Founding Fathers Quotes on Excessive, Cruel or Unusual Punishment in the Eighth Amendment

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

– Amendment VIII, The U.S. Bill of Rights

Americans argue today about whether or not capital punishment is, in and of itself, cruel and unusual. The Founders would not have recognized it as so. In fact, “cruel and unusual” punishments to them referenced the torturous and disfiguring punishments which were going out of fashion even in their day, but were not too distance of a memory – things like branding, for example.

This Amendment also ensures that you receive reasonable bail and are not fined excessively. Like many other clauses in the Constitution, these are somewhat vague and subjective terms. It’s only through over 200 years of American jurisprudence that we have a firmer idea of what these mean, developed through trial and error, tradition and precedent. Indeed, this Amendment might be the one most subject to the fashions of the times. What is considered “cruel and unusual” in one era might be considered eminently reasonable in another.

Founding Fathers Quotes on Excessive, Cruel or Unusual Punishment in the Eighth Amendment originally appeared on Ammo.com