Define cruel and unusual punishment of the Eighth Amendment as it relates to prison conditions

What will be an ideal response?


• There is no bright-line definition; short of torture or physical punishment, it is difficult for a court or correctional administrators to determine what level of restrictions in a prison constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment." However, the following standards provide some guidance: 1) if people of reasonable sensitivity found the treatment shocking or disgusting, it would also be considered cruel and unusual; 2) conditions and practices which display punitive intent are forbidden; and 3) a criminal sentence must be proportionate to the crime for which the defendant has been convicted.

Criminal Justice

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A police officer must possess a warrant to take a juvenile into custody

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Criminal Justice

According to Bentham, punishment needs to be cruel and extreme in order to be an effective deterrent

a. True b. False

Criminal Justice

The salami slice is when a perpetrator carefully skims small sums from the balances of a large number of accounts in order to bypass internal controls and escape detection

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Criminal Justice

The number of people per 100,000 residents who are in jail or prison is known as the ________

Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).

Criminal Justice