Bill+of+Rights+mcclda19

=The 8th Amendment= Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Description
This amendment basically states that the law can not get out of hand with overly expensive bails. A bail is a payment so you don't have to wait in jail for your court hearing. This amendment protects people from having a bail that is too expensive. The amendment also protects people from excessive fines. An example of an excessive fine is being charged 20,000 dollars for a speeding ticket. The amendment protects people from getting overcharged for fines. The 8th amendment also protects people from cruel and unusual punishments.

Historical Applications
This amendment has been used to defend multiple criminals in their sentences, like for example, execution by electric chair was banned because people thought it was cruel, since people went through excruciating pain when executed by it. This amendment has also helped kids ban the act of being paddled for punishments in the Ingraham v. Wright case. Some people think that it is unconstitutional for people to have life sentences for nonviolent crimes, but the Harmelin v. Michigan case says that the 8th amendment is not relevant to life sentences for drug possession.

Today's Application
Today, people are fighting to ban some drugs that do not work as well as other drugs for lethal injection. In fact the Supreme Court ,on April 15th 2015, are going to debate whether the drugs Oklahoma uses for lethal injection should be legal. In other countries the speeding ticket is defined by the income of the driver, and how fast they were going, unlike in America, where the speeding ticket is set minimum. The most expensive speeding ticket in America was $1,350. In Europe the most expensive speeding was $1,005,485. The 8th amendment protects us from this. Today, because of the 8th amendment, 33 states use lethal injections to execute prisoners. The remaining 17 states use, firing squads, electric chairs, lethal gas, and hanging.

Media: Not a separate section!!!
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