Summary: The Case Of Thompson Vs. Oklahoma

The 8th amendment says that excessive bail shall not be required, or excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishment.

Terry v. Ohio is an important case in law enforcement. What did the Court say in this case, and why is it important?

The case of Terry v. Ohio took place in 1968. This case involved a Detective who had witnessed three suspicious males patrol a street and stare into a specific window multiple times. With reasonable suspicion and probable cause, Detective McFadden assumed one of them could be armed. He then took one of the males and patted him down to find that he had a pistol on him. He patted the victim down for reasons of protecting himself and others in the community. The Fourth Amendment does include, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized” (Israel, LaFave). The people who are being frisked are for reasons that the officer wants to protect himself and others, not just for no reason. People do have a right to their personal, private property and the stop and frisk, or sometimes know as a terry stop, is approved if the officer has reasons to believe the person could be carrying a weapon or a threat to society. The officer had reasonable suspicion and probable cause to search the male and was able to legally with the Fourth Amendment. The stop and frisk action has been around for almost 50 years. Is it time to put a stop to it because people think it is unconstitutional, or to change the way we view

The Eighth Amendment was tested through many Supreme Court and there were some very significant ones such as the Miller v. Alabama. The no cruel or unusual aspect of the Eighth Amendment gives protection of undeserving or unreasonable punishment to a citizen that commits a crime. As Supreme Court cases regarding the Eighth Amendment open and closed the meaning of no cruel or unusual punishment changed; the sentencing of death is not considered cruel and/or unusual to a suspect that is mentally insane this aspect of the Eighth Amendment is important to the wrongfully accused people that are sentenced something for a crime that they did not commit. A significant

In the United States Constitution, the Eighth Amendment prohibits the use and practices of cruel and unusual punishment. What exactly is considered to be cruel and unusual punishment? This question is a hot topic among America 's many different current controversies. Many people are saying that the use of capital punishment to be sentenced to death as a penalty in the eyes of the law. An execution or capital punishment is a direct violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. (84)

The eighth amendment helps letting americans not have to go through unusual and cruel punishments. “It is not just criminal sentences themselves that are subject to the cruel and unusual test; the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual provision has been used to challenge prison conditions such as extremely unsanitary cells, overcrowding, insufficient medical care and deliberate failure by officials to protect inmates from one another,” (“Eighth Amendment,” Annenberg Classroom). This site explains and breaks down the eighth amendment. It becomes apparent that this amendment helps protect the people from usual and cruel punishments. There are specific examples to a cruel and unusual punishments. “Cruel and unusual punishment includes torture, deliberately degrading punishment, or punishment that is too severe for the crime committed,” (Dictionary.com). This is a basic understanding for how we can make sure to stay away from these types of punishments. One of the biggest oppositions or conflicts with the eighth amendment there is is the death penalty. The question that comes from it is whether or not the death penalty can be considered a cruel and unusual punishment. “Eighth

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits the punishments that may be imposed by the government on American citizens. These limits are compulsory among the states by way of the Fourteenth Amendment. The English Bill of Rights of 1689 expressed concern with arbitrary and disproportionate sanctions, giving way to the Founders inclusion of the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. To explore the Eighth Amendment it is important to consider constitutionally accepted punishments, the ever-evolving practice of capital punishment, and eighth amendment protection inside prison walls.

The state of Oklahoma alone has executed 195 people for crimes such as rape, murder and kidnapping. (“Crimes Punishable”) In the Constitution of the United States the eight amendment prohibits “cruel; and unusual punishment” inflicted on those who have been convicted of a crime. A total of 34 states have performed executions on people for various crimes. How do we know what is or isn’t “cruel; and unusual punishment”? Some would say the death penalty is stretching the ways of the law and others would say it is a complete violation of the constitution. The views of people are split evenly. People want others to pay for what they’ve done but may think that the death penalty is a little too extreme. Oklahoma is a very conservative state, and we like to do things the “old way”. With society changing so frequently we rarely match what the others states are doing and we could potentially be seen as a “bad” state. So the decisions such as whether or not to have the death penalty affects all Oklahomans and some aren’t okay with that. In the paragraphs below we will explore all aspects of the death penalty, and by the end we will find out what made the people decide the death penalty was constitutional and what exactly the people’s opinions on this subject are.

In the case of Kennedy V. Louisiana Patrick Kennedy was found guilty in raping and sodomizing his eight-year-old stepdaughter in a Louisiana courtroom. Mr. Kennedy refused to plead guilty and stated the crime was committed by two young boys from the neighborhood. He was convicted sentenced to death 2003. On March 2nd 1988 the victim sustained severe injuries; the injuries required emergency surgery because the rape was so brutal. Louisiana law authorized capital punishment for the rape of a child twelve years and younger. Mr. Patrick Kennedy challenged his sentence under the eighteen amendments as cruel and unusual punishment. The Louisiana Supreme Court declined the challenged that the death penalty was not too harsh for such a wicked crime. In a Supreme Court decision Coker v. Georgia 1977 the United States Supreme Court concluded that capital punishment for rape of an adult women was not applicable if the victim is a child and if it did not result or contemplated in result of a death. The court discussed a number of Supreme Court case related to child vulnerability and the death penalty. In the case of Roper V. Simmons the court ruled that the death penalty could not be applied to a person if the crime was committed when they were under the age of eighteen. In another case, Atkins V. Virginia the death penalty could not be placed on a mentally ill person. The petitioner Kennedy argued that in all these cases they do not establish conformity.

As of 1987, 37 states in the US allowed the use of the death penalty, and 27 of those states allowed the execution of minors under the age of eighteen. The state of Indiana, for example, had a minimum execution age of ten. About a dozen states had no declared age limit, and only six states out of the original 37 had adopted eighteen as the minimum age (Times Wire Services). At the time of Thompson v Oklahoma, the state of Oklahoma had a juvenile rehabilitation system that permitted the execution of minors for murder; they believed that despite the fact that they were children or adolescents, they were perfectly aware of the wrongness of their actions and had no hope of being rehabilitated (Cengage Learning). Approximately 20,000 individuals have been legally executed in the United States in the past 350 years, but the controversy surrounding the death penalty has almost always existed (Wilson). In the era of Thompson v Oklahoma, fifteen-year-olds had few rights. They could be tried as adults and given the death penalty, but could not drive, vote, drink alcohol, get married, buy drugs, sit on a jury, or gamble (Cengage Learning). Furthermore, time spent on death row can be from six to over twenty years, so many criminals convicted as juveniles are not executed until they are adults, after essentially growing up in prison and potentially undergoing massive changes in character (Wilson). In addition, the 8th Amendment to the Constitution reads: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” ("8th Amendment”). Execution has been viewed as a cruel and unusual punishment by many for years. In the very beginning, when the Constitution was written, the Framers defined “cruel and unusual punishment” as something blatantly

In the United States of America the constitution is the highest law of the land. This constitution is final and absolute, neither state nor federal law can go against it. Oklahoma and many other states from the Bible belt, however have a history of passing unconstitutional laws only for them to be struck down in court at a later date. This is a problem because it ties up the courts and costs the taxpayers money for no reason other than sheer incompetence. The Oklahoma state government continuing to pass several unconstitutional laws knowing that they are wrong gives reason to question the competence of our state electives.

The eighth amendment is designed to protect us from cruel and unusual punishment. Conservation of the United States Constitution, and all moral ideologies have been set aside. An old form of barbaric punishment and the saying "eye for an eye" is still being widely accepted by Americans today. The old form of barbaric punishment is capital punishment. No matter how "humane" the death penalty has become, it is still the killing of another human being. When people stand outside prisons and cheer that an individual was murdered, there is a problem. When people justify the killing of another person, there

    In the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, it is stated that cruel and

To accurately gain information about the topic and the view on both the judiciary side and civil side, the researchers within a year surveyed 180 jury-eligible members of the public and 127 trial and appellate judges about matters regarding the Eighth Amendment jurisprudence and punishment (Cairns & Koehler,2014, p. 114). The participants were presented with information regarding the Supreme Court Case Graham v. Florida, in which a seventeen-year-old committed two armed robberies and led police on a high-speed chase. The individual was tried as an adult and found guilty of his charges and sentence with life without parole (Cairns & Koehler,2014, p. 118). The Supreme Court found that the Eighth Amendment prohibits a juvenile from receiving life without parole if they did not commit a homicide. After reading the scenario and presented with several questions, the researchers gathered the finalized

The eighth amendment states excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted, yet what exactly is cruel or unusual punishment? Can pretrial detention be considered cruel and unusual punishment considering the alleged criminal may be innocent and spend months to years in pretrial detention for something they may have never committed. Even criminals in pretrial detention who could have convicted a minor crime may not deserve to wait in pretrial detention as long as they do. Although, the alleged criminals in pretrial detention are not being physically punished some defiantly are being mentally punished. However, the justice system does not think about how the alleged criminal feels neither does most of society to them its better to keep someone who may or may not be guilty in pretrial detention then to have them on the streets. However, to the alleged criminal especially the innocent ones this is defiantly cruel and unusual punishment why should they have to be locked up in a little room, and loose months to years on their lives because the United States