The Eighth Amendment, by Dava, Matt, and Taiyo

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Large animated American flag clip art for a white background
Large animated American flag clip art for a white background
The eighth amendment states that excessive bail shall not be required, nor execessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments conflicted. This means thay there shall be no physical tourture or beating.

Essential question:How did the issues which prompted the creation of your amendment compare with the issues they are applied to today?

Back then, the crimes were almost the same as the crimes of today. The problem is that back then, the punishment were too harsh for the crime. Some crimes like stealing another man's livestock the person who stole the livestock would be sentenced to death. Another one would be if you murder some one then they would burn the letter "m" on your knuckles to show that you killed some one. That was meant for public humiliation. That does not seem fair, so Congress proposed this amendment and that helps us decided wheather or not a punishment is too harsh for its crime.

Question #1 When was this amendment ratified?

Answer:
The eighth amendment was proposed by Congress on September 25th 1789, ratified on December 15th 1791 and declared on March 1st 1792.

This video shows you some exucutions the past years.
<embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=3295213832561010248&hl=en&fs=true

Question #2
What crimes deseve the death penalty?

Answer:
The crimes of murdery, raping for certain age, first degree murder and murdering six people.

Question #3
What are some of the death penatlies?

Answer:
Electric Chair, leathal injection, gas chamber, firing squad (being shot rapidly) and hanging.
image from tdaait.wordpress.com
image from tdaait.wordpress.com



Question #4
What states have which punishments?

Answer:
Method
      • number of executions by method since 1976
      • number of states authorizing method
Jurisdictions that Authorize
Lethal Injection
965
35 states + U.S. Military and U.S. Gov't
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado,Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming, U.S. Military, U.S. Government
Electrocution
155
9 states
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, [Illinois], Kentucky, [Oklahoma], South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
Gas Chamber
11
5 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)
Arizona, California, Maryland, Missouri, [Wyoming]
Hanging
3
2 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)
New Hampshire, Washington
Firing Squad
2
2 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)
Idaho, [Oklahoma], Utah**
    • Utah offers the firing squad only for inmates who chose this method prior to its elimination as an option.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution
Question #5
What were the 382 defendants approved by the Attorneys General for capital prosecuti on since 1988

Answer:
this answer is on the link of
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/federal-death-penalty

Question #6
What is the pay to get bail?

Answer: The bail back then was set up the same way it is today.

Question #7
What were the cruel and unusual punishments back then?

Answer: The same as today except for electric chair and lethal injections. But they did have sliting of the head and stonning.

Question #8
What is the most painfull type of punishment?

Answer:
It is said that the firing squad is most painfull, this punishment is when you are seated in a chair, blindfolded, and shot at rapidly until death.
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Question #9
What is the less painfull type of punishment?

Answer:
The Leathal Injection is said to be the less painfull type of punishment. This punishment is when you are laying down and you are given shot. Leathal means deadly and this means that this shot is to make you die.
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Question #10
How important is this amedment to our country?

Answer: It helps the court system put a fair price for bail and a fair punishment for the act or crime.

Some Recent News On Death Penalties:
By: Matthew Gorman
In the United States, death penalties have declined tremendously this past year.(2008) The reason for this is not because that crimes whose sentence was death were not commited, it was because that states were busy with legal, financial, and morale concerns that they just put them in jail for life or something, instead of the hassel of the real sentence. The death rating from this sentece dropped about 62 percent of what is was in 1999. That means in 10 years the death percentage dropped about 3 quarters than it should be. A Death Penalty Information Center said that this is the lowest death rating in 14 years, and considering how much has changed in the past 14 years that is a lot. The states are not taking action for this and that is wrong because they are just breaking there own state laws. In the end, the states are not being resposble in their duties of the eighth amedmendment ad to their own people. For more information go to http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6192150.html.


By: Dava :

As known death panalties are ofently used in each state. However studies have shown that most of the death penatlies used is the Leathal Injection. This penatly is when you are givin an injection which is leathal *leathal means deadly*. In the courts, when you are sentenced to death, the court judge says, "The sentence of death of the court upon you is that you be *THE PUNISHMENT* you be dead and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul." This sentence is used with any of the penalties. Death sentence is a reality which means that it is taken as a big deal, and the court must look upon the punishments and see which penaltie is nessasary. The kinds of death penatlies you can be sentenced to are, hanging *when you have a rope tied around your neck and hung until death*, firing squad *this is the most painfull type of punishment,when shot at rapidly with guns*,gas chamber *when put it a room and tocix gas is released*, electric chair *a chair that you are strapped onto and electricuted until death*, and finally leathal injection *this is the less painful type of death, when you are given a poisonis shot*. For more information please go to:
http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/


By: Taiyo Hamanaka

The electric chair is a cruel and unusual punishment. That is what Nebraska said in the Supreme court while debating over the methods of execution. In court, Nebraska ruled over electrocution in a 6 to 1 decision that it violates the state constitution. Justice William Connolly wrote that the evidence shows that electrocution inflicts intense pain and agonizing suffering. Nebraska's state attorney general, Jon Brunning said he would move the legislative process to get a new method of execution. For that, now Nebraska uses the lethal injection as the execution method. The United Supreme court never said a method of execution was unconstitutional. In 1890, america said that electrocution did not violate the eighth amendment and carried on with the method. Now the court will decide over if the lethal injection will be the standard method of execution in the united states. Justice Connolly said that we must not be tempted to torture the criminal to death even if he or she committed a serious crime. The court decided that the method of execution will be determined by the state constitution.
Article from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/us/08cnd-penalty.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=electric%20chair&st=cse


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