cruel and unusual punishment 8th amendment

• Harris v. Bradley, (Ohio 2011)

th amendment cruel and unusual punishment

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Know Your Rights: Sentences for Some Teens Don't 'Fit the Crime'

Let the punishment fit the crime" is a view held by most cultures throughout the world. And this view was acknowledged with the adoption of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

• The Santa Fe New Mexican
• January 15, 2008

• Aclu's Victory Is a Loss for Skid Row

Sounds like a nutty lawsuit, right? But last week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the ACLU, ruling that the police cannot arrest people for sleeping or sitting on public sidewalks of skid row because it would violate the 8th Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. It's cruel and unusual, the court reasoned, because there are not enough shelter beds for every one of the more than 11,000 homeless people who live in the area. Anyone who truly cares about the homeless will not rejoice in the court's decision. Law enforcement is not the problem. The LAPD has never swept the streets of downtown Los Angeles clear of the homeless, nor has it tried. But some attempt to restore order is necessary. For years, the anything-goes attitude toward skid row has create...

• Sentinel; Los Angeles, Calif.
• August 06, 2009

• Eighth Amendment: Further Guarantees In Criminal Cases

... serves to prevent the infliction of punishment prior to conviction. '. . . Unless this right to b... a guarantee of moderate fines and against cruel and unusual punishments, and was inserted in the J...

• Constitution of the United States (Annotated)

• The Kennedy Court Embarrasses Itself

On March 2, 1998, Patrick Kennedy raped his 8-year-old stepdaughter in their Louisiana home. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to death by a jury under a state law enacted three years earlier authorizing capital punishment for child rape. Louisiana is one of six states that have such laws on the books. But on June 25, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, struck down the Louisiana law, calling it unconstitutional - a violation of the 8th Amendment ban on "cruel and unusual punishment. Now it turns out that Justice Kennedy - along with the Justice Department (and in particular, the solicitor general), lawyers for both sides and apparently all of the other Supreme Court justices and their clerks - apparently missed a critical piece of federal case law...

• The Washington Times
• July 06, 2008

• Constitution Guarantees Right to Bail

Unless they meet certain thresholds dealing with safety of the community, a person charged with a crime is constitutionally guaranteed the right to bail. The rules determining the type of bond and conditions of release are governed by state law. The New Mexico Constitution states that all people charged but not yet convicted are "bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." The latter sentence echoes almost verbatim the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

• The Santa Fe New Mexican
• November 14, 2006

• Eric Nelson, By His Next Friend, Corine Nelson, and Daniel R. Roberts, By His Next Friend, Robert Brown, on Behalf of Themselves and a Class of Persons Similarly Situated But Too Numerous and Too Transitory To Mention, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Robert P. Heyne, Individually and in His Capacity as Commissioner Ofcorrections, Indiana Department of Corrections, Et Al., Defendants-Appellants., 491 F.2d 352 (7th Cir. 1974)

... and policies violated the 8th and 14th Amendments rights of the juveniles under their care. Plaintif... from, inter alia, defendants' corporal punishment and use of control-tranquilizing drugs. After hear... drugs by defendants constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of plaintiffs'...

• Federal Circuits

• Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349 (1910)

... to serve imprisonment as a subsidiary punishment in case of his insolvency, on account of the natur... of fifteen years' imprisonment was a cruel and unusual punishment, and, to the extent of the ... cruelty, are forbidden by that Amendment to the Constitution. Cooley, Const. Lim. 4th ed. 4...

• U.S. Supreme Court

• Cigarette Warning Labels: ; New Messenger, Same Old Message

The Food and Drug Administration has come a long way, baby, when it comes to upgrading warning labels for cigarettes. First, the agency mandated the placement of printed warning labels on cigarette pack side panels.

... one law on their side, since the 8th Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. (Copyright...

• Sunday Gazette-Mail
• July 04, 2011

• State v. Lockhart, (Ohio 2011)

Attempted murder; Burglary; Sentence, consecutive terms, cruel and unusual punishment

• Ohio Supreme Court