Cruel And Unusual Punishment: A Slowly Metamorphosing Concept

Abstract

Newly appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas criticized his colleagues for turning the Constitution into a national code of prison regulation and for misapplying the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment of the Bill of Rights forbids the imposition of cruel and unusual punishment, a concept vaguely defined by the Constitution's authors. Court interpretations of the concept reveal that it draws its meaning from an evolving standard of decency that represents the progress of a maturing society. The idea of "cruel and unusual punishment" was first applied by the U.S. Supreme Court to state statutes in 1961 and to the prison system in 1976. Currently, there is no consensus on the application of the concept to state statutes in determining constitutional punishments. In prisons, however, the application of it has stalled and narrowed considerably, making prisoners less likely to prevail successfully in the courtroom. This paper concludes that Justice Thomas's characterization of the Court's interpretation of the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause is unfounded hyperbole.