Question Of The Week, 12/25/05
Good morning and Merry Christmas To All. I'm proud of myself I could I been much later with this than I am. I was working on a Letter To The Editor of the Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska, I sometimes submit letters to papers outside my area)when my Daughter in Portland, Oregon sent me an Instant Message, it is always good to hear from her. I can vent about family issues to someone that is a part of the family but not in the area. Now that I have all of that out of the way I can move on to this weeks Question Of The Week. In your own words, what is the meaning of the Eight Amendment to the United States Constitution? "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." I will post my answer in the Comment Section Monday night.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic
God Bless America, God Save The Republic
posted by David Schantz | 3:20 AM
5 Comments:
I don't hear much about excessive bails or fines these days, but this portion of the 8th Amendment is often used to protest the death penalty: ..."nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
As I see it, the death penalty, properly applied, is usually more merciful that the egregious crimes which result in the death penalty. The Founders had something else in mind, I believe, when they established the prohibition on certain types of punishments.
Over the years, the death penalty has become more merciful due to improvements in technology. So now we have the sterile death-by-injection option, which is nearly as not disfiguring as were hanging and electrocution.
I wish the founders would have better defined what it was they were trying to convey. Obviously we know that they wanted the people to live free and have due process.
The death penalty would have been a decision left up to each individual state as stated in the 10th amendment to the Constitution.
I recently read about two child abuse cases, a young child lost their life in both cases. One case was local the other was in a neighboring state. In one case bail was denied, in the other case bail was set at one million dollars. At one time I might have thought that violated the Eight Amendment but not any more. Now I think the judge would have many things to consider in cases like this. (1) Is the suspect likely to run if he or she is out on bail? (2)Does the victim have any family members that might take the law into their own hands if the suspect is out on bail? (3) The judge is put in a position where they have to put a dollar value on the life of an innocent child. In that case no a million dollars is not excessive. In the mid 60's one of my high school class mates robbed and murdered a taxi driver. He stabbed him 113 times for $110.00. I talked to other people that were in prison with him durring the 2 decades he was there. They told me he would never get out because he told the parole board he would kill again. They released him. Later he teamed up with someone he met in prison. They murdered an elderly lady and her son in Southern Missouri while robbing them, they got around $100.00. My old class-mate has since been executed.When we were young I felt he was a friend. I do not think his execution was cruel or unusual. His crimes were and the parole board should be looked into for setting him free.
I want to thank you for stopping by to answer this weeks question. Next weeks question will be on the Ninth Amendment. That should not surprise you, but next week there will be an extra question. That will be a surprise, I hope you will stop back to see what that might be.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
David,
My old class-mate has since been executed.When we were young I felt he was a friend. How awful!
I once had a student who was a sociopath. He was so labeled by a psychiatrist and was very dangerous. Today he roams the streets of Orlando. One day I expect to read about him in the news. He may already have killed someone, but the police couldn't get definitive evidence, so he is a free man. His IQ is 191, and that intelligence makes him even more dangerous. Puts me in mind of Ted Bundy.
Fortunately, the above individual is the only psycho whom I've personally known.
Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishment.
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