Capital Punishment Cruel And Unusual. The more formal argument is that capital punishment is a violation of the eighth amendment in that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. It is unusual because only the united states of all the western industrialized nations engages in this punishment.

In order to safeguard citizens from excessive punishment the eighth amendment ensures individuals protection from cruel and unusual punishment. It is also unusual because only a random sampling of convicted murderers in. Anderson, in which capital punishment was first declared absolutely to be a cruel or unusual punishment.