminal Cases: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." The legitimacy of a punishment must be assessed instead by evaluating whether it serves an appropriate and acceptable penological purpose. Another test that the Court employs to evaluate the constitutionality of particular punishments is somewhat less pliable, but still controversial. For example, Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution provides that "[n]o Bill of Attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed." Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press. The Eighth Amendment is clearly related to the sentencing for crimes. But now it is part of the United States Bill of Rights and […] It prohibits "excessive" bail and "excessive" fines, and does not set forth any specific amount that judges may use as a yardstick when setting bail or imposing fines. We do know some things about the history of the phrase “cruel and unusual punishments.” In 1689 – a full century before the ratification of the United States Constitution – England adopted a Bill of Rights that prohibited “cruell and unusuall punishments.” In 1776, George Mason included a prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments in the Declaration of Rights he drafted for the Commonwealth of Virginia. When an individual “takes the Fifth,” they invoke their right and refuse to answer questions or provide information that might incriminate them. Although it prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, it does not enumerate which criminal penalties should be abolished. In some ways, the Clause is shrouded in mystery. The cruel and unusual punishments clause restricts the severity of punishments that state and federal governments may impose upon persons who have been convicted of a criminal offense. 2d 1104 [1977]). 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. To understand their approach, let us revisit the four questions raised in the joint statement concerning the settled history and meaning of the Eighth Amendment: (1) What standard should the Court use in deciding whether a punishment is unconstitutionally cruel? Use of a hitching post, according to the Court, violated the Eighth Amendment. Nor is there much evidence indicating that the Framers intended their understanding of the Constitution to be binding on subsequent generations. What is the 8th Amendment?- Definition, Summary & Cases Definition of the Eighth Amendment. Beside this, what does the Eighth Amendment protect us from? The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1983 was an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which inserted a subsection recognising the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the unborn. The 8th Amendment was specifically drafted to keep the Courts in line with Legislature, and compel them to follow the guidelines set forth, by the … A protest for the repeal of the 8th Amendment in 2003. He noted, "Seldom has an opinion of this Court rested so obviously upon nothing but the personal views of its members." The Eighth Amendment’s no excessive bail clause protects you from being held in jail for an extended period, no matter the offense, if the bail amount set is deemed too high to pay. This language, along with essentially the rest of the present Eighth Amendment, was included within the Virginia Declaration of Rights, 12 was picked up in the Virginia recommendations for inclusion in a federal bill of rights by the state ratifying convention, 13 and was introduced verbatim by Madison in the House of Representatives. The trial court elevated the charges to felonies and sentenced the defendant to life in prison with no possibility of Parole for 50 years. But it does mean that the judiciary bears no license to end a debate reserved for the people and their representatives. In attempting to ascertain which punishments the Framers disapproved of, the Court has developed a simplistic formula: If a particular punishment was prohibited by the states at the time they ratified the Eighth Amendment in 1791, then that particular punishment is necessarily cruel and unusual; if a particular punishment was permitted by most states, or at least some states, in 1791, then the Framers did not intend to remove that punishment from the legislative arena. Moreover, suits by other states, and suits by the United States to enforce federal laws, are also permitted. The concerns underlying the Eighth Amendment were voiced in two state-ratification conventions. Progressive perspectives on the Eighth Amendment insist that “evolving standards of decency” must shape and inform the Supreme Court’s application of the Eighth Amendment. The narrow, originalist formula has been criticized on a number of grounds. Check out our classroom resources organized by each article or amendment, and by key constitutional questions. They give much closer scrutiny to criminal penalties that are challenged under the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause. By the seventeenth century, England had extended this principle to punishments that called for incarceration. For example, would it violate the Eighth Amendment to impose a life sentence for a parking violation? The Eighth Amendment however, does not guarantee an absolute right to be released on bail before trial. My own research into the original meaning of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause shows that Justice Scalia’s and Thomas’s approach has a fatal flaw: It ignores the meaning of the word “unusual.” Their decision to ignore this word makes sense because there seems to be no connection between a punishment’s rarity and its cruelty. In Lockyer v. Andrade, 538 U.S. 63, 123 S. Ct. 1166, 155 L. Ed. . Opponents of the Constitution feared that this new power would allow Congress to use cruel punishments as a tool for oppressing the people. Moreover, very few states that did not proscribe such executions actually executed mentally retarded defendants, meaning those individuals with IQs of lower than 70. The decency or legitimacy of a punishment can be assessed reliably only in context. If a punishment was acceptable in 1791, it must be acceptable today. "As a guide in expounding and applying the provisions of the Constitutions," Madison wrote, "the debates and incidental decisions of the [Constitutional] Convention can have no authoritative character." Alexandria, Va.: Close Up. 2d 982 [1977]; Eberheart v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 917, 97 S. Ct. 2994, 53 L. Ed. Although there is not enough evidence to determine conclusively the appropriate manner in which the Framers expected or hoped that the Constitution would be interpreted, the origins of the Eighth Amendment are fairly clear. Ending racial segregation in schools or restaurants and striking down bans on interracial marriage never could have been achieved by a popular vote in the American South. 2d 666 (2002), the Court considered a case where Alabama prison officers had handcuffed a prisoner to a hitching post on two occasions, once for more than seven hours without water or a restroom break. The Ninth Amendment was part of the Bill of … In Trop v. A constitutional standard that allows judges to strike down legislation that they find shocking, but to let stand other legislation they find less disturbing, has an inherently subjective and malleable quality. Courts are also aware that they must protect communities from the harm presented by particularly dangerous defendants. According to Scalia, the abolition of executions of mildly mentally retarded individuals by 18 states did not amount to a "national consensus" that such executions were so "morally repugnant as to violate our national 'standards of decency.'" The National Constitution is a private nonprofit. In 1804, Aaron Burr, the sitting Vice President of the United States, shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel that took place in New Jersey. Applying this test, the Court ruled that the death penalty may be imposed upon 16-year-old U.S. citizens who have been convicted of murder, because a national consensus, as reflected by state legislation, supported Capital Punishment for juveniles of that age (Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361, 109 S. Ct. 2969, 106 L. Ed. (2) The Clause prohibits only barbaric methods of punishment, not disproportionate punishments. (3) The death penalty is currently constitutional because it is a traditional punishment that has never fallen out of usage. If most states authorize a particular punishment, the Court will not invalidate that punishment, as it is not contrary to "evolving standards of decency.". But, what exactly does excessive bail mean? Should it look to some other standard? Bail is the amount of money a defendant posts to the court to remain free pending their trial and as an aid to ensuring they will appear for their trial. In Robinson v. Both the excessive fines clause and the cruel and unusual punishment clause have an effect on how convicted criminals may be sentenced. This approach allows the Supreme Court to get to whatever result it considers desirable, regardless of what the text of the Constitution actually means. The debates that occurred while the states were deciding whether to ratify the Constitution shed some light on the meaning of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, because they show why many people thought this Clause was needed. The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1983 was an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which inserted a subsection recognising the equal right to … (2) The Clause prohibits disproportionate punishments as well as barbaric methods of punishment. extort confession by torture, in order to punish with still more relentless severity. Moreover, justifications for the death penalty, such as retribution on the part of the defendant and deterrence of capital crimes by prospective offenders, did not apply to the mentally retarded. The amendment has provided for the restriction of capital punishment on the mentally handicapped, those aged less than 18 years, and those who have committed rape, which was met with much argument. For progressives, the constitutionality of a particular punishment cannot be evaluated in the abstract. This approach begs complex questions, such as who decides what is decent and what is cruel? But once we get beyond these areas of agreement, there are many areas of passionate disagreement concerning the meaning and application of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause: First and foremost, what standard should the Court use in deciding whether a punishment is unconstitutionally cruel? 1-877-826-6388. It is no longer constitutional to execute a person for theft, for example, because this punishment fell out of usage for this crime a long time ago, and the punishments that have replaced it are far less severe. If the 8th is repealed, this will mean Irish women can … Eighth Amendment, amendment (1791) to the Constitution of the United States, part of the Bill of Rights, that limits the sanctions that may be imposed by the criminal justice system on those accused or convicted of criminal behaviour. What does this mean? There is often discussion and debate about what these amendments mean. 8th Amendment rights include three distinct clauses that provide for certain rights to individuals convicted of a crime. If a legislature then tries to reintroduce it, courts should compare how harsh it is relative to those punishment practices that are still part of our tradition. The Eighth Amendment however, does not guarantee an absolute right to be released on bail before trial. Proponents of this viewpoint observe that the Eighth Amendment is written in very abstract language. The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) of the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments.. the Eighth Amendment understood the words “cruel and unusual” to refer only to certain barbarous methods of punishment. Several defendants, particularly in California, have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms after committing relatively minor offenses. While Holmes feared the establishment of the Inquisition in the United States, Henry was concerned with the application of torture as a way of extracting confessions. "(T)he words of the (Eighth) Amendment are not precise, and that their scope is not static. The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law. For many, this means it is critical to reject efforts to limit constitutional protections to the “original intentions” of the flawed men who wrote the Constitution. Bork, Robert. Some Supreme Court justices believe it is the Court’s responsibility to make these decisions independently, because a punishment may be cruel and unusual even if it is popular among the general public and even if a legislature has deemed it appropriate. However, the defendant had received two previous convictions, and when he was convicted on two counts of petty theft, the counts were considered his "strikes" three and four. No documentary evidence from the state ratification proceedings reflects which punishments particular representatives found permissible or impermissible under the Eighth Amendment. Monk, Linda R. 2000. (4) Some new punishment practices, such as lethal injection or long-term solitary confinement, appear to pose a risk of excessive physical or mental pain. Burr lost the election, and he blamed Hamilton, so he challenged Hamilton to a duel. What does it mean for a punishment to be “cruel and unusual”? At the same time, courts are aware that bail needs to be set sufficiently high to ensure that the defendant will return for trial. Atkins demonstrated that the Eighth Amendment, like other constitutional provisions, evolves as society evolves. Historical Background. It was first included in the Virginia Constitution and was then proposed by the Virginia delegation for inclusion in the U.S. Constitution. You can challenge prison conditions that are unsafe or that deprive you of a “basic human need,” such as shelter, food, exercise, clothing, sanitation, and hygiene. Nevertheless, Justice Antonin Scalia, in a scathing dissent in Atkins, attacked the majority opinion as lacking in precedent. 519 [1890]). The best way to understand this is to run through those four questions once again, using our new understanding of the original meaning of the Clause: (1) The appropriate benchmark for determining whether a punishment is cruel and unusual is neither the subjective feelings of the current Supreme Court nor the outdated standards of 1791. In 2002, the Court reviewed its conclusion in Penry in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S. Ct. 2242, 153 L. Ed. Bail, of course, is basically an agreement between you and the court to assure you’ll return to the court after your release from jail for your appointed trial date. (3) Does the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause prohibit the death penalty? On the same day it decided Lockyer, the Court ruled that a sentence of 25 years to life given to a defendant who had stolen three golf clubs worth $399 apiece was not cruel and unusual punishment. . 417 [1909]). This understanding of the original meaning of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause leads to very different results than either the non-originalist approach or Justices Scalia’s and Thomas’s approach. Because the officers had had notice that their actions were unlawful, qualified immunity did not apply. We are then lost and undone.” Largely as a result of these objections, the Constitution was amended to prohibit cruel and unusual punishments. The Excessive Bail section provides constitutional protection against excessive bail, including the practical denial of bail by fixing its amount unreasonably high, as decided in United States v. This means that after criminal defendants are convicted and sentenced, the Constitution still acts to guarantee their fundamental rights concerning conditions of confinement and treatment by corrections personnel. 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 … Including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and more and that their actions were unlawful, qualified did! Sentence for a reasonable amount excessive fines imposed, nor excessive fines Clause the... 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