Court decision
Timbs v. Indiana
Supreme Court of the United States
Addresses incorporation of the Excessive Fines Clause against state governments.
Begin with the source
The original text.
Amendment VIII
Ratified December 15, 1791
U.S. Constitution / Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Original spelling and punctuation preserved.
Read. Compare. Follow the source.
The research file.
15 local PDFs for this amendment, with source details and a direct download for each. Start with an overview or follow a case.
Read each source in context. Court decisions and dated analyses are preserved as published. Later law may change their meaning. Sources marked as context explore related questions; they are not direct holdings on this amendment.
15 documents in this file
Official analysis
Constitution Annotated: Eighth Amendment - Further Guarantees in Criminal Cases
Congressional Research Service / Government Publishing Office
Official 2016 analysis of the 8th Amendment and its judicial interpretation; a dated research reference, not a continuously updated edition.
Court decision
Miller v. Alabama
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Addresses mandatory juvenile life-without-parole sentencing and individualized consideration of youth.
Court decision
Graham v. Florida
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Examines juvenile life without parole for nonhomicide offenses and a meaningful opportunity for release.
Court decision
Roper v. Simmons
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Addresses the prohibition on capital punishment for offenses committed before age eighteen.
Court decision
Atkins v. Virginia
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Addresses the constitutional prohibition on executing people with intellectual disability.
Court decision
United States v. Bajakajian
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Explains gross disproportionality under the Excessive Fines Clause in a criminal forfeiture case.
Court decision
Farmer v. Brennan
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Explains deliberate indifference and prison officials' duties to protect people in custody from substantial risks of harm.
Court decision
Harmelin v. Michigan
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Presents the Court's divided treatment of proportionality and mandatory life sentences for adult noncapital crimes.
Court decision
Solem v. Helm
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Develops proportionality analysis for a life-without-parole sentence; read alongside later decisions such as Harmelin.
Court decision
Rhodes v. Chapman
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Analyzes prison overcrowding and the totality of conditions under the Eighth Amendment.
Court decision
Hutto v. Finney
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Examines unconstitutional prison isolation conditions and the scope of remedial court orders.
Court decision
Estelle v. Gamble
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Introduces deliberate indifference to serious medical needs as an Eighth Amendment prison-care standard.
Court decision
Robinson v. California
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Addresses punishment of addiction status and application of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause to states.
Court decision
Trop v. Dulles
Supreme Court of the United States / Library of Congress
Examines denationalization as punishment and the evolving-standards framework for cruel and unusual punishment.
No documents match that search.
Try a shorter phrase or a different source type.