Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States ensures that bails , fines , and punishments be fair and humane. The amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive punishments upon citizens found guilty in criminal cases. The amendment was the 8th of 10 amendments made to the Constitution as part of the Bill of Rights , which guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms to every citizen.
The amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
The Bill of Rights.
The U.S. Constitution went into effect on June 21, 1788. Some states had refused to approve the Constitution unless a bill of rights was added. Supporters of the Constitution, known as Federalists , promised to support constitutional amendments that protected individual liberties against possible unjust rule by the national government. Congress proposed the first 10 amendments—the Bill of Rights—in 1789. The states ratified them in 1791.
Eighth Amendment protections.
The Eighth Amendment limits the government’s power to punish people who have been convicted of a crime. It prohibits the government from imposing excessive fines and “cruel and unusual punishments” on those people. The Eighth Amendment also prohibits the government from imposing excessive bail on individuals charged with committing a crime but who have not yet been convicted. The Supreme Court of the United States has found that a fine is unfair when it is “grossly excessive” and far out of proportion to the crime committed. When determining whether a punishment is “cruel and unusual,” courts look to “evolving standards of decency” and not to what people thought at the time that the Eighth Amendment was adopted.
Many of the Supreme Court’s rulings about the Eighth Amendment concern the question of when it is permissible for the government to execute a person for committing a crime. Critics of the death penalty, which is also known as capital punishment , argue that it is cruel and unusual punishment. Although the court accepted that argument in the past, it has since rejected it. Instead, the court has found that the death penalty does not always constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Courts may impose the death penalty if certain standards are applied to guard against its arbitrary use. The court has determined that evidence of racial bias in the administration of the death penalty alone does not make it cruel and unusual punishment. However, the court has found that there are certain circumstances in which the death penalty would always constitute cruel and unusual punishment—executing a mentally ill person, for example.
The court has rarely struck down sentence for being too long. It has held that the Eighth Amendment only constrains the length of prison sentences when they are “grossly disproportionate” to the crime that was committed. However, the court has held, for instance, that a state imposing a mandatory life sentence on a minor without opportunity for parole was in violation of the Eighth Amendment. (A mandatory sentence is one required by law for the commission of certain crimes.)
The Eighth Amendment also applies to the conditions in which a convicted criminal is held in prison. The court has held that prison officials violate the amendment when they show “deliberate indifference” to the safety and medical needs of prisoners. The court has also determined that prison officials violate the Eighth Amendment if they use force against prison inmates in a “malicious and sadistic” way. In general, prison officials are said to use “malicious and sadistic force” if they administer force in such a way that they intend to cause harm and not just maintain discipline.
History.
The Eighth Amendment is based on a similar provision in the English Bill of Rights of 1689. The framers of the U.S. Constitution wanted to make it clear that the government could not impose punishments that were unduly harsh on people who had been convicted of crimes. In the 1972 case Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment, as it was then imposed, violated the Eighth Amendment. The court held that the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment because it had not been applied fairly and uniformly. Many states then adopted new laws designed to meet the court’s objections. In 1976, the court overturned Furman and held that the death penalty does not, in itself, violate the Eighth Amendment. Beginning in the late 1970’s, court rulings have found that the Eighth Amendment protects the fundamental rights of prison inmates. Since then, the amendment has served as an important source of prisoner’s rights.
