8th Amendment Violation

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted - 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

cruel and unusual punishment (n.) - punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subject to the sanction

Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 The Supreme Court rules that "the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty...constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th and 14th amendments."

This 1972 case ended with a requirement of the two-stage trial procedure. The defendant is to be found guilty or innocent at the first trial, and, if found guilty, the next rial will consist of finding whether or not the defendant should be executed, while taking into account mitigating circumstances. Executions were halted nationwide.

Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 The Supreme Court rules that newly implemented death penalty statutes, such as the two-stage trial procedure, contained "objective standards to guide, regularize, and make rationally reviewable the process for imposing the sentence of death." 

Executions resumed federally in 1977.

Steve Benson, The Republic

One of the main arguments supporting the death penalty being a violation of the 8th amendment claims that the United States is the only western industrialized country that regularly administers executions. This distinction indicates that all other western industrialized nations either consider capital punishment to be cruel and unusual or do not regularly wish to participate in the practice, despite its legality.