governmental penalties against convicted criminal defendants which are barbaric,
involve torture and/or shock the public morality. They are specifically prohibited
under the Eighth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. However, nowhere are they
specifically defined. Tortures like the rack (stretching the body inch by inch)
or the thumbscrew, dismemberment, breaking bones, maiming, actions involving deep
or long-lasting pain are all banned. But solitary confinement, enforced silence,
necessary force to prevent injury to fellow prisoners or guards, psychological humiliation
and bad food are generally allowed. In short, there is a large gray area, in which
"cruel and unusual" is definitely subjective based on individual sensitivities and
moral outlook. The U. S. Supreme Court has waffled on the death penalty, declaring
that some forms of the penalty were cruel and prohibited under the Furman case (1972),
which halted executions for several years, but later relaxed the prohibition. The
question remains if the gas chamber, hanging or electrocution are cruel and unusual.
For instance, hanging is certainly cruel but was not unusual at the time the Bill
of Rights was adopted.
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