Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Definition: Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Noun

1. Punishment prohibited by the 8th amendment to the U.S. constitution; includes torture or degradation or punishment too severe for the crime committed.

Commercial Usage: Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Domain	Title
Books	Cruel and Unusual Punishment (reference) Facing the Death Penalty: Essays on a Cruel and Unusual Punishment (reference) The concept of cruel and unusual punishment (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Cruel and unusual punishment

The United States Constitution states, in the Bill of Rights, that citizens will not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. What this means is the subject of much legal argument.

For example, this has not resulted in the prohibition of the death penalty, or of execution by electrocution, which many people consider to a cruel and unusual punishment.

However, there have been some cases which have resulted in the prohibition of the death penalty in certain circumstances, such as the execution of a minor, or of a mentally handicapped person.

Some people believe that mandatory minimum sentences may constitute cruel and unusual punishment in some cases.

External links

Non-Fiction Usage: Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Subject	Topic	Quote
Human Rights	Trinidad and Tobago	The Government's moves were prompted by a Privy Council ruling that failure to execute a condemned prisoner within 5 years of sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expression: Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Expression using "cruel and unusual punishment": freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Cruel And Unusual Punishment

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.