JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW

DIRECTIONS: For this activity, you will need to use your I-Pad. Go to the JUSTICE moodle site for this week and click on the link for "WE THE PEOPLE: THE CITIZEN AND THE CONSTITUTION". Then click on Lesson 32 in the table of contents, followed by clicking on "Cases."

The cases are arranged in alphabetical order, but I would like you to read the summaries in time sequence to follow the development over time of the Supreme Court's 4-part "tests" for "cruel and unusual punishment" under the 8th Amendment. You will find examples of the application of all 4 tests in these cases.

I will provide you later with copies of the summaries, so it is not necessary to write them out. However, what I would like you to do is identify for each case which "test" was used and explain how the Court used the test to reach its decision. Later on in this unit I will give you more detailed discussions of other Supreme Court 8th Amendment cases and ask you to identify the issue and the test, and write summaries like these ones setting forth the facts, the issue, and the decision and its rationale.

The cases are:

1) Trop v. Dulles (1958)

2) Furman v. Georgia (1972)

3) Coker v. Georgia (1972)

4) Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

5) Roper v. Simmons (2005)