Question #1: Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s definition of “cruel and unusual
punishment’? why or why not?
The definition of Cruel and Unusual punishment from the eight admenment has evolved
with time. For the first century or so “only the most barbarous punishments and tortures were
prohibited” (Bohm 2017, p.190). But after the case of “Wilkerson v. Utah (1878)” that began to
change. This case helped “provide examples of punishments that were prohibited by the Eighth
Amendment” some of the examples were “punishments in which the criminal “was emboweled
alive, beheaded, and quartered” (Bohm 2017, p.190). This is still not the definition that is used
today. The definition of cruel and unusual punishment today came from a case in 1910, Weems v.
United states. This case basically consisted of “a U.S. Coast Guard disbursing officer in the
Philippines convicted of making two false accounting entries amounting to 616 or 612 pesos”
which the book says that is “equivalent to about $13 in 2015 dollars” (Bohm 2017, p.190).
Weems punishment was extremely disproportionate to his crime, “he was fined and sentenced to
15 years of hard and painful labor and forced to wear chains on his ankles and wrist” (Bohm
2017, p.190). The court decided this was cruel and unusual punishment and from this very case
our new definition was born. It states “that (1) the meaning of the Eighth Amendment is not
restricted to the intent of the framers, (2) that the Eighth Amendment bars punishment that are
excessive and (3) that what is excessive is not fixed in time but changes with evolving social
conditions” ((Bohm 2017, pp.190-191). With this definition of cruel and unusual punishment I
agree. The key part to me in this statement is that “excessive is not fixed in time but changes
with evolving social conditions” (Bohm 2017, p.191) by this it is left open for change in the
future as we evolve as a society and change our views on different matters. I like that the
Supreme Court let the definition open to an evolving society because one can never know what
lies ahead.
Question #4: Are long stays on death row cruel and unusual punishment? Why or why not?
Long stays on death row are cruel and unusual punishment for two main reasons, the
conditions of the stay, and awaiting death.
The conditions of the stay on death row are not anywhere near acceptable. Although not
the only death row confinement with terrible conditions the book tells us about conditions the
Mississippi death row inmates had to live with. First of is sanitation, the cells are filthy with
“dried fecal matter and food encrusted on the walls, ceilings, and bars, as well as water from
flooded toilets and rain leaks” (Bohm 2017, p. 195). Apart from these conditions inmates are
“routinely moved from cell to cell and are force to clean their new cells that may have been left
in horrendous sanitation by the prior occupant, especially if the occupant were mentally ill.”
(Bohm 2017, p. 195). Mental illness is very common do to the solitary confinement aspect of
these death rows. Another terrible condition is the pest control. The book states that “the heat
problem exacerbates the problem of the pest control” this is because of “inadequate screening on
the cell window’s causes the inmates to choose between suffering from the heat or increasing the
mosquitos in their cells” (Bohm 2017, p. 195). A long stay in this environment should be
considered cruel and unusual punishment. This can be especially bad because of all the viruses
mosquitos are known to carry and can carry. It doesn’t end here there is a plumbing situation
where “fecal and other matter flushed by a toilet in one cell will bubble up in the adjoining cell
unless the toilets are flushed simultaneously” (Bohm 2017, p. 195). But it doesn’t end there
laundry is another problem as the inmates laundry are “returned foul smelling, necessitating the
inmates to wash their clothes in their cells. On top of all listed problems since there is a problem
with mental health there is also a problem with sleep, “The extremely psychotic prisoners scream
at night, throw feces and generally make life miserable for the inmates and guards” (Bohm 2017,
p. 195). These mental health problems are not treated and “what mental heal services are
provided generally take place at the inmate’s cell withing hearing of other inmates and guards.
This results in the failure of inmates to tell the mental health specialist anything of substance”
(Bohm 2017, p. 195). The conditions these inmates are in are inhumane, the punishment of death
should already be bad enough, the basics should at least be asserted to them.
References
Bohm, R. M. (2017). Chapter 6: Death Row & Methods of Execution. In Deathquest: An
introduction to the theory and practice of capital punishment in the United States (pp.
190-194). essay, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.