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Questions tagged [eighth-amendment]

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which addresses excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishments.

The Eighth Amendment states:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

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Is it cruel and unusual punishment for animal control to remove a student from a school?

A bill has been introduced in the Oklahoma legislature, aiming to penalize public school students who participate in the therian and otherkin subcultures (people who identify as animals or as fictional creatures) and the furry fandom (people…
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Can I be subjected to physical punishment by the police in the US as long as it is outside criminal proceeding?

In Ingraham v. Wright, the US Federal Supreme Court ruled that it had "limited the application of the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual language to criminal punishment". Can I be subjected to a "cruel and unusual" punishment by the police, as…
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Case Where Court Found Exception to Judicial Absolute Immunity Preferably From USDC for the Southern District TX Houston Division

Is there a case where any court found that a judge's actions amounted to an exception to judicial absolute immunity?
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What does the US Constitution's Eighth Amendment mean by "punishment?"

Historically, the word "punishment" in the Eighth Amendment refers to sentences imposed by a court after a defendant has been found guilty of a crime. However, it seems to me that actions taken by government actors could be considered de facto…
umop aplsdn
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Is cruel and usual punishment constitutional?

The U.S. Constitution’s bill of rights prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment”. I am asking about a catch: cruel and usual punishment. If a punishment were determined to be cruel but is commonplace would it be constitutional?
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Does originalism address how to amend the Constitution for changing values?

Originalism is a method for interpreting law by enforcing what the text meant to the people who originally wrote it. Following originalism rights are adjusted to the current values of people by passing laws, which seems to be reasonable in practice.…
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Does torture violate the US Federal Constitution, and if so under which theory?

We all know about the tortures that took place at Abu Ghraib prison. However, Justice Scalia explains to us that torture does not offend the US Federal Constitution. As Justice Scalia explained to us, the Eighth Amendment says cruel and unusual…
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Is cruel and unusual punishment allowable as a voluntarily-chosen alternative to a constitutional default sentence?

Is it constitutional for a person convicted of a crime to be offered a choice between two punishments, one of which would be cruel and unusual if it were the only option, if the other poses no constitutional issues?
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How is chemical castration defended in regards to the 8th amendment?

The 8th amendment prevents cruel and unusual punishments for crimes. How is forcing sex offenders to get chemically castrated not in violation of this law? This punishment seem cruel and unusual to me.
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