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Name Course Instructor Date The Eighth Amendment The eighth amendment of the United States prohibits unusual and cruel punishment of criminals. It prohibits the punishment of criminals beyond what they deserve. The words used in the eighth amendment form part of the open texture of the United States Constitution, the open texture allows the constitution to be adapted to various situations to the ever changing social and political environment. The price paid by Americans is an identified ambiguity and imprecision of the language in which constitutional protections and prohibitions are outlined. The phrase “unusual and cruel” is just one of the various incidences in which the constitutional language gives little guidance on its clear interpretation. The American Supreme Court has, in an extended series of eighth amended cases, identified the language ambiguity (Schwartz, N.p). However, in some other instances, the eighth amendment is utilized as a means of guaranteeing the least level of dignity, decency, and humanity for each and every individual, with no consideration to individual responsibility of criminals. Cases of the conditions in prisons have the reasoning of the eighth amendment and the belief that certain punishments, like quartering and drawing, torture, and crucifixion are not fathomed in the eighth amendment, irrespective of how heinous the offense or the criminal. Over the past years, the number of Americans in jails and prisons has increased. Statistics indicate that more than one out of one hundred Americans are in prison. Correctional institutions in America are overcrowded and face
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