lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=U.S.&vol=408&invol=238).
The issues surrounding the 8th Amendment are often complex. The cruel and unusual punishment clause, for instance, may well be at a constitutional crossroads as we move into the 21st century. Depending on the health and position of society, and the manner in which globalization has changed the way America is perceived in the world, and perceives itself, a change in attitude regarding the rubric of punishment is part of the way society defines itself. Thus, the importance of the interpretation of this amendment cannot be underemphasized -- and now, with a new Supreme Court Justice, the balance may well change as to the interpretation. As one legal scholar noted,
As with cruelty, the precise contours of the definition of unusualness can be developed only through case law; they cannot be outlined prospectively. What we can insist on prospectively, however, is that the two terms be defined in some way as…...
mlaREFERENCES
Amar, A. (2000). The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction. Yale University Press.
Bodenhamer, D. And J. Ely. (1993). The Bill of Rights in Modern America. Indiana Cusac, A. (2009). Cruel and Unusual: The Culture of Punishment in America.
"English Bill of Rights." (n.d.). Constitution.org. Cited in:
CIV S-90-0520 LKK JFM P, 2009 WL 2430820 (E.D.
Cal. Aug. 4, 2009). (2010). Harvard Law eview, 123(3), p.752-759.
This article discusses the civil rights case Coleman v. Schwarzenegger wherein the plaintiff sued California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for unconstitutional prison conditions. The lawsuit was examined in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California under the Prison Litigation eform Act of 1995 (PLA). The court ruled that authorities should conduct an assessment on the impact of prisoner's release on public safety as long as inmate reduction measures are concerned.
Eight Amendment -- Death Penalty- Missouri Supreme Court Holds that the Juvenile Death
Penalty Violates the Eight Amendment. - State ex rel. Simmons v. oper, 112 S.W.3d
(Mo. 2003) (en banc), cert. granted, 124 S. Ct. 1171 (2004). Harvard Law eview,
117(7), p.2456-2461.
This article looks at the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court on the case State ex rel. Simmons vs. oper which held…...
mlaReferences
Adelman, Stanley E. (n.d.). Supreme Court Bans Death Penalty for Under -- 18 Offenders.
Retrieved January 14, 2011, from http://www.aca.org/fileupload/177/prasannak/adelman_web.pdf
Eighth Amendment. (2011). Retrieved January 14, 2011, from Web site:
Or, as Saletan points out, those three elements "by deduction, are the due process test" (2011).
But this ought to leave a bad taste in one's mouth because all three of these elements can be manipulated to violate one's due process right.
"hich leaves us with an awkward bottom line. If the target is a suspected terrorist, "imminence" can be redefined to justify killing him. If the weapon is a drone, feasibility of arrest has already been ruled out -- that's why the drone has been sent to do the job. So in any drone strike on a U.S. citizen suspected of terrorism, only one of the three questions we supposedly apply to such cases is really open: Has he been fighting alongside al-Qaida? If he has, we can kill him. That's the same rule we apply to foreigners. In effect, citizenship doesn't matter. The "due process" test is empty" (Saletan…...
mlaWorks Cited
Cornell University Law School. (n.d). Bill of Rights from Cornell University Law
School. Retrieved from:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentv .
Lithwick, D. (2011, July 14). Murder Conviction Most Foul: What Justin Wolfe's case in Virginia tells us about death row cases everywhere. Slate.com. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2011/07/murder_c
The death penalty is not unconstitutional and is even mandatory for certain crimes with the judge and jury having little discretion in the matter in order to avoid violating the provision that prohibits 'cruel and unusual punishment' the methods used for execution of the death penalty should be humane and sensible. While the criminal may lack in possessing any compassion whatsoever that this complete lack of the ability to have or posses real compassion that resulted in their being sentenced to death is a consideration in the regard given those sentenced to death. Finally, there should be no lack of certainty that the individual being put to death was the perpetrator of the crime committed.
VI. The ISSUES & the DEATE[S]
The issues and debates surrounding the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution are becoming more heated with each passing day and while the general public has been…...
mlaBibliography
Constitution of the United States (nd) U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) Access: Sixth Amendment Rights of Accused in Criminal Prosecution. Online available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/
Rasmussen, David W. And Benson, Bruce L. (1994) the Economic Anatomy of a Drug War: Criminal Justice in the Commons. The Independent Review. Vol. 1, No. 2 Fall 1996. The Independent Institute.
Jones, Ben (2008) Sex Offenders May Get Special Tags. USA Today. 23 Oct 2008. Online available at http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070502/a_licenseplates02.art.htm
U.S. CONSTITUTION
The effect that ever changing societal values have on the Supreme Court's interpretation of the U.S. Constitution
The effect that ever changing societal values have on the Supreme Court's interpretation of the U.S. Constitution
The effect that ever changing societal values have on the Supreme Court's interpretation of the U.S. Constitution
Constitution represents the supreme law that directs political, social, cultural, and economic aspects of the nation. All other laws must be in line with the constitution in order to be effective and efficient in their application. Social or societal values have continuous effects on the interpretation of the constitution. The main objective of the constitution is to protect the interest of the individuals in the society. This objective makes the constitution relevant to the societal values within the context of the United States of America. The societal values keep changing in the contemporary world thus resulting into various amendments and…...
mlaReferences
Epps, G. (2008). Freedom of the press: The first amendment; its constitutional history and the contemporary debate. Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus.
Vile, J.R. (2010). A companion to the United States Constitution and its amendments. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
Epps, G. (2007). Democracy reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the fight for equal rights in post-Civil War America. New York: Henry Holt.
Chemerinsky, E. (2007). Interpreting the constitution. New York u.a: Praeger.
Some of these methods include plea agreements and the disclosure of incriminating evidence, along with witness testimony. Thus, defendants' rights do not tie the hands of officers and the courts because officers and the courts have an arsenal of ways to manage these rights and still perform their jobs.
While the myriad of rights offered to defendants in the United States may sometimes seem like ways to protect the guilty and harm the innocent, this is far from the case. Not only are these rights necessary for protecting the defendant, along with the rest of the democratic society of the United States, but the rights can also be managed through a plethora of legal tactics on the part of the courts and police officers. Established through the Constitution and landmark court cases, primarily, defendants' rights honor the intent of the constitution. Though it is true that some guilty defendants may…...
mlaReferences
Cima, Greg. (2006, 21 November). Marijuana charges dropped because of illegal search.
The Pantagraph. Retrieved at http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/11/21/news/doc4563de8080933076324107.txt
Edgar, Timothy H. Interested Persons Memo. Retrieved November 23, 2008, at http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/17203leg20030214.html
Farrell, Nick (2008, 20 November). Copper stole my Xbox. The Inquirer. Retrieved at http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/11/20/copper-stole-xbox
Correctional institutions have enhanced in quality and condition over the years. What started out as dungeons and sewers in ome, the conditions for correctional institutions have improved to quite an extent. In the 1980s, overcrowding became a renowned problem as it also went against the eighth amendment that forbids cruel and unusual punishment. (Carter & Glaser, 1977, p. 1) Increased crowdedness causes mental and physical damage to the inmates in the prison according to a research done by Paulus, Cox and McCain. The Iowa department of corrections takes control of the public, workers and the offenders by keeping them under punishment yet away from cruel behaviors as well. All the correctional measures taken under the criminals are done under proper supervision to ensure that their safety is not compromised.
Community-based correctional institutions.
Community-based corrections are a substitute measure to punish criminal without sending them to jail. The Iowa department of Corrections is…...
mlaReferences
Bop.gov (n.d.). BOP: Maps of Facilities - North Central Region. [online] Retrieved from: [Accessed: 17 Dec 2012].http://www.bop.gov/locations/maps/NCR.jsp
Carter, R.M., Glaser, D., & Wilkins, L.T. (1972). Correctional institutions. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Craig, D. (2004). Iowa's Dual Diagnosis Offender Program . Corrections Today, Iss. 2.
Doc.state.ia.us (1980). Iowa Department of Corrections - Employment Information: Institution Description. [online] Retrieved from: [Accessed: 17 Dec 2012].http://www.doc.state.ia.us/InstitutionDesc.asp
Moreover, in Perry v. Louisiana, 498 U.S. 38 (1990), the Court used that decision to bolster Louisiana's attempts to forcibly medicate a prisoner in order to make him death-eligible. If one agrees that the death penalty is a just penalty for one who has committed a capital crime, and that the reason that mentally ill defendants should not be executed is because they lack competence, then it does not seem unethical to allow them to be forcibly medicated in order to be competent. After all, in that scenario, avoiding medication could be likened to any other attempt to avoid punishment. Moreover, an organic physical disorder that arose after conviction, but that would have prevented a defendant from committing a crime, would not be sufficient reason not to execute a person on death row.
However, forced medication, especially for court appearances, may violate a defendant's Fifth Amendment right to present a…...
mlaReferences
Bonnie, R. (2007). Panetti v. Quarterman: mental illness, the death penalty, and human dignity. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 5, 257-283.
Fentiman, L. (1986). Whose right is it anyway? Rethinking competency to stand trial in light of the synthetically sane insanity defense. University of Miami Law Review, 40, 1109-1127.
Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399 (1986).
Panetti v. Quarterman, 127 S. Ct. 2842 (2007).
U.S. Supreme Court and the Rights of Inmates
The objective of this study is to identify the constitutional amendments that deal directly with the rights of correctional inmates. For each amendment, this work will describe the rights of inmates and correctional procedures that evolved to protect those rights. Lastly, this work will explain the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in interpreting correctional law, inmates' rights and correctional procedures.
Four Amendments That Address Rights of Prisoners
The primary areas of constitutions rights for inmates incarcerated in U.S. prisons are derived from four constitutional amendments. Those four amendments include the following:
(1) First Amendment -- This amendment governs to what extent authorities restrict the rights of inmates in regards to religion, speech press, and in general, the right to communicate with persons outside the jail. (Thigpen, Hutchinson, Persons and Holland, 2007)
(2) Fourth Amendment -- due process and equal protection. This amendment determines what types of…...
mlaBibliography
Thigpen, ML,. Hutchinson, VA, Persons, V. And Holland, F. (2007) Jails and the Cosntittuion: An Overview. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from: http://static.nicic.gov/Library/022570.pdf
Chung, V. (2000) Prison Overcrowding: Standards in Determining Eighth Amendment Violations. Fordham Law Review. Vol. 68, Iss.6. Art. 9. Retrieved from: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3653&context=flr
Panetti has not challenged those factual findings on appeal."
Panetti could not be considered incompetent to stand execution based on Ford v. Wainwright. Similar to Panetti, Ford did not initially argue mental illness, but during the trial he developed a severe form of mental disorder, leading to his unawareness of the crimes he had committed and of the reasons for his capital punishment.
The involved parties were both counting on Justice Powell's previous expertise in the Ford v. Wainwright case and were hoping that the judge would be better able to understand both sides.
The dismissal of the second issue of the case, that of the habeas relief motion, is based on the argument that Ford only "requires an opportunity for the petitioner to be heard and an impartial tribunal - both of which Panetti received." Other requests of Panetti's were dismissed. "ecause the state-court procedures were adequate under Ford, the AEDPA…...
mlaBibliography
Supreme Court of the United States, Syllabus, Panetti v. Quarterman,
Panetti, Scot v. Quarterman, Nathaniel, Northwestern University, Medill Journalism, January 9, 2007, last accessed on October 11, 2007http://docket.medill.northwestern.edu/archives/004241.php,
Scot Louis Panetti v. Nathaniel Quarterman: Brief for Respondednt, No. 06-6407 in the Supreme Court of the United States
Tim Birnbaum, Panetti v. Quarterman (06-6407): Death Penalty, Mental Illness, Factual Awareness Standard, Eight Amendment, Retribution, Cornell University Law School, last accessed on October 12, 2007http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/06-6407.html ,
In fact, when actual harm seems imminent, the government has more leeway to restrict the speech. Fighting words or words likely to result in harm to an individual fall into this category. The most notorious example is shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater. A more realistic example is the criminalization of terroristic threats.
) in an essay of at least two well-developed paragraphs, explain how laws related to capital punishment have changed since the early 1970s
At the beginning of the 1970s, capital punishment was legal throughout the United States, though execution rates varied tremendously by state. However, in 197, in the case of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 38 (197), the Supreme Court suspended capital punishment throughout the states. The Court found that capital punishment violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. However, it is important to realize that the violation did not come from the actual…...
mla2) in an essay of at least two well-developed paragraphs, explain how laws related to capital punishment have changed since the early 1970s
At the beginning of the 1970s, capital punishment was legal throughout the United States, though execution rates varied tremendously by state. However, in 1972, in the case of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the Supreme Court suspended capital punishment throughout the states. The Court found that capital punishment violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. However, it is important to realize that the violation did not come from the actual executions, but from the way that the states carried out their capital punishment procedures. Therefore, beginning in 1976, many states retooled their capital punishment laws and, once again, began sentencing defendants to death.
Since 1976, the capital punishment statutes of many states sought to address the Court's concerns that capital punishment was arbitrary. Some states adopted mandatory capital punishment statutes for certain types of murder, though those were later found to be unconstitutional. Other states adopted bifurcated proceedings, where guilt and punishment were established in separate stages. To determine whether or not to impose the death penalty, juries were called upon to consider aggravating and mitigating factors. In 1977, the Court determined that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment if imposed for rape, setting the standard that only murder could be a capital offense in state tribunals, though treason, espionage, and certain military crimes may still be capital offenses. There have been various challenges to the means of execution, so that executions must be carried out in as painless and humane manner as possible. The rules surrounding executions remained fairly consistent from the late 1970s until the early 2000s. However, in the early 2000s, two cases placed major restrictions on capital punishment, which brought the United States more into alignment with international humanitarian standards. First, the Court prohibited the execution of mentally retarded individuals. Next, the Court prohibited the execution of those who were minors at the time of commission of the offense. While all of these changes have not eliminated the death penalty and have been based on the premise that state-sanctioned executions are not unconstitutional, they shown an increasing awareness of the human rights issues
U.S. Constitution: Discussion Questions
A) he Fourteenth Amendment: the Case of Whitney V. California
274 U.S. 357
Whitney V. California (No. 3)
Argued: October 6, 1925
Decided: May 16, 1927
453 Affirmed
Location: Socialist Convention at Loring Hall
Factual Analysis: Anita Charlotte Whitney, who subscribed to the CLPC (Communist Labor Party of California), found herself was arraigned for breaching the state's 'Criminal Syndicalism Act', which forbade any actions aiding or advocating crime commission, including "terrorism as a means of accomplishing a change in industrial ownership or control, or effecting any political change" (LII, n.d.).
was the 'Criminal Syndicalism Act' repugnant to the Fourteenth Amendment? By penalizing those who advocate unlawful and violent methods of altering political and industrial situations and not penalizing individuals who advocate the same methods with the aim of maintaining such conditions, the statute, in the view of the defendant, contravened the 'Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment' (LII, n.d.).
Majority Opinion: No. he Criminal Syndicalism…...
mlaThe second amendment states that "a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" (U.S. Attorney's Office, 2013, p. 7). The amendment obviously refers to threats posed to state sovereignty by a national standing army; and not to a household's anxiety about intruders. The Constitution can be amended to make this perfectly clear by adding the words 'when serving in the militia'; such that the Second Amendment reads 'a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms when serving in the militia shall not be infringed" (Stevens, 2014).
D) Theories of Constitutional Interpretation
Theories of constitutional interpretation fall into several categories; pragmatism, constructionism, contextualism, intentionalism, textualism, and originalism, among others (Wayne, 2010). I subscribe to a contextualism approach, because the context within which an event occurred says a lot about the intention of the doer. In law enforcement, context plays a fundamental role in decision-making; for instance, when we say that someone acted in self-defense, we have taken into consideration the situation the subject was
Capital Punishment
Is Capital Punishment Cruel and Unusual?
hat is cruel and unusual punishment? Does the definition of cruel and unusual punishment change with time and changing social mores? Does the determination of whether or not a punishment is cruel and unusual depend on the crime committed, the criminal being punished, or both? These are all very important questions, which must all be examined before one can determine whether or not capital punishment is cruel and unusual punishment.
Cruel and unusual punishment is a difficult term to define, as it depends on the values and mores of the defining society. The prohibition against cruel punishment basically means that the punishment should fit the crime. For example, determining when death is an appropriate issue has been one of the complicating factors in the death penalty debate. Historically, the death penalty was previously available for a variety of crimes, ranging from theft of property to…...
mlaWorks Cited
Blume, John H., Theodore Eisenberg, and Sheri Lynne Johnson. "Symposium: Post-McCleskey
Racial Discrimination Claims in Capital Cases." Cornell Law Review. Sept. 1998: 1771-
"In Opposition to the Death Penalty: Deterrence." The Death Penalty. 2004. Michigan State
University Comm Tech Lab and Death Penalty Information Center. 8 Nov. 2005
Supreme Court established in analyzing the constitutionality of punishment? List and discuss at least three of them.
The only specific mention of definition of legally administrable punishment in the U.S. Constitution is that the punishment not be cruel and unusual, a vague semantic term that has proved fertile ground for both opponents and proponents of the death penalty. Capital punishment, however, was declared unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia (1972). This was not because it meted out death to a defendant. Rather, it was the grounds that it was administered in a cruel and unusual fashion. Thus it was in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Also, Georgia's capital punishment laws were meted out in an unclearly defined fashion that was overly subjective, and according to sociological data submitted to the court, seemed to unfairly penalize African-Americans. It was also thus in violation of the equal protection clause…...
mlaWork Cited
"Dred Scott Case." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.© 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 on Infoplease. © 2000 -- 2004 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease. 25 Jan. 2005 .
Graham vs. Florida Focal Point Analysis
There are many issues involved in the Supreme Court decisions especially with regard to the Constitution. One important assumption is that the court is moving to create a situation where the rights of humans are being protected and arbitrariness being curbed. In the light of the fact that human rights are now a universal concept and is globally acknowledged, the fact that constitutions and laws that abridge the human rights have to go or be amended cannot be argued against. While the constitution may be supreme, the rights of humans take priority, especially in the global context. In such a case the case of Graham vs. Florida can be seen as a landmark judgement so far as the way prisoners have to be treated is concerned.
The problem is more of legal rationality because the laws are rules that a society creates for the guidance of…...
mlaReferences
Anderson, James; Byrne, Dara N. (2004) "The Unfinished Agenda of Brown v. Board of Education." Wiley: Hoboken, NJ.
Ashworth, Andrew; Wasik, Martin. (1998) "Fundamentals of Sentencing Theory: Essays in Honour of Andrew von Hirsch." Clarendon Press: Oxford.
Cornell. Edu. (2010) "Supreme Court of the United States Graham v. Florida. certiorari to the district court of appeal of florida, 1st district No. 08 -- 7412. Argued November 9, 2009 -- Decided May 17, 2010." Retrieved 10 August 2011 from http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-7412.ZS.html
Cornell University Law School. (2010) "Thomas, J., dissenting Supreme Court of the United
Complexities of Capital Punishment
1. Ethical and Moral Implications: Explore the ethical and moral dilemmas associated with the death penalty, considering arguments for and against its use based on concepts such as retribution, deterrence, and the sanctity of life.
2. Racial and Economic Disparities: Analyze the racial and economic disparities in the application of the death penalty, examining the role of systemic racism and socioeconomic factors in sentencing outcomes.
3. Psychological and Neurological Aspects: Discuss the psychological and neurological implications of the death penalty, including the mental anguish it inflicts on individuals sentenced to death and the potential for irreversible mistakes in sentencing.
Debating....
Historical Arguments:
For the Death Penalty:
Ancient civilizations (e.g., Egypt, Greece, Rome) used capital punishment for severe crimes to deter crime and maintain societal order.
In the Middle Ages, the death penalty was commonly applied for a range of offenses, including treason, murder, and heresy.
Colonization and early American jurisprudence heavily influenced by European traditions, resulting in the adoption of capital punishment for various crimes.
Against the Death Penalty:
Enlightenment thinkers like Cesare Beccaria argued against capital punishment, emphasizing its potential for injustice and its ineffective deterrent value.
The 18th and 19th centuries witnessed a gradual decline in the use of the....
Recent Supreme Court Decisions and Their Impact on the Criminal Justice System
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) plays a pivotal role in shaping the criminal justice system through its decisions on constitutional rights, prosecutorial practices, and sentencing guidelines. Recent years have witnessed several significant SCOTUS rulings that have had a profound impact on the system, shaping the way criminal cases are investigated, tried, and adjudicated.
Miranda Rights and Police Interrogations
Miranda v. Arizona (1966): Established the "Miranda rule," requiring law enforcement officers to inform suspects of their rights to remain silent, have an attorney present, and stop being questioned....
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