The Eighth Amendment

As a citizen of the United States of America, each person is entitled to one’s Constitutional Rights. In our Bill of Rights, one can see very important rights that pertain to our criminal justice system making sure that the people of the United States are treated fairly. The eighth amendment is most important when it comes to corrections. Amendment Eight of the Bill of Rights prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishment. In our history, one can see how there were many examples of how the government violated this amendment. The Supreme Court, in a line of several cases over the past decade, has established a strict federal constitutional excessiveness review for punitive damages …show more content…
Throughout the United States, thirty-nine cities have implemented policies that criminalize or target homelessness. These policies have gone to the extent where basic human activities such as sleeping are limited. Since the initiation of these policies, a homeless person can fall asleep only on private property, which is trespassing, or on public property, which violates the anti-sleeping ordinance. Since there is no way of winning, the homeless person must commit a punishable crime in order to get one’s sleep. According to Smith, “anti-sleeping ordinances violate the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause by effectively criminalizing the status of being homeless.” In Robinson v. California, a homeless man was charged for being a narcotics addict. From this case the Robison Doctrine was created to constitute it cruel and unusual to punish one based on their …show more content…
It all comes done to the conditions of the confinement. There are four types of prisons in the United States. The four types of prisons are minimum security, medium security, maximum security and supermax security. Minimum-security facilities are reserved for committers of non-violent crimes. Prisoners are often incarcerated for "white-collar" crimes, such as fraud. Security is minimal and accommodation is often dormitory style. Prisoners is these prisons are not treated as harsh as a prisoner that is in a maximum-security prison since the severity of the crime. If a person charged with burglary was placed in the same level facility as a person charged with murder, which would result in a cruel punishment since the severity of the crime does not compare to each other. In medium security prisons, personal freedoms are fewer than in a minimum-security facility and the daily routine of inmates is more regimented. "Cage" style accommodation is often used. Maximum security is reserved for offenders of the most violent crimes. Guards are armed and plentiful. Every inmate is regarded as dangerous. Supermax prisons serve to house the worst of the worst. These prisoners are a threat to national and international security. A prisoner whose basic needs are not met receives a more severe punishment than those prisoners who receive minimally adequate