8th Amendment Under Attack Essay

685 Words2 Pages

Is the eighth amendment under attack? The eighth amendment states that no person shall be submitted to cruel and unusual punishment. The question is whether or not this right is under attack from those who support the death penalty. When the bill of rights was created it was intended to stop judges from unruly, and unreasonable punishments of people who committed certain crimes. However in the day and age we live in now, the supreme court has placed provisions and rules on the use of the death penalty, and with its support it is threatening the idea of the eighth amendment, and those who oppose it. Topic Sentence: Those who oppose the death penalty argue that it is inhumane. However, supporters argue that the ways states use the death penalty is humane comparatively to older times. Some examples of these older types of capital punishment are; “boiling a prisoner to death in oil, dismembering a convict (often by having them drawn and …show more content…

When the framers thought of the eighth amendment it originated from the English Bill or Rights of 1689.(Constitution Laws). The amendment states that no person shall be submitted to cruel and unusual punishment, but what does this really mean? According to Constitution Laws, “The Eighth Amendment forbids the use of punishments that are excessive when related to the crime in question or compared to the competence of the aggressor”. This means that the use of the death penalty doesn’t violate the eighth amendment in some people's minds. As long as the crime fits the punishment, then the use of capital punishment is allowed. This type of ideology and thought process is a threat to the eighth amendment itself. When people believe that the use of this punishment isn’t a violation, then they are going to use their other rights to protect what they believe. The supreme court could also be a threat to the eighth

Show More
Related

  • Revision of the Eighth Amendment

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...n some peoples’ opinions’ that would be a horrible idea, but I think that if someone was to make people suffer and put them through absolute misery, they should not be let off the hook very easily. So instead of the Eighth Amendment being “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.” (Legal Dictionary), it should be “as “Excessive bail or fines should not be imposed unless it fits the crime committed, cruel and unusual punishment should also not be imposed unless the need was to arise where the crime was extreme enough for all the jury members should agree on a cruel or unusual punishment.”.

    Read More

  • Seventh Amendment Essay

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    The right to have trial by jury is an easy and simple right letting someone to be able to choose to have their fate be decide by a group of people with having different opinions from different minds letting them have a better chance of finding out the truth, because people have different perspectives in what they see. Which is also a very important right to the freedom we have and to our country. In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Which defines as if someone gets charged over twenty dollars, then they’re able to ask for a jury to hear their side of the case before they lose their money and once the jury makes their decision they can not change it. This Amendment is important to our freedom because into the decision of the Farmers while they were writing on the Bill of Rights they thought it would only be fair to have an equal court system.

    Read More

  • 8th amendment

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    I think that executing a minor violates the 8th amendment, “No cruel or unusual punishment.” If a little kid makes a mistake and accidentally shoots a gun or does something that kills someone, and they are executed I think that that falls under cruel and unusual punishment.

    Read More

  • Fourth Amendment Essay

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Constitution of the United States of America protects people’s rights because it limits the power of government against its people. Those rights guaranteed in the Constitution are better known as the Bill of Rights. Within these rights, the Fourth Amendment protects “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable search and seizures […]” (Knetzger & Muraski, 2008). According to the Fourth Amendment, a search warrant must be issued before a search and seizure takes place. However, consent for lawful search is one of the most common exceptions to the search warrant requirement.

    Read More

  • 9th Amendment Essay

    625 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ninth and tenth amendments could be exactly what a women is looking for when choosing to have an abortion. While the ninth amendment states “there are other rights that may exist aside from the ones explicitly mentioned, and even though they are not listed, it does not mean they can be violated.” The fourth amendment states the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated. A woman not having the right to have an abortion would be like saying she doesn’t have the right to do what she wants with her body (violation of the 9th amendment) or in other words, her property.

    Read More

  • The 8th Amendment

    420 Words  | 1 Pages

    The “cruel and unusual” clause in the eighth amendment states that “cruel and unusual punishment” such as torture or lingering death can not be inflicted on anyone as a form of execution. It is however permissible under the 8th Amendment to execute a convict by means of hanging, shooting, electrocution, and lethal gas.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Should Not Be Instituted

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout America’s history, capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been used to punish criminals for murder and other capital crimes. In the early 20th century, numerous people would gather for public executions. The media described these events gruesome and barbaric (“Infobase Learning”). People began to wonder if the capital punishment was really constitutional.

    Read More

  • The Controversy Surrounding the Death Penalty

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many call capital punishment unconstitutional and point to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution for support. The amendment states that, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment be inflicted." Those who oppose the death penalty target the 'cruel and unusual' phrase as an explanation of why it is unconstitutional. Since the Framers of the Constitution are no longer with us and we base our nation on the words in which that document contains, the legality of the death penalty is subject to interpretation. Since there is some ambiguity or lack of preciseness in the Constitution, heated debate surrounding this issue has risen in the last ten years.

    Read More

  • 2nd Amendment Essay

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United State of America, established by the Founding Father who lead the American Revolution, accomplished many hardship in order to construct what America is today. As history established America’s future, the suffering the United State encountered through history illustrate America’s ability to identify mistakes and make changes to prevent the predictable. The 2nd Amendment was written by the Founding Father who had their rights to bear arms revoked when they believe rising up to their government was appropriate. The Twentieth Century, American’s are divided on the 2nd Amendment rights, “The right to bear arms.” To understand why the Founding Father written this Amendment, investigating the histories and current measures may help the American people gain a better understanding of gun’s rights in today’s America.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On The Sixth Amendment

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    The sixth amendment is indeed a right that carries tremendous importance with its name. It constitutes for many protections which Mallicoat (2016) summarizes by saying it “provides for the right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of one’s peers in the jurisdiction where the crime occurred. Provides the right to be informed of the nature of the charges, to confront witnesses against oneself, and present witnesses in one’s defense. Provides the right to an attorney.” Having an impartial jury of one’s peers is extremely important in efforts to eliminate bias and a subjective, limited range of mindsets. If this cannot be obtained in the jurisdiction where the crime was committed, one may request trial to be held elsewhere, such as in the case

    Read More

  • Tenth Amendment Essay

    1467 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tenth Amendment Our bill of rights all began when James Madison, the primary author of the constitution, proposed 20 amendments to the bill of rights and not the ten we know of today. Madison sent these twenty proposed rights through the House and the Senate and was left with twelve bills of rights. Madison himself took some of it out. These amendments were then sent to the states to be ratified. Virginia was the tenth state out of the fourteenth states to approve 10 out of 12 amendments.

    Read More

  • Importance Of The 8th Amendment

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    The eighth amendment of the U.S Constitution has been a key part to the justice system from the moment it was created. It provides the basic rights that everyone deserves. The eighth amendment is very important because it guarantees many “freedom from” rights. For example, it protects Americans from cruel and unusual punishments. Without the eighth amendment many people would be punished in an inhumane manner based on the morals of the judge. The eighth amendment is crucial to the U.S Constitution because it promises that all citizens are guaranteed their rights, including the citizens who are felons and display criminal acts.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On The Death Penalty

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    First the death penalty is against people human right of the constitution. To me I feel that the death penalty strips people of their eighth amendment right. This amendment protects people from excessive fine and cruel punishment (Marshfield, 2016). It is crazy to think that the pilgrims fled the oppression of England, set up rights for their people, and America goes and sets up the death penalty. If we keep it up like this, before you know it we as the citizens are going to be forced to house soldiers or we

    Read More

  • Why Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished

    1909 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... capital punishment is unconstitutional and inhumane, given that the 8th Amendment can interfere with the ruling of every case. The 8th amendment is one extremely important factor in most criminal cases, besides the evidence and witnesses. As has been mentioned, there are numerous reasons why the death penalty should be taken away. It is very costly, and the money that is spent can be used for problems that take place in today’s society. The judicial system has many things to work on as far as getting appropriate evidence and making sure they don’t put an innocent man on death row. By taking away capital punishment, people sentenced to life without out parole will actually understand that committing a crime does not send anyone to a blissful place. Who wants to sit in slumber for the rest of his life? Let’s take a stand and eliminate Capital Punishment as an option.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Persuasive Essay

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    Capital punishment has been a controversial topic in association to any person condemned to a serious committed crime. Capital punishment has been a historical punishment for any cruel crime. Issues associated to things such as the different methods used for execution in most states, waste of taxpayers’ money by performing execution, and how it does not serve as any form of justice have been a big argument that raise many eyebrows. Capital punishment is still an active form of deterrence in the United States. The history of the death penalty explains the different statistics about capital punishment and provides credible information as to why the form of punishment should be abolished by every state. It is believed

    Read More

More about 8th Amendment Under Attack Essay

Open Document