Death Penalty: Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

"The death penalty is not one of the 'cruel and unusual punishments' prohibited by the Eight Amendment." (Winters 12). Capital Punishment has been around since the beginning of time as has the controversy surrounding it. There have always been pros and cons to the death penalty as have the arguments that go with it. The crimes that were deserving of the death penalty have changed over the years but some have stayed the same throughout the …

…M. Lawrence (1994). Crime and Punishment in American History. Colorado: Basic Books. Garvey, P. Stephen (2003). Beyond Repair?: America's Death Penalty (Constitutional Conflicts). North Carolina: Duke University Press. Buranelli, Vincent (1991). The Eighth Amendment (The American Heritage: History of the Bill of Rights . New Jersey: Silver Burdett Press. Garland, David (1993). Punishment and Modern Society: A Study in Social Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Garland, David (2000). Criminology and Social Theory (Clarendon Studies in Criminology). Oxford:Oxford University Press.