WordNet
n. punishment prohibited by the 8th amendment to the U.S. constitution; includes torture or degradation or punishment too severe for the crime committed
Wikipedia
Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to it.
There are generally tests that can serve as a guide to what cruel and unusual punishment is according to various legal textbooks in accordance with the law. These are:
- the frequency at which the punishment occurs in society,
- overall acceptance in society,
- severe (the punishment fits the crime), and
- if the punishment is arbitrary.
Usage examples of "cruel and unusual punishment".
She pressed the stethoscope's chestpiece against Badri's back in what seemed to Dunworthy to be a cruel and unusual punishment.
But it would have been cruel and unusual punishment to have made the young lady sail one more mile.
A blue moon, the second full moon in a single month, fell under the heading of cruel and unusual punishment.
He was fond of animals often to extremes, as when he took it upon himself to liberate caged birds or chained dogs from what he considered to be cruel and unusual punishment.
Putting prisoners from most inhabited planets into those conditions would have been cruel and unusual punishment by any standard.