Deck 11: Evolving Standards of Decency and the Eighth Amendments Ban on Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Question 1

What adjectives are used for evoking challenges of being excessively cruel and unusual?

A) Arbitrary
B) Wanton
C) Capricious
D) All of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The Court has upheld which of the following as permissible methods of execution in the United States?

A) Electrocution
B) Hanging
C) Shooting
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Given the growing wave of challenges to lethal injection, several states began to change their
Protocols over the past several years from the historically predominant___________ protocol to a ____________ protocol.

A) Three-drug; one-drug
B) One-drug; two-drug
C) Two-drug; three-drug
D) One-drug; three-drug

Answer 3

D

Question 4

As a result of the International Court of Justice's finding that the United States had violated the Vienna Convention, in 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of:

A) Medellin v. Texas
B) In re Marshall
C) Pulley v. Harris
D) None of the above

Question 5

In Weems v. United States, the Supreme Court suggested that what constitutes _____________ evolves as public opinion becomes enlightened by a humane justice.

A) Cruel and unusual punishment
B) A taboo in contemporary society
C) A proper punishment
D) None of the above

Question 6

The Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was disproportionate and thus violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment for the crimes of:

A) Rape
B) Kidnapping
C) Murder
D) a and b only

Question 7

What case in 1996 held that lethal gas was an unconstitutional method of execution?

A) Enmund v. Florida
B) Fierro v. Gomez
C) Tison v. Arizona
D) Wilkerson v. Utah

Question 8

What are the two primary factors in the contemporary assessment of "evolving standards of decency"?

A) Public opinion
B) International law
C) Both and b
D) None of the above

Question 9

Which cases' decision comprised seven different opinions, and brought the three-drug lethal injection under question?

A) Brewer v. Landrigan
B) Tison v. Arizona
C) Baze v. Rees
D) Bradshaw v. Richey

Question 10

In spite of the role of public opinion in Eighth Amendment jurisprudence, the Supreme Court has typically rejected public opinion polls as the actual benchmarks for a national consensus on the death penalty.

Question 11

Recent data reveal that when given the alternative of LWOP, support for the death penalty drops below 50%.

Question 12

According to the text, although the Supreme Court has consistently declared lethal injection constitutionally permissible, challenges abound, and the future of lethal injection (and perhaps the death penalty) is tenuous.

Question 13

In Miranda v, Arizona, lethal injection was challenged on the grounds that Arizona's current lethal injection drug, obtained from a foreign source, was not FDA approved and would likely cause unnecessary pain and suffering.

Question 14

Although refraining from a determination of whether particular methods might violate the Eighth Amendment, the Court did state that such punishments as "burning at the stake, crucifixion, breaking on the wheel, or the like" are cruel and unusual.

Question 15

Some early death penalty cases challenged firing squads, electrocution, and hanging as violating the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Question 16

Questions pertaining to the appropriate role of medical professionals (in one sense being necessary to avoid faulty application; in another sense being controversial, given the ethical standards of the medical professions) have recently been raised.

Question 17

In Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber (1947), after the first attempt at electrocution did not kill the condemned Francis, his execution was postponed to a later date. The Supreme Court declared that this was a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Question 18

According to the text, although some states today have statutes allowing the death penalty for crimes other than murder, no executions have been carried out for such crimes since the death penalty was reinstated.

Question 19

The 30-year precedent that the death penalty be reserved only for murder has never been challenged.