If you or someone you love is charged with a crime, understanding the Eighth Amendment is essential to ensuring that your rights are upheld by the criminal justice system. This amendment prevents the government from exercising cruel and unusual punishment, ordering excessively high bail, and imposing unreasonable fines. Below is a brief guide outlining why the Eighth Amendment is so important.

Your Guide to the 8th Amendment

1. It Protects Criminal Defendants

When the Eighth Amendment was enacted in 1791, it was designed to protect criminal defendants from being subject to extreme modes of punishment such as hard labor or stoning. While there’s little risk of those methods being used today, the Eighth Amendment also provides defendants with the opportunity to post bail and wait for trial at home rather than in a jail cell. 

2. The Amendment Allows a Degree of Interpretation

Avoiding cruel and unusual punishment does not mean that the courts have to take it easy on criminal defendants awaiting trial. The Eighth Amendment does not provide a hard and fast definition for the term “excessive,” and bail can be set based on a number of different factors, including the crime’s severity and the defendant’s prior criminal history. 

3. Courts Can Deny Bail

The Eighth Amendment also does not guarantee that a criminal defendant will get bail. Courts have the right to deny bail and keep the defendant in jail until their trial date. Typically, this occurs if the defendant is considered to be a flight risk, has the potential to harm others (if they’re accused of murder, for example), or is a repeat offender.

If you’re been charged with a crime and need to post bail, Abailable Bail Bonds in Plainville, CT, is eager to help. For more than 20 years, they’ve been helping people in Hartford County and throughout Connecticut secure a wide range of bail amounts for a variety of criminal charges. They also have a 24-hour bondsman on call and will wait at the jail on behalf of your family. Visit their website to learn more, and call (860) 221-5565 today to speak with a professional bail bondsman today.