Student Resources:

• Device with internet capabilities
• Eighth Amendment Over Time Graphic Organizer

Teacher Resources:

• Prompt guidance

Facilitation Notes 

• This lesson discusses the death penalty and other topics that can be distressing or elicit strong emotional responses. Follow the proper protocol for your school or district surrounding such issues.
• The lesson starts with an image revealed in sections, which must be prepared according to the display settings on your device.
• Understanding Cruel and Unusual Punishment fits well as a companion to this lesson. If not completing that lesson fully, this Eighth Amendment video can provide useful background information.

Engage 

• Display the image with a cover over William Jackson Marion (the man in the center with his hands on his jacket lapels) and everything to the right of him.

• Ask students to identify and describe what they see in the image. Based on prior knowledge they may be aware of this photograph. Instruct any student who is familiar to stick to identifying and describing.
• Switch the cover to reveal the right half of the image and cover the previously shown side. Repeat the identify and describe process.
• After discussing what students see, ask students what they predict is about to happen in this photograph. Discuss how they came to the prediction.
• Ask students what decade they think this picture is from and what evidence they have to determine their guess.

Teacher Note: If students struggle, use guidance such as: “Tell me about the body language of the people standing around.” “What do you notice about the types of people standing around the event?”  “Other than the people, describe the environment.”

• Transition: Today we will discuss the Eighth Amendment, specifically the changing conceptions of it over time. The Eighth Amendment is not just about capital punishment, as you inferred was going to happen in the image above, but is a main focal point about how concepts or ideas can change over time. 

Explore 

• Divide students into groups and assign the following years and prompts.
• Teacher’s note: In bold, there are brief intros to the topics students will be investigating should they need additional prompting.
• 1612 Jamestown, Virginia, Captain George Kendall (first person executed in colonies)
• 1632 James City, Virginia, Jane Champion (first woman executed in colonies) 
• 1834 Pennsylvania (state banned public executions)
• 1846 Michigan (state banned death penalty except for treason)
• 1878 Wilkerson v. Utah (certain acts of execution were unconstitutional but firing squad is allowed) 
• 1888 New York (first electric chair built) 
• 1924 Nevada (use of lethal gas)
• 1972 Furman v. Georgia (death penalty is unconstitutional due to racially discriminatory application) 
• 1976 Gregg v. Georgia (death penalty is not always unconstitutional)  
• 2002 Atkins v. Virginia (people with mental disabilities cannot be sentenced to death) 
• 2005 Roper v. Simmons (minors cannot be sentenced to death)

• Tell students their first task is to research their prompt briefly to share with the class. Their share-out should be in-depth enough to help other students complete the second column of their full graphic organizers. The focus should be on how the prompt relates to the Eighth Amendment.
• After enough time to research and share, students complete the third column of their organizers: connection to federalism, justice, and change over time.

Glossary term(s): federalism, justice

Assess & Reflect 

• Instruct students to review their completed graphic organizers in full before answering the following questions:
  • Are you surprised by anything you learned today as far as the interpretation of the Eighth Amendment’s “cruel and unusual punishment” clause? Explain.
  • The last topic on this list happened more than two decades ago. What conversations around the Eighth Amendment do you know or expect to hear in upcoming state and federal laws or cases?
• Bring the conversation back to the Engage activity. Either share with students the story following the execution of William Jackson Marion or have them research it. Ask students to reflect on how federalism, justice, and change over time relate to the Eighth Amendment based on Marion’s story.

Teacher Note: William Jackson Marion was executed by hanging for the death of John Cameron. Four years later, Cameron reappeared alive.

Extend 

• For the state in which your students reside, have them create a timeline of changes to bail amounts, fines, and or punishments by using the Internet. Students can look for crimes based on the cases reviewed in this lesson, be assigned crimes, or choose their own. For example, students can look for five major changes related to the Eighth Amendment within their state judicial system and describe what led to the changes, when the changes took effect, how the changes affected the criminal justice system, and other pertinent information.
• For students who may struggle to know where to start on their own, the following cases are a starting point for further investigation of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Eighth Amendment: Weems v. United States (1910), Stack v. Boyle (1951), United States v. Salerno (1987), Austin v. United States (1993), Fields v. Henry County (2012). Students can summarize the case background, the decision of the Supreme Court, and other pertinent information.