Others say they were assaulted by officers themselves. The Eighth Amendment, which bars "cruel and unusual punishments," was intended by the founders as a bulwark against prisoner abuse.

Together, they changed the legal landscape of the Eighth Amendment — the foundational constitutional protection against "cruel and unusual punishments." Heavy criticism soon followed — from ...

Johnson that a city does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments when it enforces against homeless individuals its ordinance that bars encampments on public property.

Four years ago, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled (in Martin v. City of Boise) that “the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment bars a city from prosecuting people criminally ...