The Eighth Amendment prohibits the use of cruel and unusual punishment. In England, rulers had used barbaric punishments to scare the population into submission and the Framers would have no cruelty on American soil. By the 1970s there were so few executions that the Supreme Court declared the death penalty “unusual” enough to be unconstitutional. Over thirty states disagreed, passing laws that reinstated the death penalty. This talk considers arguments for and against capital punishment. If Americans are becoming more punitive, what does that mean about our fundamental liberties? Thanks to the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library, this event is free and open to the public.