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Essay On 8th Amendment

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8TH Amendment
The 8th Amendment was formed to ensure that punishment for a crime was not cruel or unusual. It also has a clause for those with mental illness so that they will not face the death penalty for committing a crime that a sane person would commit. And those under the age of 18 would not face the death penalty. Since the 8th Amendment was attached to the Bill of Rights in 1791 it has taken on a different meaning for the accused of breaking the law and prisoner of today. In this paper we will look at several cases in which the 8th Amendment has been used in my opinion unethically to justify everything from gender reassignment surgery to claiming that one was mentally insane in order to get out of facing the death penalty.
Excessive Bail
The 8th Amendment was written to protect against excessive bail, excessive fines, and the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment on someone accused of a crime (n.a., 2015). Bail varies from state to state; In the case below we see how a person accused of domestic assault is given what he believe is unfair bail and the court opinion of his claim.
“Fields v. Henry County, Tennessee, 2012 WL 6097334 (6th Cir. December 10, 2012) Fields was charged with domestic assault. After he surrendered, the County Sheriff held him for 12 hours and then released him on $5,000 bond pursuant to a bail schedule. The …show more content…

There are a number of cases that have been filed by prison inmates for Cruel and Unusual Punishment that are again in my opinion totally unethical. The cases that are most disturbing are those brought by individuals who want to have sex reassignment surgery. Tax payer should not be responsible for a personal choice. If there is a need for counseling that is great, do it. But when it comes to providing hormone therapy or clothing for a gender that an inmate is not born but relates himself/herself with, is going a bit too

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