Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
AMENDMENT VIII:
The eighth amendment of the Bill of Rights was passed on September 25th, 1789 and ratified December 15th, 1789. It was proposed by George Mason and Patrick Henry after they felt some people were being unfairly accused. The amendment related to the themes of the fifth and sixth amendment, which is targeting the potential abuses of the criminal justice system. It bans cruel and unusual punishments, prohibits excessive bail fines, meaning it prohibits excessive amounts of money to be charges as a bain fine. THe supreme court states that the “cruel and unusual” clause is not only applicable to federal government, but also to individual states. Some people feel that the wording (“excessive”, and “cruel and unusual”) is very vague/unclear, which causes conflict on what exactly the meaning is.
Bail is determined by 2 things: how much money the defendant has and how likely the defendant is to flee before trial.
A person accused of a serious crime will NOT be released on bail, instead they will be held until they are no longer a threat to society/the people around them.
A fine is only excessive if there is not a pre existing law, specifying the nature of the fine, but there has only been one supreme court case that has been ruled “unconstitutional”.
The eighth amendment of the Bill of Rights was passed on September 25th, 1789 and ratified December 15th, 1789. It was proposed by George Mason and Patrick Henry after they felt some people were being unfairly accused. The amendment related to the themes of the fifth and sixth amendment, which is targeting the potential abuses of the criminal justice system. It bans cruel and unusual punishments, prohibits excessive bail fines, meaning it prohibits excessive amounts of money to be charges as a bain fine. THe supreme court states that the “cruel and unusual” clause is not only applicable to federal government, but also to individual states. Some people feel that the wording (“excessive”, and “cruel and unusual”) is very vague/unclear, which causes conflict on what exactly the meaning is.
Bail is determined by 2 things: how much money the defendant has and how likely the defendant is to flee before trial.
A person accused of a serious crime will NOT be released on bail, instead they will be held until they are no longer a threat to society/the people around them.
A fine is only excessive if there is not a pre existing law, specifying the nature of the fine, but there has only been one supreme court case that has been ruled “unconstitutional”.