PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Summary:
The eight amendment has long been considered the most poorly defined of the amendments in the Bill of Rights because for more than two hundred years Americans have struggled to interpret and clarify the meanings of the phrases "cruel and unusual" "excessive bail" and "excessive fines".
Disadvantages:
The disadvantages for amendment eight were to pay excessive fines or bail, also to suffer from unusual punishments, one example of an unfair punishment were to be tortured and put to death for his or her beliefs. Traitors were tied to wooden posts, after being hanged until they were nearly dead. They were cut down, mutilated, beheaded and their bodies were quartered and this happened to both men and women.
Advantages:
The advantages for this amendment is that it prevents the government from punishing a criminal in some strange or unusual way, in other words so people won't be treated poorly.
Court Case:
The 1976 Supreme Court case Gregg v. Georgia involved five separate court cases. Gregg v. Georgia concerned a man named Troy Gregg who was convicted of murder and robbery in a hitchhiking case in Georgia. Georgia revised death penalty laws, a jury first sentenced Gregg to the death penalty, and then and appellate court reviewed the ruling, By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court ruled that in all five cases the death penalty could no longer be considered changes. So many states revised their death penalty laws, capital punishment was clearly a socially acceptable form of punishment for murders and was therefore not cruel and unusual.
UNUSUAL OBJECT TO PUNISH PEOPLE
A COURT CASE DEALING WITH BAIL
