Teaching the 8th Amendment to Gifted Students
Cruel and Unusual Punishment Needs Historical Context
Oct 26, 2009
When students first read the 8th amendment, the simplicity of the writing and the ease of unpacking the meaning makes it an easy-to-discuss amendment. "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." There is often one student in the class who will say, "Well, isn't homework cruel and unusual punishment?"
Teachers should wait for the joke, because among gifted secondary students, who are the ideal learners for abstract justice units, a humorous comment about "cruel and unusual punishment" is guaranteed. That offers teachers the perfect opportunity to say, "Well, no, actually. The framers of the Constitution had something else in mind."
What the Founding Fathers Meant by "Cruel and Unusual Punishment"
People enter murky waters when they try to interpret the state of mind of other people, but teachers can safely instruct students to understand that that "cruel and unusual punishment" had a specific motivation: punishment that exceeds the crime. A good place to start is a tour of punishments that would have been used and the more compassionate framers of the Constitution wanted to avoid, which would have been punishments in England that even King William and Queen Mary had rejected with the English Bill of Rights. A good place to start is a teacher-vetted online "torture museum", but be cautious. As the Museum of Historic Torture Devices reminds visitors, "Nothing is more frightening than human history."
Issues to Debate in When Studying the 8th Amendment
In addition to the inevitable death penalty debate, there are other issues to consider with the 8th amendment. One that will be most relevant to students is excessive fines, as the legal situations recently using that argument are connected to music downloads. In two 2009 cases, people convicted of pirating music were given fines that many people consider extraordinarily high:
Joel Tenenbaum was convicted of sharing 30 songs illegally, and his fine was 675,000.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset, who was fined 1.92 million for her conviction of sharing 24 songs illegally, which is $80,000 per song. Her appeal is based on the excessive amount of the fine.
Students can use the controversy of music piracy and punishments to examine what "excessive fines" means to them.
Court Cases Related to the 8th Amendment
In addition to looking at music piracy cases for excessive fines, some interesting court cases related to the 8th amendment that have reached the Supreme Court include:
- Louisiana ex rel. Francis vs. Resweber, a 1947 case where the electric chair malfunctioned, and the criminal wanted to be released from the burden of being re-executed.
- Ingraham vs. Wright, a 1977 case which students will enjoy discussing as it looks at using a paddle on students in school.
- Hudson vs. McMillian, a 1992 case where the Supreme Court looked at excessive force used on criminals.
High school gifted students might be ready to research the 8th amendment with complete independence, but unlike the first and fourth amendments, younger secondary students will need more teacher protection during research. It would be wise to prepare a pre-planned display of images, articles, and cases so middle school and junior high students don't stumble on to images and crimes they are not ready to contemplate without adult guidance.
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