freedom from cruel and unusual punishment
- noun
- /ˈfriːdəm frʌm kruːəl ənd ʌnˈjuːʒuəl ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/
- NSFW
:
libertad de castigos crueles e inusuales
- The Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment by the government.
Examples
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That trans people face an egregious set of circumstances in which their rights to security of the person, privacy, free expression, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, etc. are abridged by the government.
Blog text (30) -
One last case suggests that the implication of Eighth Amendment rights against freedom from cruel and unusual punishment might also serve to elevate the standard of review.
Academic text (2017) -
The right was freedom from cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment in this rare circumstance.
Blog text (30) -
The judge ruled that the conditions in the prison violated inmates' freedom from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
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Advocates argued that the new law infringed upon the freedom from cruel and unusual punishment that is protected by the Constitution.
Surface Forms
Morphology
freedom + from + cruel + and + unusual + punishment
The meaning is directly compositional: 'freedom from' denotes absence or exemption from something, and 'cruel and unusual' simply qualify the kind of 'punishment'. While the phrase has legal/constitutional connotations in English, a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can readily infer it means not being subjected to excessively harsh or uncommon penalties.
Etymology
Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment comes from old anger at public torture and shocking punishments: cruel means very painful, and unusual means not normal or strange. So it is the 'right' not to be tortured or given 'too harsh' or 'strange' punishments by the government.
