Amendment+8W2

=8W2= Eighth Amendment = =


 * Essential Question: What issues prompted the creation of the 8th amendment? What impact did the 8th amendment have on society at that time? **

A: The punishments before the amendment were pulled into four pieces by horses, strangled, burned, branded, and having their guts cut out. They also used rack, thumbscrew, and gibbets as a way to punish criminals. The criminals were punished in public to be made fun of by regular citizens. (Kyoko)
 * Q:What were the punishments like before the amendment?**

A: The founding fathers wanted to protect criminals from being their natural rights taken away. They believed that even criminals have certain rights that the government can't take away. The colonists were mad at the British for their harsh punishments. (Kyoko)
 * Q: Why did the founding fathers decide to add the 8th amendment?**

A: Without the 8th amendment, police can give punishments that doesn't match the crime that you committed. The police will also be able to give you a bail that you can't pay. The government and police will have too much power that they can take advantage of. (Kyoko)
 * Q: What would life be without the amendment?**

A: In December 1791, the 8th amendment was ratified with the rest of the Bill of Rights. The 11 states that ratified them were New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. (Kyoko)
 * Q: Which states ratified the 8th amendment?**

A: Some of the punishments that were considered cruel and unusual were pulled into four pieces by horses, strangled, burned, branded and their guts being cut out. But, the opinions changed and some punishments that are considered cruel and unusual today are death penalty and execution by poisonous gases. (Kyoko)
 * Q: What kinds of punishment are considered cruel and unusual?**

A: Many people wanted to stay out of trouble because they knew that the punishments would be very harsh. The government knew that the harsher the punishment the less likely people are to commit the crime. So when the eight amendment was created it was a concern if people where more likely to commit crimes.Since there where amendments people had many rights that they didn't have before like how much bail a court can assign you.(Klara)
 * Q: How did different people react to the amendment?**

A: The some of the main ideas from 8th amendment came from the Revolutionary War. During the Revolutionary War many of the Americans rights were violated. One of the main reasons for creating the bill of rights was because of what happened to the Americans during the revolutionary war. The founding fathers wanted to make sure that the citizens have certain rights that the government can not interfere with.(Klara)
 * Q: How did the Revolutionary War influence the 8th amendment and the Bill of Rights?**

A: It was George Mason and Patrick Henry idea to create the 8th amendment. They believed that this would be a limitation on the government and protect the rights of the people. They wanted to insure that the citizens who committed a crime had their punishment fit the crime. They wanted to make sure that people had the rights that they deserved.(Klara) A: Bail is when someone is held in a holding cell and has a court date set. The criminal or their family needs to give the court a certain amount of money to insure that when the person is released they will go to court. If they show up like they are oppose to they get their money back but if they don't the court gets to keep the money. The amount of bail that a person must pay depends on what they did and if the person shows up to court they get the amount that they gave to the court back. Courts are not allowed to assign a person an excessive amount of bail. If there was no 8th amendment a court wouldn't have any limitations on the amount of bail.(Klara)
 * Q: Who's idea was it to create the amendment?**
 * Q: What is the maximum amount of bail?**

A: At the time that this amendment was created the government had cruel punishments for someone who was guilty of a crime. Many of there methods were banned and replaced with punishments that fit the proportion of the crime. Some of these unusual punishments involved physical pain. If you were caught stealing than the government might decide to cut your hand off like an eye for an eye. These punishments were viewed as people getting what they deserved for their crime even if the punishment did not fit the crime. Some of these punishments that were banned and are no longer used were someone getting pulled into 4 pieces by horses, strangled, burned, disemboweled (their guts cut out), or had their hands cut off or sitting in stocks so that other people could make fun of them and throw things at them. Many of these punishments did not fit the crime at all. People were also placed in jail for large quantities of time for owing money to the government. Many of these jails created extremely harsh living conditions like no toilets and no heat in the winter. The government is not allowed place unjust punishments on citizens.(Klara)
 * Q: What punishments were banned?**

The 8th amendment was created because the colonists were unhappy with the way that they were being punished. The court gave punishments that didn't match the crime and bails that were unreasonable. Many of the punishments they gave did not match the proportion of the crime at all. The founding fathers believed that criminals have certain rights that court can't take away. They wanted to make sure that the punishments fit the crime that was committed. George Mason and Patrick Henry suggested this amendment to put a limitation on the government and police, and to protect the rights of the accused. They believed that the 8th amendment would protect the natural rights of people who committed crimes. They worried that without this amendment, the court will gain too much power over the people and continue to punish criminals in a cruel and unusual way. (Kyoko)
 * __What issue prompted the creation of the 8th amendment?__**

The eighth amendment helped protect the rights of the people along with the bill of rights. The eighth amendment states that there should be no cruel and unusual punishments inflicted upon a person and a court can not impose bails or fines that are too high. After this amendment was ratified in 1791 it had a positive impact on society. The citizens had the rights that they deserved. If someone was assigned a bail for them to come to a court on a certain date it would have to fit the proportion of the crime that this person committed. The new bill of rights and the eighth amendment helped balance out the power that the government was in titled to. The U.S citizens were so afraid that someone would take full power like a king that they needed to make sure that their were checks and balances. Also the eight amendment helped insure that the government did not take away or advantage of the peoples rights. If someone were to commit a crime the punishments would not be as severe as before, for example the government can not cut of one of your limbs just because you stole something. If a criminal were to be put in jail, the amount of time should be decided on the crime that the person did rather than the government just decide a unjust amount of time. The eighth amendment really had a positive impact on society. It gives the citizens the rights that they are entitled to and made sure those rights were protected. (Klara)
 * __What impact did the 8th amendment have on society?__**

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=__Current Events__= [|__http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/opinion/sunday/the-death-penalty-endgame.html?_r=0__] The article states that the death penalty has gone down in numbers over the years. Last year there was 28 executions and 49 new death sentences, this is the lowest it has been in decades. Many states don’t allow the death penalty since many people believe it goes against the 8th amendment. Only Texas, Georgia and Missouri were responsible for all of last years executions Every year we have seen fewer executions. The majority of the country supports capital punishment but it has gone down by 20% since the 1990s. Every since 1976 when the court allowed executions to continue after a four year moratorium there has been 1,423 people put to death. People are starting to view the death penalty differently and are questioning if it is really fair. The 8th amendment states that their should be no cruel or unusual punishments. Many people believe that the death penalty goes against your natural rights. Many states have abolished the death penalty and the amount of executions have decreased throughout the years. People are starting to realize that the death penalty goes against the 8th amendment and it is a cruel punishment. On the other hand people say that due to the crimes that these people have committed they deserve to be punished.The 8th amendment says there should be no cruel or unusual punishments. I think that the death penalty is unfair and criminals should still have the right to live. People need to have consequences for their actions but it can be done differently then the death penalty. The 8th amendment is relevant today because it makes people questions if the death penalty is fair. (Klara).

This articles is about solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is when a prisoner is put into social isolation. The inmate is isolated from human contact. Research has shown that solitary confinement increase or create new mental problems for prisoners. Some prisoners can be enclosed in windowless cell for years. Many of the inmates in these cells try and shut down their emotions and try and stay sane. Many researchers who have interviewed prisoners in social isolation in the past who were the same prisoners decades later. When President Obama visited a prison he questioned whether “we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells for 23 hours a day, sometimes for months or even years at a time,”. Many people put in social isolation were not originally put in solitary confinement for their original crime but for getting in fights with other prisoners and not following the rules. Many times people are put in solitary confinement to protect other prisoners. Prisoners in solitary confinement are given “basic needs” but rarely get to leave their cell There are opposing views on solitary confinement. Many people believe that solitary confinement is good. Prisoners that have committed serious crimes should be punished for their actions. People argue that it keeps prisoners safer and it makes prisons more safe. On the other hand people may gain health and mental issues. In some cases solitary confinement can make a prisoner worse. The 8th amendment should protect everyone's rights including if you are a prisoner. I believe that there should be consequences for those who have broken the law but I think that solitary confinement goes against people's natural rights. The 8th amendments is helping to guide people to see what is fair to the people. (Klara)
 * [|__http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/health/solitary-confinement-mental-illness.html?_r=0__] **

Kyoko Saito http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/17/opinions/holloway-death-penalty-future/ This article talks about why the death penalty is wrong and should be abolished. First, the author argues that a life sentence without parole is harder on the criminal than a death sentence. When criminals are sentenced to jail for life, they are locked in a cell for 23 hours a day with almost no communication for the rest of their lives. They die alone with no one to grieve for them. However, when criminals are sentenced to death penalty, they are kept in a nicer environment and have an easier death. Also, it costs more for a criminal on death penalty than for criminals who are in jail for life without any paroles. This is because it takes more time and money to sentence a criminal to a death sentence. In some cases, more than a thousand extra days in a courtroom are needed when sentencing someone to a death sentence. In addition, sometimes innocent people are placed on death penalty. There have been 154 cases of death row exoneration since 1973. Some people spend years on death row only to be found innocent later and released. Unlike other sentences, a mistake can mean a life or death for a person. The 8th amendment is relevant today because it gives protection of the criminal's natural rights. Some people believe that death penalty is cruel and unusual and therefore should be abolished. These people believe that the criminals are being their right to life taken away. On the other hand, some people believe that death penalty doesn't go against the 8th amendment. These people believe that the only way to punish someone that took someone else's life away is to take the criminal's life as well. I think that death penalty is wrong and goes against the 8th amendment. People who commit crimes should be punished but they still have a right to live. The 8th amendment is still important today because without it, there would be no protections against the death penalty and other cruel punishments.

Kyoko Saito http://www.politico.com/blogs/new-hampshire-primary-2016-live-updates/2016/02/ted-cruz-waterboarding-2016-debate-218879 This article talks about what Ted Cruz and Donald Trump thinks about water boarding. Water boarding is when water is poured on the face of an immobilized person to give the sense of drowning. It makes the victim believe that they are dying by it gives no physical damage to the person. Ted Cruz doesn't think that water boarding is a method of torture. He argues that the definition of torture is giving pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems so water boarding doesn't fit the criteria for torture. Even though Ted Cruz thinks water boarding is right, he would not bring it back unless it's absolutely necessary. On the other hand, Donald Trump strongly supports water boarding. He agrees that water boarding isn't torture and he said that he would bring back water boarding and torture methods that are worse than water boarding. The 8th amendment is relevant today because it prevents cruel and unusual punishments from taking place. Today, there is a huge debate on whether water boarding is cruel and unusual or not. Some people believe that water boarding is cruel and goes against the 8th amendment. Water boarding doesn't damage a person physically but it does damage them mentally. Also, it forces someone to share information that they might not want to so some people argue that it goes against the 8th amendment and the 5th amendment. However, some people argue that water boarding isn't cruel or unusual. Water boarding just gives the sense that they are drowning but it doesn't do any damage physically. I think that water boarding violates the 8th amendment and should be banned. Even though it does no damage physically, it does damage a person mentally. Making someone believe that they are being drowned and are dying is cruel and unusual. Also, forcing people to give information by using torture goes against the 5th amendment.