Article

The Sword of Damocles in American Law: The Cruel and Unusual Nature of the Death Penalty

---

Abstract

The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. The death penalty, however, is in direct violation of the Eighth Amendment as it is both cruel and unusual. Inmates on death row experience psychological pain and “death” long before they are executed by the state or federal government. Surely, the prolonged periods of psychological suffering that result from a form of punishment, like that of death row, would be considered “cruel” under any other circumstance. This torture does not stop there. When the method of execution administered by the government fails, the psychological torture that prisoners experience is expanded. The death penalty also violates the “unusual” portion of the Eighth Amendment. An examination of numerous studies reveals that the death penalty is consistently applied arbitrarily based on race. Both Black defendants and victims’ lives are devalued by the capital punishment system. By allowing the Death Penalty to remain constitutional, with its arbitrary application and cruel nature, the Supreme Court’s decisions act as a catalyst in making the death penalty more “cruel” and “unusual” over time.

Keywords: Death Penalty, 8th Amendment, Supreme Court