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Pros And Cons Of The 8th Amendment

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The Eighth Amendment or Amendment VIII of the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights, and declares that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” , thus proscribes disproportionate bails , inequitable and degrading to human dignity sanctions for any types of criminal offenses, as well as monetary penalties that are exceptionally high. Amendment VIII is significant because according to the legal system of the United States of America, an individual accused of a crime is “presumed innocent until proven guilty” and therefore, allowing disproportionate bail amounts to be set, would carry the risk of holding innocent people in custody, sometimes …show more content…

Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the United States Supreme Court defined a cruel and unusual punishment as a punishment that is either overly severe compared to the nature of the crime, or arbitrary, or offensive to society ‘s sense of justice or just not as effective as a lesser sanction that would accomplish the purposes for which the punishment is imposed . Justice William Joseph Brennan Jr. who wrote a concurring opinion for the majority asserted at that time, that "there are, then four principles by which we may determine whether a particular punishment is 'cruel and unusual." He went on stating that the "essential predicate” is that “a punishment must not by its severity be degrading to human dignity", and clarifying further his definition of a “cruel and unusual punishment”, he added that it is “A severe punishment that is obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion." and "A severe punishment that is clearly and totally rejected throughout society.", as well as "A severe punishment that is patently …show more content…

Georgia, making sure that capital punishment sentences could not be administered in a discriminatory or erratic manner, it nonetheless did reaffirm the death penalty in Gregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 153, and subsequently Georgia instituted a "bifurcated trial" system, which means that criminal trials that carry a capital punishment sentence in the state of Georgia would have as sentencing date separate from the conviction day, which would, in turn, be imposed based on aggravating factors and mitigating considerations . Following Georgia example, all the U.S states that were allowing the death penalty rewrote their laws after the model of the "bifurcated trial" system (e.g.

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