Introduction
Amendment #8
Bill of Rights Definition:
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Personal Definition:
One may not consistently bail someone out [of confinement] nor shall the criminal/offender be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
Big Ideas:
- Fairness to whom/what the offender is committing the crime to.
- No unnecessary measures for the criminal.
- The offender can avoid paying millions of dollars because of excessive fines.
Task
Big Ideas:
1.”Cruel Unusual Punishment”
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/should-we-add-us-8th-amendment-cruel-unusual-punishment-into-our-own-constitution-4319974.html (Only read the boxed area of the person’s question)
The Eighth Amendment is a law within the Bill of Rights, which does not allow, excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and usual punishment.
http://www.answers.com/topic/cruel-and-unusual-punishment
Because of all of the torture (and the alike) were unjustified, the decided that only certain things such as hanging, electrocution, the court had to put specific boundaries, but that was many years later, after the ratification of the Eighth Amendment.
The law was originally intended just to put a ban against cruel and unusual punishment, however, there were many arguments on banning capital punishment.
http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-rights/cruel-and-unusual-punishment.html
Cruel and unusual punishment is the rights served to the criminal when in jail or prison. It just means that nothing along the lines of “torture”, is allowed. If the employer who is inflicting the “torture” or “cruel injustice” is aware of their actions, they are violating the Eighth Amendment.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cruel+and+unusual+punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment is punishment that is prohibited for the criminal to face. Such as, torture, degrading punishments (humiliation), and punishments that are too severe.
2: “Excessive Fines”
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091111143217AAgfMYz (one of the only sites I could find; sorry)
The fines upon the criminal must be reasonable and there may not be constant fines upon the criminal.
http://constitution.laws.com/8th-amendment
The fines against the criminal must be fair and may not exceed a certain amount.
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/lawenforcementterrorism/p/8th_amendment.htm
People may overlook the fines inflicted against others, but in many cases the fine could cause serious problems depending on their status (in wealth).
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-importance-and-significance-8th-amendment-281351
Same as with excessive bail, excessive fines were banned because the fine on the criminal could sometimes be injustice.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110518093052AAvYzva (again, sorry of using this question and site)
Excessive fines do not apply to small amounts of money.
3.”Excessive Bail”
http://www.phschool.com/curriculum_support/interactive_constitution/amendments/amend1-10/index08.htm
Excessive bail is bail in which exceeds the original worth of the jail bail itself.
http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/8th-amendment.html
In the Eighth Amendment, paying high amounts of money to guarantee chances of jail bail, was prohibited.
http://libertyfirstfl.org/?p=337
The words “bail” and “excessive” both apply to the certain rule that when trying to guarantee a bail with a lot of money, it is illegal due to the Eighth Amendment.
http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/bill_of_rights/media/eight.htm
When speaking about bails, it can mean a different variety of things that branch of from the same idea.
http://kids.laws.com/eighth-amendment
The court cannot accept or fine a large amount of money on bails nor fines.
Process
Questions about Amendment 8
1. What would happen if someone uses cruel and unusual punishment or is rather, “torturing” someone?
2. What happens if the criminal does not return for their trial (when being bailed)?
3. Which section/article was rejected the most when going to be ratified by states in the U.S.?
. . . .
Answers:
1. That person, would of course, be violating the 8th Amendment and could be given severe punishment (that is, one that doesn’t violate the 8th Amendment! Ba-dum-tsss) because they did not take any action to stop.
http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-rights/cruel-and-unusual-punishment.html
2. The criminal will not be bailed and will lose any bail money or property.
http://kids.laws.com/eighth-amendment
3. I’m not sure why anyone would want to know this, but the article that was rejected the most was Article II, it was rejected 5 times; by New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
http://constitution.laws.com/8th-amendment
Evaluation
Evaluation Task #1
Question #1: Based on what is said early in the video, were the judges reluctant on ratifying the Amendment?
Question #2: But aren’t death sentences and lethal injections one of the most common deaths in trials (and the alike)? Why are they being considered cruel and unusual?
Question #3: What if the minor is under eight and committed mass murder? Would they be given a life sentence and parole?
Kiara Mendez, Paola Guzman
Answers:
#1: The judges were reluctant on ratifying the amendment because they had been somewhat scared that the statement said towards something will be thought based on opinion or just thought by the judge and not considering the thought of others. (So just the judge’s thought on the situation was they had thought the community would say about the amendment)
Well, that's correct. It isn't really directly said in the video, however, this was a similar case with other amendments.
#2: Death sentences and lethal injections were common in trials, but what had happened was that the amendment said no cruel and unusual punishments and the thing was [as Dr. Richard Beeman had said] that the meaning of cruel and unusual punishments were changed though out time. And that back then this type of punishment was thought of not cruel or unusual unlike today which it is.
That's right. The meanings of "cruel and unusual" for punishment has changed. However, still today, they use things such as lethal injections. It depends on the usage of it, though.
#3: If a minor under the age of eight committed mass murder [as the Supreme Court states] they can not be executed. The minor also can’t receive a life sentence with out a parole.
Great! Um, there's not really much to say about this one since it was a rather simplistic answer, but good job. Also, the minor CAN be executed, though it often depends on age (though for a 7 year-old like in the question, they will most likely not be executed).
Conclusion
Evaluation Task #1
Question #1: Based on what is said early in the video, were the judges reluctant on ratifying the Amendment?
Question #2: But aren’t death sentences and lethal injections one of the most common deaths in trials (and the alike)? Why are they being considered cruel and unusual?
Question #3: What if the minor is under eight and committed mass murder? Would they be given a life sentence and parole?