Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2020
Abstract
This Note coordinates the Eighth Amendment Excessive Fines Clause with the Fourteenth Amendment wealth-discrimination protection set forth in Bearden v. Georgia It is generally assumed that the two protections operate independently: while the Excessive Fines Clause protects individuals against exorbitant financial obligations, Bearden limits the state from converting criminal debt into a severe liberty deprivation. But in recognizing how the two doctrines are normatively and functionally reinforcing, this Note proposes a single framework for considering financial punishment's constitutionality.
If the Eighth Amendment protection applies at the imposition of a financial punishment, Bearden provides a "second look" at the constitutionality of that punishment Or, put another way, the Eighth Amendment is a preemptive look at the downstream poverty-based liberty deprivations that Bearden secures individuals against Appreciating this relationship affords additional authority to both protections, and suggests a number of improvements to existing safeguards.
Citation
Joshua A. Feinzig, A Unified Constitutional View of Financial Punishment: Synthesizing the Excessive Fines Clause and Bearden Based Protections, 38 Yale Law & Policy Review 444-476 (2020)
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Fines (Penalties), Constitutional law, Equality before the law, Due process of law
Available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/faculty_scholarship/4660