Eighth Amendment

The Supreme Court dismissed Alabama’s death penalty IQ dispute, leaving intact rulings blocking Joseph Smith’s execution over intellectual disability claims.

Alabama’s attorney general pushes extreme execution methods and narrow legal arguments, testing constitutional limits and abandoning the restraint our founders expected.

Wednesday, State Representative Chip Brown (R – Mobile) and Angela Harris, the mother of Auburn murder victim Aniah Blanchard, were in Montgomery urging legislators to support a proposed Alabama Constitutional amendment that allows prosecutors and judges broader discretion in requesting and denying bail to those accused of committing violent crimes. Section 16 of the 1901 … Continued

A wide-ranging package of bills aimed at prison reform is expected to drop in the Alabama Legislature in the next few weeks, the chairman of the Senate’s judiciary committee tells the Alabama Political Reporter. The legislative package includes sentencing reforms, oversight legislation, reporting requirements and a new prison construction plan. The package, when it is … Continued

A federal court ruled Monday that Alabama’s prison system fails to adequately evaluate the mental health of inmates during isolation in segregation cells. The treatment of the inmates is unconstitutional and violates the Eighth Amendment, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson wrote in a ruling that found the Alabama Department of Corrections to be “deliberately indifferent” … Continued

Over 60 years ago, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that “[t]he basic concept underlying the Eighth Amendment is nothing less than the dignity of man. While the State has the power to punish, the Amendment stands to assure that this power be exercised within the limits of civilized standards.” Turning this concept – … Continued

The U.S. Supreme Court recently signaled that it’s ready to limit the government’s power to confiscate things like cars, houses, and cash that prosecutors have proven, or maybe just reasonably suspect, were involved in crimes. The court heard oral arguments related to Indiana’s use of the power, known as asset forfeiture, to confiscated a $42,000 vehicle — … Continued

By Stephen Cooper Alabama Political Reporter The last time Alabama played God, executing death row inmate Christopher Brooks by lethal injection on January 21, 2016, The Montgomery Advertiser and al.com published a column of mine in which I wrote: “Initial reports out of Alabama are that the execution went as ‘smoothly’ as killing a reasonably … Continued