The 8th amendment Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted

Furman v. georgia In 1972, William Furman was sentenced to death for two cases of rape and one case of murder One of the rapes happened in Texas and the other in Georgia Furman appealed before the court

problems Would the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty be considered cruel and unusual punishment? According to Justice Potter Stewart, Furman was given the death penalty because he was black

outcome The court came to the conclusion that the penalty was unequal The death sentence that was imposed was left undisturbed for all three cases

Robinson v. california In 1962, Lawrence Robinson was arrested because a police thought that he had injection marks on his arm A California statute made it a crime for someone to be addicted to the use of narcotics

problems He was put in jail for 90 days Was the California law cruel and unusual punishment that went against the Eighth Amendment?

outcome The punishment was questioned by the Supreme Court The court came to the conclusion that the punishment completely went against the Eighth Amendment, and argued that the state couldn’t punish people based their “status” or addiction