PUNISHMENT
Chapter 20, Section 4
8th Amendment
8th Amendment
Excessive bail shall not
be required, nor
excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted.
Bail
Bail is a sum of money that the accused
may be required to deposit with the
court as a guarantee that he or she will
appear in court.
The Constitution does not guarantee that
all accused persons are entitled to bail,
just that the amount of the bail cannot
be excessive
Preventative Detention
Preventive detention is a law that allows
federal judges to order that accused
felons be held without bail if there is a
danger that the person will commit
another crime if released.
Critics think preventive detention
amounts to presuming the accused
guilty. The Court upheld the law in
United States v. Salerno, 1987.
Treason is the only crime
defined in the Constitution.
Treason is:
1. Levying war
against the
United States or
2. Giving aid and
comfort to the
enemies of the
United States.
A person can only commit
treason in times of war, and
it is punishable by the death
penalty.
Other related acts, such as
sabotage or espionage, can
be committed in peacetime.
John Brown, who was
hanged as a traitor to
Virginia because of his raid
on Harper’s Ferry, is the only
person ever to be executed
for treason against a State.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The 8th Amendment also forbids “cruel and unusual
punishment.” The Supreme Court extended the provision
to the States in Robinson v. California, 1962.
The 8th Amendment is intended to prevent, in the Court’s
opinion, barbaric tortures such as drawing and quartering
and other excessively cruel punishments.
The Supreme Court held that defining narcotics addiction as
a crime, rather than an illness, was cruel and unusual in
Robinson v. California, 1962. In Estelle v. Gamble, 1976, it
ruled that a prison inmate could not be denied medical
care.
However, generally the Court has not found many
punishments to be cruel and unusual.
Capital Punishment
The Supreme Court voided capital punishment laws
in the early 1970s because the punishment was
applied “capriciously” to only a few convicts,
often African American or poor or both.
However, in 1976, the Court held for the first time
that a new law which instituted the death penalty
was NOT unconstitutional.
The new law provided for a two-stage trial process.
One trial would determine guilt or innocence, and
a second hearing would decide whether the death
penalty was warranted (Aggravating v Mitigating).
The Court later restricted the use of the death
penalty to cases where the victim died.
Capital Punishment in PA
•
•
•
•
Hanging – public until 1834, then private
1913 – Electric Chair
1990 – Lethal Injection
231 prisoners on Death Row in PA: 141
black, 70 white, 18 Latino, 2 Asian, 5 women
• PA has executed 3 people since 1976
• PA exonerated (found innocent) 6 death row
inmates
THE THREE DRUG COCKTAIL
Sodium thiopental, to cause unconsciousness.
Pancuronium bromide, to cause paralysis of all
muscles, including the diaphragm, which controls
breathing. If not unconscious when this drug is
administered, he will experience the physical and
psychological agony of suffocation.
The use of pancuronium is illegal in 42 states for
use in animal euthanasia.
Potassium chloride, which is intended to bring about
death by causing cardiac arrest. There is no
medical dispute that, if an individual is not
unconscious, the intravenous injection of this
drug causes excruciating pain, likened to setting
one’s veins on fire.
COSTS
• The average cost of a trial in a federal
death case is $620,932, about 8 times
that of a federal murder case in which
the death penalty is not sought.
• Providing effective assistance of
counsel to indigent defendants is a
problem
• a correlation exists between the socioeconomic factors of the defendant and
death sentences
Other Fun Facts
• 15 States have no death penalty
• Juveniles and Mentally challenged
cannot be subject to death penalty in
US
• Japan and South Korea have DP; most
other democracies do not
• http://www.amnestyusa.org/deathpenalty/death-penalty-instates/page.do?id=1101153