8th+Amendment+-+Chapter+14

The 8th Amendment is covered in Chapters 14, 15 and 16 in your textbook. Chapter 14 covers the 8th Amendment's "cruel and unsual punishment" clause as it applies to sentencing, the death penalty, death row conditions, and other noncapital sentencing.

(I'd like to add a poll in this spot asking whether the student supports or rejects the death penalty, but I haven't been able to get it to work. I tried both Survery Gizmo and MicroPoll. I was able to create the survey, and use it in "Preview" mode, but I could not get it to embed here using the TV set in the Editor.)

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 * Watch the following video** introduction to Chapter 14:

(The above video Introduction started out as my newly-created Powerpoint slides with sound added, which I then converted to video at AuthorStream.com. I am not very pleased with the sound quality once it was converted. The audio was much clearer when played as a slideshow in Powerpoint, and I think it would be much clearer as well in Educator. My plan would be to create more Powerpoint presentations in small pieces (such as this one) to insert into this wiki page and into Educator to cover the weekly material. I am not using the Powerpoint presentations provided by my publisher, which are probably copyrighted. I need to retape the audio for slide 4 and slide 8, and then run the presentation through AuthorStream again. The audio for slide #4 was cut off; and the audio for Slide #8 has an error when I was talking about the case of //Roper v. Simmons. Roper// is the new law establishing that: juveniles who commit their crime before the age of 18 can not be given the death penalty, and it abrogated the old law, which was established in the case of //Stanford v. Kentucky.// Unfortunately, I said //Roper v. Simmons// twice, instead of including //Stanford v. Kentucky//. I am also upset with the video that came out from AuthorStream. A video from YouTube plays continuously just from a click on the right arrow. My converted video requires this also, but then it also requires clicks both on the right arrow at the bottom of the screens to advance to each slide, and on the "Sound Icon" in the middle of each slide in order to hear the audio or that slide. Is it really a video if you have to do all this yourself?) According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the death penalty //per se// is not "cruel and unusual punishment," and, therefore, it is constitutional. At the bottom of page 279 in your textbook, 38 states and the federal government have statutes authorizing the use of the death penalty. Michigan, however, has not had the death penalty since the 1800s, and the Michigan constitution itself forbids the use of the death penalty. While the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to find the death penalty unconstitutional //per se,// the Court has found the death penalty as practiced in certain states to be unconstitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court has also found the death penalty to be unconstitutional for certain groups of persons. Keep reading!

Extra Credit Opportunity: The book tells us that 38 states and the federal government have the death penalty. Has this changed since this book was published in 2005? You can earn 5 extra credit points (which will be recorded in Educator) by researching the death penalty in the United States to see if this number has changed. You should be able to write this up in less than 500 words, and please be sure to include cites to all websites and other sources you use to answer this question. Submit your write-up in Educator. You can find the link to this in the packet for Chapter 14. Before we continue studying the death penalty material in Chapter 14 in your textbook, **watch the following video** from YouTube. Stephen Bright is an attorney who represents death row inmates and is featured in this video. This video is a good introduction to the controversy surrounding the use of the death penalty in the United States.

This video is entitled **//Stephen Bright v. Death Penalty//**:

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Now **turn to page 275** of your textbook to the section of Chapter 14 entitled //Death Penalty Sentences//. This section of your textbook discusses the constitutionality of the death penalty, analyzed under the 8th Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment proscription, and also under the due process clause, which we studied in earlier chapters.

In this section of Chapter 14, the following cases are discussed: (Each of these casenames is also a link. When you click on it, you will be taken to more information about that case.)
 * Read** the //"Death Penalty Sentences"// section of Chapter 14 - pages 275-280.

//[|Furman v. Georgia]//, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) //[|Wilkerson v. Utah]//, 99 U.S. 130 (1878) //[|Gregg v. Georgia]//, 428 U.S. 153 (1976) //[|Maynard v. Cartwright]//, 486 U.S. 356 (1988) //[|Pulley v. Harris]//, 465 U.S 37 (1984) //[|Woodson v. North Carolina]//, 428 U.S. 208 (1976) //[|Sumner v. Shuman]//, 483 U.S. 66 (1987) //[|Blystone v. Pennsylvania]//, 494 U.S. 299 (1990) //[|Hitchcock v. Dugger]//, 481 U.S. 393 (1987//); [|Eddings v. Oklahoma]//, 455 U.S. 104 (1982//); [|Lockett v. Ohio]//, 438 U.S. 586 (1978) //[|Coker v. Georgia]//, 433 U.S. 584 (1977) //[|Tison v. Arizona]//, 481 U.S. 137 (1987) //[|Thompson v. Oklahoma]//, 487 U.S. 815 (1988) ***You need to add //Roper v. Simmons// to your textbook &/or your notes:** // [|Stanford v. Kentucky] //, 492 U.S. 361 (1989) has been abrogated by//: [|Roper v. Simmons]//, 543 U.S. 551 (2005//).// //Roper// was not reported in time to be included in your textbook. //[|Ford v. Wainwright]//, 477 U.S. 399 (1986) //[|Penry v. Lynaugh]//, 492 U.S. 302 (1989) has been abrogated //by [|Atkins v. Virginia]//, 536 U.S. 304 (2002). //[|Baze v. Rees],// 533 U.S. _ __(2008) //[|Kennedy v. Louisiana],// 544 U.S.__ _ (2008)
 * You need to add the next 2 cases to your textbook &/or your notes.** They are both U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the death penalty that are too new to be included in your textbook:

You can **watch the next three videos** now discussing the caselaw in this section of Chapter 14, or you can wait to watch them just before you complete the Hypothetical Situation Written Assignments for Chapter 14. (Insert teacher-created Video #14(3), covering the first 5 cases in this section of Chapter 14.) (Insert teacher-created Video #14(4), covering the next 5 cases in this section of Chapter 14.) (Insert teacher-created Video #14(5), covering the remaining cases in this section of Chapter 14.) The next section of Chapter 14 in your textbook is entitled "//Death Row Conditions//." Inmates who are sentenced to the death penalty are held in a separate, segregated part of the prison, called "death row." Security is high in these units, and there are very few programs offered for death row inmates. For example, recreation facilities are usually inside the death row unit, or attached to it; death row inmates only get out of their cells to take showers and receive visitors, which often are limited to only immediate family members, his/her attorney(s), and perhaps a clergy member; food is brought to the cells in death row, and medical staff visit the death row inmates in their cells (instead of inmates eating in the cafeteria and visiting medical facilities in the prison); death row inmates are usually handcuffed and shackled should they ever need to leave the death row unit; and death row inmates are held under these conditions for all the years they are on death row.
 * Watch the following video** discussing this section of your textbook entilted "Death Penalty Sentences." (Insert teacher-created Video #14(2) - Death Penalty Sentences - pages 275-280)

The following cases are discussed in this section of Chapter 14 (only one casename is a link):
 * Read the section** entitled "//Death Row Conditions"// in Chapter 14 on pages 280-282.

//[|In re Medley],// 134 U.S. 160 (1890) //Lackey v. Texas// (No. 94-8262). The U.S. Supreme Court denied //certiorari// in this case, so it can't be included in the U.S. Reports. When the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to grant //cert//, or hear the case, the decision of the lower court(s) is the law. //Sinclair v. Henderson,// 331 F.Supp. 1123 (E.D. La. 1971) - not a U.S. Supreme Court case. U.S. District Court opinions (federal trial courts) are reported in the Federal Supplement. //Mann v. Reynolds,// 46 F.3d 1055 (10th Cir. 1995) - this is an opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. //Smith v. Coughlin,// 748 F.2d 783 (1984) - U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

You can **watch the next video** about the case law in this section of Chapter 14 now, or you can wait and watch it directly before completing the Hypothetical Situation Written Assignments for Chapter 14. (Insert teacher-created Video #14(7), covering caselaw in this part of chapter 14.) The next section of Chapter 14 in your textbook is entitled "Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Noncapital Sentencing Cases, pages 282-284." The U.S. Supreme Court has also decided cases using the cruel and unusual analysis of the 8th Amendment when the inmate's punishment is not the death penalty. You have already seen two U.S. Supreme Court cases like this previously in Chapter 14; i.e., //Weems v. United States// and //Trop v. Dulles//.
 * Watch the following video** discussing this section of your textbook entilted "//Death Row Conditions//" on pages 280-282. (Insert teacher-created Video #14(6) - Death Row Conditions- pages 280-282)

The following cases are discussed in this section of Chapter 14 (with links when available):
 * Read the section** entitled "//Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Noncapital Sentencing Cases"// in Chapter 14 - pages 282-284.

//[|Rummel v. Estelle],// 445 U.S. 236 (1980) //[|Solem v. Helm],// 463 U.S. 277 (1983) //[|Ewing v. California],// 538 U.S. 11 (2003) //[|Lockyer v. Andrade],// 538 U.S. 63 (2003) //[|United States v. DiFrancesco],// 449 U.S. 117 (1980) //State v. Brown,// 326 S.E.2d 410 (S.Car. 1985) //People v. Foster,// 124 Cal.Rptr.2d 22 (Cal. App. 4 Dist. 2002)

You can **watch the two videos** below about the case law in this section of Chapter 14 now, or you can wait and watch it directly before completing the Hypothetical Situation Written Assignments for Chapter 14. (Insert teacher-created Video #14(9), covering half of the caselaw in "//Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Noncapital Sentencing Cases"// in chapter 14.) (Insert teacher-created Video #14(10), covering the remaining caselaw in "//Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Noncapital Sentencing Cases"// in chapter 14.) **You have two choices** for studying the summary for Chapter 14 on page 285 of your textbook.
 * Watch** **the following video** discussing this section of your textbook entilted "Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Noncapital Sentencing Cases." (Insert teacher-created Video #14(8) - Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Noncapital Sentencing Cases - pages 282-284)
 * 1) Watch the video below about the Chapter 14 summary.
 * 2) Just read the summary for Chapter 14 on page 285.

(Insert teacher-created Video #14(11) - Summary of Chapter 14.)

Take the quiz for Chapter 14 in Educator. You will find the link in the Chapter 14 packet, or you can look under "Assessments" and then "Quizzes."
 * Quiz for Chapter 14**


 * Extra Resources:**
 * 1) In-depth discussion about the death penalty: []
 * 2) YouTube videos (search list) for the death penalty: []