The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The phrases employed are taken from the English Bill of Rights of 1689. In Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (1962), the Supreme Court of the United States ruled the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause to be applicable to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment. (Source - Wikipedia)