Cruel and Unusual Punishment, the Death Penalty, and the Influence of Foreign Law on U.S. Constitutional Jurisprudence

Abstract

The death penalty has a long and established history inclusive of almost every society since the beginning of time. As society advanced, so did the way people came to understand capital punishment. This thesis explores that change in sentiment within the American context and advances a prediction: the Supreme Court of the United States will abolish the death penalty under the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment. The plausibility of this prediction is substantiated by a case method investigation on the influence of foreign law on United States Supreme Court’s decisions interpreting cruel and unusual standards and the degree to which this clause constrains the death penalty. The resolute position capital punishment has commanded in American politics, law, and society as well as the standards governing its imposition has evolved. Concurrently, a growing majority of independent countries in the international community today have chosen to utilize different methods to deter crime, a position the United States has not taken—yet. The two are not mutually exclusive, as developments in the international community are increasingly affecting American culture and values. The direct and indirect reliance of foreign materials by the court in informing their legal reasonings and decisions has ushered in a new era of death penalty jurisprudence—its movement towards abolition.