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Eighth Amendment. American Political Institutions Fawn Gibson. Eighth Amendment. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Eighth Amendment.
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Eighth Amendment American Political Institutions Fawn Gibson
Eighth Amendment • Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Eighth Amendment • The amount of both bail and fines is generally set by the type of crime that a defendant is accused and judgments about the person’s character.
Eighth Amendment • the Excessive Fines Clause was intended to limit only those fines directly imposed by, and payable to, the government.
Eighth Amendment • Bail Reform Act of 1984: Congress authorize preventive detention in federal criminal proceedings. the denial of bail to an accused, unconvicted defendant because it is feared or it is found probable that if released s/he will be a danger to the community
Eighth Amendment • The concept of cruel and unusual punishment difficult to define; Because the notion of cruelty varies greatly from one age to the next.
Eighth Amendment • Trop v. Dulles (1958): Taking away a the citizenship of a natural born citizen was held as Cruel and Unusual.
Eighth Amendment • Does the Eighth Amendment contain a requirement that punishments be somewhat proportional to crimes? • Harmelin v Michigan (1991), the Court upheld the sentence of life imprisonment for the first-time offense of possession of cocaine
Eighth Amendment • Having the Cruel and Unusual clause in the constitution led many to hope for the eventual invalidation of the death penalty
Eighth Amendment • The Supreme Court has exempted two key classes of people from the Death Penalty: • Those under the age of 15 • Those who are mentally retarded
Eighth Amendment • Having the death penalty makes the US condemned by other nations especially the EU.