The Eighth Amendment Published May 9, 2013 By Airman 1st Class Stephanie Englar 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- While the constitutional amendments between the Fifth Amendment and the Seventh Amendment focus on the rights an individual has during a trial, the Eighth Amendment focuses on pre and post-trial punishment of an accused. The Eighth Amendment states that once convicted of a crime, an individual won't face excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishment for their actions. It also states that the federal government cannot impose excessive bail on an individual. Bail is an amount of money that the defendant pays up-front so that they can stay in the local area and not remain in jail while awaiting their trial. The idea of bail promotes the notion of "innocent until proven guilty." The factors that go into how much bail a person must pay include, but are not limited to, the following: severity of the crime, likelihood of the accused individual to flee, and the amount of evidence against the individual. The Supreme Court held in Stack v. Boyle that "a bail amount would be considered excessive under the Eighth Amendment if it were a figure higher than is reasonably calculated to ensure the defendant's appearance at trial." The reason for a need to include a limitation on excessive bail came from the fact that until 1275, when English Parliament passed a statute defining what offenses were able to have bail posted, sheriffs in England were able to determine if a suspect was able to post bail and were able to set a proper amount; the sheriffs were hardly equitable in their determinations. In addition to providing protections from unreasonable bail amounts, the Eighth Amendment also keeps fines and punishments fair for those who have been found guilty of a crime. The Supreme Court stated that excessive fines are defined as those "so grossly excessive as to amount to a deprivation of property without due process of law" in the Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v. Texas case. Although that definition does not give us definitive boundaries with respect to what amount of fines is deemed excessive, it demonstrates that the Supreme Court will hold government accountable if it assesses excessive fines. This "threat" ensures that laws and penalties are drafted in a manner that protects citizens from unreasonable fines. When many people think of cruel and unusual punishment, their minds slip to a time in Medieval Europe where people were publicly tortured with whips and other medieval instruments of pain. By the time the Eighth Amendment was contrived, mankind had a history of creating harsh punishments from Hammurabi's Code (an eye for an eye) to or a number of other gruesome punishments such as drawn and quartering, all used to deter others from performing the same action. The Eighth Amendment, thankfully, ensures that such punishments are not available in the United States. After a jury finds an individual guilty of a crime, depending on severity, they are normally sent to jail to serve out a sentence, ordered to pay a fine, or for the most terrible of crimes, sentenced to death. How can we have the death penalty when we just finished discussing having no cruel and unusual punishments? The death penalty is an especially controversial when read against the Eighth Amendment. Throughout the years 1972-1976, capital punishment was stopped nationwide during the Furman v. Georgia case. The Supreme Court went through five court cases to determine if capital punishment was unconstitutional. In a five to four ruling, the Supreme Court deemed capital punishment not in violation of an individual's Eighth Amendment rights. After the Furman v. Georgia decision, the states of Georgia, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, and Louisiana amended their death penalty and 37 states readopted the death penalty (however, a few states have since repealed it). Cruel and unusual punishment extends to more than just the death penalty. It was in 1910 that the Supreme Court deemed hard labor in prisons to be against the convicted individual's rights. The rights and restrictions imposed by the Eighth Amendment came directly from our past. While it prevents the gruesome punishments of our ancestors' past, it also makes sure the individual is able to post bail for specific crimes and won't have to pay excessive fees. The Eighth Amendment is in place to ensure that those who are convicted of a crime receive fair and equal treatment and are not treated inhumanely.