The Pros And Cons Of The Eighth Amendment

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The Eighth Amendment covers cruel and unusual punishment, but if you were to read the entire amendment line by line you would not be able to capture a specific stature of what is considered cruel and unusual. These broad terms have left the Eighth Amendment up for interpretation. There have been two landmark cases that have challenged the Eighth Amendment and what is considered cruel and unusual punishment. In the case of Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277 (1983), the petitioner Jerry Helm was sentence to life without parole for writing a bad check in the amount of one hundred dollars. In the state of South Dakota where he was convicted this particular crime carries the punishment of five years with a fine, but because Jerry Helm had previous felony convictions under state law he was subject to stricter sentencing guidelines. The second Supreme Court case that challenged the Eighth Amendment was Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957 (1991), were the petitioner Ronald Harlan has arrested for the possession of roughly two pounds of cocaine. At the time in the State of Michigan this particular crime carried a mandatory sentence and Ronald Hamelin was sentenced to life without parole. Both of these landmark cases challenged the Eighth amendment in the highest court of judicial review and two interpretations…show more content…
Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994), the petitioner Dee Farmer was born a male but began the physical process of becoming a woman through surgeries and injection. After being convicted for a felony crime, Dee was sentenced to prison and during her initial medical screening was identified as a Tran’s gender. After her gender role was identified the medical physician as well as the prison officials decided to place Dee in a separate housing unit away from the general population as a means of protection. Dee Farmer was then transferred to a separate prison where she was placed within the general population and eventually assaulted and
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