"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted," thus reads the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The term "cruel and unusual" first appeared in the English Bill of Rights of 1689. The American draftsman who adopted the English phrasing for the Eighth Amendment were primarily concerned with proscribing tortures and other barbarous methods of punishment. For example, the medieval punishment of cutting off the …showed first 75 words of 7039 total…

…showed last 75 words of 7039 total…that our prisons are so full is the most eloquent testimony imaginable of our dismal failure to create a good society. Massive incarceration indicates the bankruptcy of social wisdom and social will. It points to the shallowness of our dedication to solving the basic problems of poverty, moral decay, meaninglessness, and social discord. Meanwhile, our leaders divert our attention with the alluring fantasy that capital punishment will make our citizens more secure against violent crime.