[Sarah Michelle Gellar](http://glamour.com/about/sarah-michelle-gellar) and [Roma Downey](http://glamour.com/about/roma-downey) played kid/adult Jackie respectively in the Emmy-winning miniseries *A Woman Named Jackie*.
The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights (ratified December 15, 1791) prohibiting the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments, including torture.he Supreme Court found these laws to be unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, in the murder case of Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976), because these laws remove discretion from the trial judge to make an individualized determination in each case.
The idea behind this as with others in the Bill of Rights dealing with justice issues was to keep the power in the hands of the people and not in the government, which could be corrupted. The Eighth Amendment has three areas or clauses: Bail, Fines, and Punishment- although a fine is a punishment. Our founders had experienced English law and incorporated the basics of the Eighth Amendment from the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Parts of the amendment date back to the Magna Carta in 1215.