Existing comment:
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
In the Progressive Era of the early 1900s, reformers believed that capital punishment was "cruel and unusual punishment" and therefore banned by the Eighth Amendment. These petitioners advocated for life imprisonment rather than the death penalty. They argued that criminals could be taught morals and ethics while in prison and be reformed into decent citizens.
Petition to abolish the death penalty, 1900, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives |