Don't Be Cruel ...



On this date in nineteen seventy-two

The Supreme Court made an issue

Of the death penalty, ruling it violated

Part of the Bill of Rights, where it stated



In Amendment Eight of the Constitution

Clearly, and without any equivocation ...

"Excessive bail shall not be required ...

Nor excessive fines imposed" (since mired) ...



"Nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted"

A reference to other countries' use of different

... Ways of applying punishment for deeds

Engaged in, against the law's written needs



And so the states which had employed unusual methods

Of applying capital punishment according to their statures

Revised them all - and in some cases, just dropped them

Deciding the court was right, and so now there are more men



... Behind bars today than ever there were before

As life imprisonment now seems to settle the score

And firing squads and hangings seem to have gone the way

Of guillotines, axe-men, and stake-burnings of past days ....



- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

written at 6:15pm 6/30/99

for the date - June 29th, 1999