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"The clause seems to express a great deal of humanity, on which account I have no objection to it; but, as it seems to have no meaning in it, I do not think it necessary. . . . No cruel and unusual punishment is to be inflicted; it is sometimes necessary to hang a man, villains often deserve whipping, and perhaps having their ears cut off; but are we in the future to be prevented from inflicting these punishments because they are cruel? If a more lenient mode of correcting vice and deterring others from the commission of it could be invented, it would be very prudent in the Legislature to adopt it; but until we have some security that this will be done, we ought not to be restrained from making necessary laws by any declaration of this kind." Representative Samuel Livermore 1789

Louise woke up to the shrill ringing of her alarm clock. She ignored it at first, but could not bear the terrible din, and finally got out of bed and hit the damned contracption with a fist. She wasn't very good in the mornings. Lousie was 25, single, and unemployed. She had been fired from her last job for, funnily enough, her faliure to get in on time. She hurridly put on her clothes, walked briskly round to the bus stop and waited in the freezing cold. Eventually, the vechile arrived and she climbed on board. Stealing a quick glance at her watch, she noticed that she would have enough time. As long as their were no roadworks, and the lights stayed green.

Louise entered the luxurious office a little apprehesivly. She introduced herself at the reception desk and took a seat to await her interview. She swore there was a slight cry from the chair as she sat down. Must need oiling or something, she figured.

"You must be Louis", the upper class British sounding voice of a tall dark haired man called towards her.

"So why do you think you'd fit in well here?"
"Well, um, I think that I work well in a team and...", suddenly Louise noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Across the corridor, there was a missing section of blind on the windows on one of the offices and behind it a suspicious looking man was, yes he was, he was unplugging the computer monitor and placing it in a cardboard box. He left the office and starting walking quickly down the corridor.

"That man there", she said suddenly, pointing, "he's walking out with that computer".
"What?"
"There!"
"Good gracious, your right", the interviewer suddenly picked up the phone, "security, security, get your butts up here right now".

Louise entered the courtroom a little apprehensively. She had agreed, despite her initial misconceptions, to testify to what she had seen in the office that day of her interview. She took the stand, and raised her right hand. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God", the clerk entoned.
"I do", she replied. The ADA begun his questions. He asked her about why she was in the office, exactly what she saw, when, what she heard, did she know what time it was, then finally, "Do you remember the appearence of the perpetrator?"
"Yes."
"Is he in this courtroom today?"
"Yes."
"Can you point him out to us?"
She pointed her finger.
"Let the record show that the witness has indicated the defendant."
She would never have had the courage to do this before, to testify and point out a criminal in court, but with the penalties as they were now, it was safer. It was a lot safer. Ever since that famous law repealling the eighth ammendment, America was such a better place. Better for everyone, really.

The man was taken to the processing center and then, turned into something, he knew not what, loaded onto a lorry and plunged into darkness. He emerged maybe an hour later, and felt himself being moved. Through a back door, into an office building. He found himself in what looked like a reception area, but he didn't have a very good view, he could only really see up and very slightly to the sides. Not much though. What was he? What was going on?

"Ah, the new furniture's come", said a young sounding female voice, and suddenly an attractive blonde wearing a tight pale skirt came into view in front of him. He was moving forward. And then she stood in front of him. And there was only darkness.