th
8 Amendment
No excessive bail or fines
No cruel and unusual punishment
Is this cruel & unusual punishment?
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Prisoners working on a chain gang?
Prisoners having to eat “the loaf?”
Prisoners not getting the type of cereal they
want? Or crunchy v. creamy peanut butter?
Prisoners not getting adequate health care?
“3 strikes and you’re out” laws.
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Ewing v. CA (2003)
Is this cruel & unusual punishment?
Cruel & Unusual Punishment
for Teen in Georgia
GEORGIA SUPREME COURT
S07A1606. WILSON v. THE STATE.
Decided: October 26, 2007
“We conclude that the habeas court properly ruled that Wilson’s
sentence of ten years in prison for having consensual oral sex with a
fifteen-year-old girl when he was only seventeen years old
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.”
Methods Explained
Supreme Court Cases
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Furman v. Georgia (1972)
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Death penalty in this case is Unconstitutional.
It was being used indiscriminately against blacks.
States must do 2 things:
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Allow defendant to show all evidence of why they
should not received the DP, in the punishment phase.
Have an automatic appeal.
Supreme Court Cases
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Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
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Death penalty in this case IS Constitutional.
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And…Texas got after it after that!
The Death Penalty
Is it cruel and unusual punishment?
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Thursday, 23 August, 2007
Texas carried out its 400th
execution since the US Supreme Court
reintroduced the death penalty in 1976.
Conner asked for forgiveness
before he was put to his
death.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6959665.stm
Death Penalty and Juveniles
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Thompson v. Oklahoma (1986)
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Stanford v. Kentucky (1989)
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Juveniles must be at least 16 years of age at the
time of the crime, to receive the DP.
Upheld Thompson—16 still the rule.
Roper v. Simmons (2004)
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A person must now be at least 18 years of age at
the time of the crime, to receive the DP.
Those who CANNOT receive the DP
Juveniles. (Roper v. Simmons)
 Mentally retarded. (Atkins v. VA, 2001)
 Mentally insane.
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Texas dumps the electric chair in
1977 & moves to lethal injection.
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Lethal injection in Texas consists of:
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Sodium Thiopental (lethal dose—sedates person)
Pancuronium Bromide (muscle relaxant—
collapses diaphragm and lungs)
Potassim Chloride (stops heart beat)
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Usually pronounced dead approx. 7 minutes after LJ
begins.
Cost per execution for drugs used: $86.08.
Cost of one appeal to Texas Ct. of Crim. Appls.:
$40,000+
Average time on Death Row in TX: 10.43 years.
Cost per day in prison per offender: $62.00
Is Lethal Injection, cruel & unusual?
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Supreme Court considered last term, whether
lethal injection is constitutional.
Case involves two death row inmates in
Kentucky.
Inmates allege lethal injection is cruel and
unusual punishment.
Method in question is used in 37 states.
Is Lethal Injection, cruel & unusual?
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Baze v. Rees (2008)
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Supreme Court’s decision in this case—video
(click this link)
Can the death penalty be given to a
child molester? Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008)