Essay/Term paper: 8th amendment

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Political Science

The Eighth Amendment

The 8th Amendment to the Constitution of the United

States prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, as well

as the setting of excessive bail or the imposition of

excessive fines. However, it has also been deemed

unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United

States (according to the Eighth Amendment)to inflict

physical damage on students in a school environment for

the purpose of discipline in most circumstances.

The 8th Amendment stipulates that bail shall not be

excessive. This is unclear as to whether or not there

is a constitutional right to bail, or only prohibits

excessive bail, if it is to be granted. The Supreme

Court has never directly addressed this interpretation

problem, because federal law has always guaranteed that

privilege in all non-capital cases (Compton"s).

Bail furthers the presumption of innocence until

guilt is absolutely proven, beyond the shadow of a

doubt. If it weren"t for bail, the accused suspect

would virtually be serving a sentence for a crime he or

she has not been convicted of committing. Excessive

bail has the same effect. The idea behind bail is to

make sure the accused is present during the trial. If

one"s bail is , in fact, excessive, the amount is set

higher than is reasonable. Logically, bail is usually

not set for an amount greater than the maximum monetary

sentence for the crime with which the defendant is being

charged.(Draper 80)

The most widely known aspect of the eighth

amendment is the fact that it prohibits cruel and

unusual punishment. The stand for "cruel and unusual"

fluctuates, because it all is dependent upon social

issues, standards, and personal beliefs. However, there

are many generalizations that remain very clear, no

matter what the situation. Cruel and unusual punishment

is perceived as punishment that causes "an unnecessary

and wanton infliction of pain". Punishments that have

been declared entirely unconstitutional without question

by the US Supreme Court include torture and loss of

citizenship. (Garraty 155) This interpretation is

demonstrated by the Supreme Court"s rulings in the case

of Gregg vs. Georgia, in 1976. In this case the court

upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty,

defending statutes that guide judges and juries in the

decision to issue the death sentence. The Court did,

however, state that the mandatory use of the death

penalty would be prohibited under the Eighth Amendment

as cruel and unusual punishment. The defendant in this

case, Gregg, had been convicted on two counts of armed

robbery and two counts of murder. The jury was

instructed by the trial judge, who was following Georgia

state law, to return with either a decision of life

imprisonment or the death penalty. Justice Byron stated

in his opinion that Gregg had failed in his burden of

showing that the Georgia Supreme Court had not done all

it could to prevent discriminatory practices in the

forming of his sentence. This decision became the first

time the Court stated that "punishment of death does not

invariably violate the Constitution." (Bernstein 21)

The punishment also cannot be "grossly out of

proportion to the severity of the crime charged, nor can

it violate the convicted individual"s dignity. In

Rummell vs. Estelle, it was upheld that it did not

constitute "cruel and unusual punishment" to impose a

life sentence, under a recidivist statute, upon a

defendant who had been convicted, successively, of

fraudulent use of a credit card to obtain $80 worth of

goods or services, passing a forged check in the amount

of $28.36, and obtaining $120.75 by false pretenses. We

said that "one could argue without fear of contradiction

by any decision of this Court that for crimes concededly

classified as felonies, that is, as punishable by

significant terms of imprisonment in a state

penitentiary, the length of the sentence actually

imposed is purely a matter of legislative prerogative."

We specifically rejected the proposition asserted by the

dissent, that unconstitutional disproportionality could

be established by weighing three factors. (Sundquist

230) The first factor to be considered is the gravity of

the offense compared to severity of the penalty. The

second is penalties imposed within the same jurisdiction

for similar crimes. The third item to be considered is

penalties imposed in other jurisdictions for the same

offense. (231)

As far as capital punishment is concerned, the

Eighth Amendment has been used to declare the death

penalty invalid in numerous cases. Mandatory death

penalties have repeatedly been found to violate the

Eighth Amendment, and were first found to be

unconstitutional in the cases of Roberts vs. Louisiana

and Woodson vs. North Carolina. Arbitrary death

sentences with no established criteria for application

also violate the Eighth Amendment, as was ruled in the

case of Furman vs. Georgia. In Furman vs. Georgia three

cases had been brought to the Supreme Court concerning

the death penalty and the racial biases present in the

selection process. Three juries had convicted and

imposed the death penalty on their accused without any

guidelines to go by in their decision. This case (Furman

vs. Georgia) represents the first time the Supreme Court

ruled against the death penalty. The dissenting Justices

argued that the courts had no right to challenge

legislative judgment on the effectiveness and justice of

punishments. The majority however held that the death

penalty was cruel and unusual punishment, which violated

the Eighth Amendment. Justice Thurgood Marshall went on

to attack the penalty more directly stating, "it is

excessive, unnecessary, and offensive to contemporary

values." (Garraty 157).

One of the least well known or discussed

protections the Eighth Amendment provides is its

forbiddance of corporal punishment in schools. This

means that, unless a teacher or school employee feels

that his own person, another person, or the property of

the school is in danger, he cannot use physical force as

punishment while in a school environment. This

obviously is not directly stated in the Eighth

Amendment, but it has been interpreted by the Supreme

Court that corporal punishment in schools is

unconstitutional. (Draper 82)

However, as always, the Supreme Court has the

final word in each specific case. It is their job to

look at "contemporary standards" concerning punishments,

as well as social issues, history, and jury

determinations when deciding upon the constitutionality

of all questionable penalties (83).

The Eighth Amendment (as it has been interpreted

by the US Supreme Court) protects Americans from cruel

and unusual punishment, excessive bails and fines, and

unnecessary physical chastisement in schools. However,

whether a sentence is cruel and unusual or a fine is

excessive continually remains to be determined by the

Supreme Court.





Works Cited



Bernstein, Richard, and Jerome Agel. Amending America.

New York: Random House, Inc, 1993.

Compton"s Interactive Encyclopedia. New York: Compton"s

NewMedia, Inc., 1995.

Draper, Thomas. Human Rights. New York: The H. W.

Wilson Company, 1982.

Garraty, John A. Quarrels That Have Shaped the

Constitution. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.

Sundquist, James L. Constitutional Reform and Effective

Government. Washington, DC: The Brookings

Institution, 1986.