The 8th Amendment

The 8th Amendment

�Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.’

1. Introduction

Imagine being hanged for a felony you committed, or having your tongue pierced with a torched spoon because you were caught for a mistake that could have easily been fixed. These are the types of things the eighth amendment protects us from. Without this amendment, people on death row could easily be brutally tortured for things they might not have even done. It might not be to the extent of being hanged for a felony, but the point needs to be made that the eighth amendment has done nothing but good.

I am interested in the eighth amendment because it focuses on a very serious problem. Death row completely goes against this amendment. I not only want to talk about how killing people by either lethal injection, or the electric chair is cruel and unusual, but I want people to understand that it should be illegal and agree with me that it violates the eighth amendment.

My paper is meant to prove to you and everyone that we need to do something to stop these brutal behaviors from happening. We need to stand up for our rights, and take these people off of death row. There are many reasons why death row is the worst way to solve anything. One, it is more expensive to put someone on death row than it is to keep them in prison for life. Two, there are plenty of innocent people that have been killed because of other peoples mistakes. Finally, The criminal deserves to serve time for his/her crime, not just suddenly end everything.

2.Historical Origin of the Right

Before. Before the eighth amendment was established, cruel and unusual punishment was not even thought twice about. In 1608, America put its first person to death . He was spying for the Spanish, but was caught and sentenced to death . This is the first record of someone being murdered for a crime. This is where it all began. This escalated into burning at the stake, piercing of the tongue with a torched spoon, drowning, hanging, electrocution, and lethal injection. These are all forms of cruel and unusual punishment which violates the 8th amendment.

“Punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. Cruel and unusual punishment includes torture, deliberately degrading punishment, or punishment that is too severe for the crime committed. This concept helps guarantee due process even to convicted criminals. Many people have argued that capital punishment should be considered cruel and unusual punishment.”

If cruel and unusual punishment is punishment that includes torture, then all of the past punishments have been cruel and unusual. Who is to say that a punishment is too severe or not. That would all depend on opinion.

3. It is more expensive to put someone on death row then to keep them in prison for life.

Many people do not realize that death row is hands down, much more costly than imprisoning the criminal for life. This is a fact that we all need to put into consideration. Our tax money is going towards so many things that we have no control over. That does not have to be the case for this issue. We can rise together and stop killing these people. Yes, they may have murdered someone, or done something worse, but by killing them it only makes us hypocrites.

According to http://www.deathpenalty.org/index.php?pid=cost, “It costs approximately $90,000 more a year to house an inmate on death row, than in the general prison population or $57.5 million annually.” That is $90,000 more than the general prison population for one person. Those numbers are ridiculous. We are paying thousands of our dollars to kill someone because they killed someone. That just does not make sense to me.

It only makes sense to keep the criminal in a cell serving time for the mistakes they made. Why should we do them the favor of ending their misery? That is not fair. If they really want to end their misery, let them do it themselves. It’s free, and we can’t blame ourselves for the wrong-doing. More realistically, there are a handful of people on death row that are there for the wrong reasons. Either they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or they are taking the heat for someone else. This leads me to my next point.

4. There are plenty of innocent people that have been killed because of other people’s mistakes.

How good are you feeling now? Not only are you paying good tax dollars to kill these people, but these people