Cruel And Unusual Forms Of Punishment

The eighth amendment in the United States Constitution protects citizens against the harm of “cruel and unusual” punishment sentences. For example, the practice of corporal or bodily punishment of criminals is cruel and unusual. Sentences such as the death penalty, or death by fire-squad are specific kinds of punishment that has been executed rarely, yet many consider cruel and unusual. The topic of these forms of punishment is very controversial, in that these forms of punishment cannot be distributed fairly. One can also question if these forms of punishment serve as deterrence to crime or retribution for society? Many states in America have taken their stand against the death penalty, specific example, and removed this form of punishment as state law. Being that …show more content…
He states, “ The number of people in prison has increased over the last twenty years at an astronomical rate, from approximately 177,113 in 1971 to 1.5 million in 1994…1993 minorities made up 61.7% of the prison population (44.1% Blacks and 17.6% Hispanics). When we consider that blacks compromise only about 12% of the total United States population, we see that the proportion of blacks in prison is tremendous.” The numbers of blacks, particularly males, has continued to skyrocket. 2010 records state there was a total of 844,600 Black males in jail or prison. That number is extremely large compared to the 100,000 or so white males in jail or in prison. One may argue that this argument for Newman’s electric shock punishment could better society. Minorities would possibly have the largest benefit from this alternative. This would have a great impact on minority families and criminals. Overall, Newman’s method would not be the fairest sort of punishment. The argument was not convincing, due to his lack of methods for equal punishment and deterrence from