Together, they changed the legal landscape of the Eighth Amendment — the foundational constitutional protection against "cruel and unusual punishments." Heavy criticism soon followed — from ...

How a Clinton-era law, the PLRA, hollowed out the Eighth Amendment. Nearly three years into Bill Clinton's first term as president, US senators took to the floor to tackle an urgent concern.

On the day that Louisiana’s first execution in 15 years is scheduled to take place, attorneys for the inmate are hoping for a ...

the Supreme Court ruled that inmates on death row could make last-minute claims that the chemicals in lethal injections are too painful and violate the Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

The second category, which arguably reflects the understanding that prevailed in America before the drafting of the Eighth Amendment, would prohibit torturous punishments such as pillorying ...

Four years ago, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled (in Martin v. City of Boise) that “the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment bars a city from prosecuting people criminally ...

In a failed last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, lawyers for condemned inmate Jessie Hoffman had argued that ...

Johnson that a city does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments when it enforces against homeless individuals its ordinance that bars encampments on public property.

A divided Supreme Court declined to block the execution of Jessie Hoffman, who was put to death on Tuesday night in Louisiana. Four justices would have put Hoffman’s execution on hold – one short of ...