Pain Speaks for Itself: Divorcing the Eighth Amendment from the Spirit of the Moment

Authors

Benjamin White

Library of Congress Authority File

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79122466.html

Document Type

Comment

Abstract

This Comment will provide (1) the Eighth Amendment’s original meaning with regard to passive deprivations; (2) the Supreme Court’s shift from wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain to evolving standards of decency; (3) a critique of the evolving standards rule; and (4) a solution that eliminates the evolving standards rule, returns to the question of wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain, and recommends legislative reforms states should make in response.

Recommended Citation

Benjamin White, Pain Speaks for Itself: Divorcing the Eighth Amendment from the Spirit of the Moment, 58 San Diego L. Rev. 453 (2021).
Available at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/sdlr/vol58/iss2/2