Welsh+Period+4+Amendment+8

__**T h e 8 t h A m e n d m e n t **__ ** B y, B r i a n a , E m m a a n d T h o m a s ** // This amendment was ratified in Dec. 15th 1791  //
 * On what date was this amedment ratified?  **

**What issue brought up the need for the amendment?** // So that punishments would fit crimes. //

**What punishments were in play back when this amendment was ratified?** // Criminals convicted of a murder would be disected by surgeons alive while hung in chains. Some criminals would be hanged, burned on a stake, placed in the army or navy, and tied to a cart by the neck and would either die by being suffocated or to fall off a cliff (the horses were steered towards the end of the cliff).Some judges charged excessive fines for the crown. //

**What is the difference between the punishments then and the punishments now?** // Back then floggings (beatings) were considered common and not cruel, but now floggings violate the eighth amendment. Then, an eye for an eye was popular,but now only 37 states have the death penalty and only one uses methiods other then the leathal ingection. //

// Punishments must fit crimes and a judge or ruler can not profit from excess bail. //
 * How is this amendment benefited our country? **

//Excessive bail and capital punishments. Flogginings were also popular.// **Could people be punished without a trial before this amendment?** //Yes, if the court thought the criminal was guilty they could have just sent him to jail.//
 * What was the most common punishment before this amendment was at play? **

//No, a judge can't take a fine for himself he or she is just there to supervise and judge the trial.//
 * Could a judge charge fines that he took for himself? **

** Briana's Current    Event     ** Article:      __Lethal injection to face fight__ Date: January 9, 2009 Author: Paul Hammel This Article is about an Omaha lawer that said there are plenty of fights left among death penalty opponents. Nebraska hasn't exacuted anyone for 11 months because the State Supreme Court says that the electirc chair is cruel and unusual punishment. The council said they would ban capital punishments and fight a bill to take over lethal injection as the state's method of execution. This article relates to the 8th Amendment because it is about cruel and unusual punishments.

[|Lethal injection to face fight]

** Thomas's  Current  Event   **
Article: __Cruel and Unusual History__ Date: April 23,2008 Author: Gilbert King This Article is about the Supreme Court and their mistakes about the death penalty. On one occasion a man was scheduled for a firing squad execution. They missed the criminal and he was shot in the torso and in the arm and bled to death. This goes against the eighth amendment. A seventeen year old boy was put to death in an electric chair. There have been many punishments that have gone against the eighth amendment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23king.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Cruel%20and%20Unusual%20History&st=cse