Describe the criteria used by the courts in determining whether a punishment constitutes cruel and unusual conduct

What will be an ideal response?


The concept of cruel and unusual punishment is found in the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has held that treatment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment when it does the following:
• Degrades the dignity of human beings
• Is more severe than (is disproportional to) the offense for which it has been given
• Shocks the general conscience and is fundamentally unfair
• Is deliberately indifferent to a person's safety and well being
• Punishes people because of their status, such as race, religion, and mental state
• Is in flagrant disregard of due process of law, such as punishment that is capriciously applied
State and federal courts have placed strict limits on disciplinary methods that may be considered inhumane. One method at issue is the use of solitary confinement for disruptive inmates; however, inmates placed in solitary have the right to adequate personal hygiene, to exercise, mattresses to sleep on, and ventilation as well as rules specifying how they can earn their release.

Criminal Justice

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What is a community?

a. a land mass with a political boundary b. a city boundary line c. a social collectivity that is less populated than a city d. a metropolitan city over 100,000 in population

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This organization developed after the 1875 child maltreatment case in which an organization not geared toward children had to represent the child.

a. New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children b. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals c. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children d. Wisconsin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

Criminal Justice

How, if at all, has the Patriot Act modified the balance between government power and individual privacy?

What will be an ideal response?

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Which of the following provides effective interventions that address the intersecting issues of substance abuse, trauma, mental health, and economic oppression?

A) power-control theory B) feminist theory of delinquency C) gender-responsive policy D) masculinity hypothesis

Criminal Justice