Excessive
bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and
unusual punishments inflicted.
May 2,
2007 UPDATE
Sex
offenders may get special tags (USA
Today 05-02-07) Lady Liberty says:
She does not and will not condone the punishment of somebody after
their "debt to society" has been paid. If the payment isn't
high enough, fine, make it higher. But the indeterminate and indefinite
sentences some seem to think appropriate for some crimes is unjust
at best.
May 1,
2007 UPDATE
Tennessee
will lift ban on executions Defense attorneys say new rules for
injection are still inhumane (Tennesseean.com
05-01-07) Lady Liberty says: She has no
idea why something that's basically so simple is being made out to be
so impossibly hard. Maybe one state can finally come up with a good
protocol and the rest can copy it...
April
25, 2007 UPDATE
High
Court Throws Out 3 Death Sentences (AP via My
Way News 04-25-07) Lady Liberty says:
She appreciates that things have to be done right for justice to be
served, and that goes double for cases in which the death penalty might
be imposed. That being said, she doesn't think a bad childhood excuses
anybody from certain crimes anyway...and frankly, neither should juries.
April
24, 2007 UPDATE
Executed
in U.S. may be awake as they suffocate (AP via CNN
04-24-07) Lady Liberty says: There has
got to be a solid protocol for executions. While she realizes it's
tempting to exact revenge on the kind of criminal who warrants the
death penalty, the reality is the punishment is intended to remove
him from society and not to lower us to his level.
April
23, 2007 UDPATE
Mayor's
plan on guns appears to miss mark Little impact seen for taking
licenses (The
Boston Globe 04-23-07) Lady Liberty says:
Wouldn't imposing a punishment entirely unrelated to the crime constitute
"unusual" punishment if not actually being cruel? This proposal
makes no sense whatsoever except as an added punitive measure.
The
Eighth Amendment protects
those charged with crimes from punishment in disproportion to the charge(s)
or conviction(s). The intent of the amendment is both to enforce the presumption
of innocence until guilt has been proven, as well as to permit an accused
the freedom to prepare an adequate defense. The notion comes almost verbatim
from the English
Bill of Rights, which dates back to the 13th Century CE.
In
some instances,
it may appear that bail is excessive. In fact, the bail
may have been deliberately set so high as to be impossible for the defendant
to pay. This is not necessarily unconstitutional, however, when it is
understood that bail is to be calculated based on the danger the defendant
may represent to the public if he or she is not incarcerated. Court
cases dealing with this issue have consistently found that high bail
amounts can be appropriate and not in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Capital
punishment is not cruel and unusual,
according to court rulings, unless a death sentence is
mandatory for certain crimes and thus leaves a judge and jury no discretion
in the matter. Lady Liberty does support the death penalty, but she
believes that it behooves the State to execute those sentenced to death
as humanely as possible and so suggests lethal injection as the most
sensible method. Although she agrees that some criminals may not deserve
compassion, she would point out that it was the criminal's egregious
lack of compassion that landed him (or her) on Death Row and
that the State should certainly be better in that regard than are those
upon whom it imposes sentence. Lady Liberty must say, however, that
she only supports death sentences when guilt is certain. Even a "beyond
a reasonable doubt" verdict can be wrong...
