"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
An interpretation of America today: though our forms of punishment are comparatively more humane than other countries, there is still room for improvement
Excessive Bail Clause
The excessive bail clause prevents the court from requiring unreasonably large amounts of money for bail. This would be unfair since it would be hard for the accused to prepare a defense in jail; moreover, in the American legal system, people are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, and at this stage, they have merely been accused of wrongdoing and has yet to be proven so. On the other hand, courts must set the bail high enough so the accused would have incentive to come back for trial. Also, courts will not allow someone to get out of jail in some cases where the person may cause a dangerous threat to the community, which is known as "preventive detention".
*Bail is money (or property) an accused person gives a court in order to leave jail before trial, and it is held by the court as a guarantee that the suspect will appear for trial (the money would be lost if he or she does not show up). If the amounts are too large for the accused to pay, then the person would have to stay in jail until their trial date.
*Bail is money (or property) an accused person gives a court in order to leave jail before trial, and it is held by the court as a guarantee that the suspect will appear for trial (the money would be lost if he or she does not show up). If the amounts are too large for the accused to pay, then the person would have to stay in jail until their trial date.
Excessive Fines Clause
The excessive fines clause prevents the court from imposing excessive fines. However, the standard for higher courts to overturn a fine if it is “so grossly excessive as to amount to a deprivation of property without due process of law”, which is stated in the Water-Pierce Oil Co. vs. Texas case in 1909.
Cruel and Unusual Punishments
The cruel and unusual punishments clause is relatively more debated than the other two clauses of the eighth amendment, because it requires that punishments be in proportion to the crime committed. Regarding this, the courts have decided that the death penalty is only appropriate for cases involving murder and crimes against the government (for example, treason and spying) and a sentence is cruel and punishment if it is inhuman, outrageous, or shocking to the social conscience. In recent interpretations of this clause, the Supreme Court has ruled that "cruel and unusual punishment" also includes those that are excessive and not proportioned to the offense, and those that do not consider the "defendant's degree of criminal culpability."