2008 Woodie Awards
Cruelty Violates Constitution
In civilized society, criminals are people first and human rights must prevail.
Zabie Mansoory
Issue date: 9/29/04 Section: Opinion
Dehumanizing, whipping, pillories...are we bringing back the old days where no laws prohibited cruel and unusual punishment?
The United States' Eighth Amendment is in place to protect all citizens from getting beaten, hooded, stripped naked, and executed. It states clearly: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Shawn Gementera was ordered to stand for eight hours outside of a San Francisco post office wearing a sign that read: "I stole mail. This is my punishment."
If that's fair and reasonable, then what is cruel and unusual punishment?
The incidents of abuse at Abu Ghraib, Iraq, included up to 100 prisoners who were abused while under the supervision of the United States military. Pictures released by civilian workers in the prison show naked prisoners hanged, bleeding to death, frozen to death, cut by knives or humiliated in sexual ways.
That is cruel and unusual.
An independent panel to review Department of Defense detention operations, chosen by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, concluded, "The abuses were not just the failure of some individuals to follow known standards, and they were more than the failure of a few leaders to enforce proper discipline."
"It was a kind of 'Animal House' on the night shift," said James Schlesinger, former secretary of defense and head of the four-person commission created last May.
"Animal House" is a movie depicting a rowdy college party. It's a comedy.
We're supposed to equate hanging, humiliation, getting bitten by prison watchdogs and bleeding to death with a fun night at a toga-party.
I don't think so.
Enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been detained indefinitely without any charges. The U.S. government defines an enemy combatant as "an individual who was part of or supporting Taliban or al
Qaeda forces or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners."
The United States' Eighth Amendment is in place to protect all citizens from getting beaten, hooded, stripped naked, and executed. It states clearly: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Shawn Gementera was ordered to stand for eight hours outside of a San Francisco post office wearing a sign that read: "I stole mail. This is my punishment."
If that's fair and reasonable, then what is cruel and unusual punishment?
The incidents of abuse at Abu Ghraib, Iraq, included up to 100 prisoners who were abused while under the supervision of the United States military. Pictures released by civilian workers in the prison show naked prisoners hanged, bleeding to death, frozen to death, cut by knives or humiliated in sexual ways.
That is cruel and unusual.
An independent panel to review Department of Defense detention operations, chosen by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, concluded, "The abuses were not just the failure of some individuals to follow known standards, and they were more than the failure of a few leaders to enforce proper discipline."
"It was a kind of 'Animal House' on the night shift," said James Schlesinger, former secretary of defense and head of the four-person commission created last May.
"Animal House" is a movie depicting a rowdy college party. It's a comedy.
We're supposed to equate hanging, humiliation, getting bitten by prison watchdogs and bleeding to death with a fun night at a toga-party.
I don't think so.
Enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been detained indefinitely without any charges. The U.S. government defines an enemy combatant as "an individual who was part of or supporting Taliban or al
Qaeda forces or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners."
