Prepare and turn in your final paper on your chosen project:

Project #1: “Eighth Amendment exemptions from the death penalty and life without parole”

Project #2: "Lethal Injection, nitgrogen hypoxia, and Eighth Amendment analysis of execution methods"

The topic and title of the paper are selected by the instructor. Your paper should cover the entire topic using the resource materials provided.

The requirements and scoring rubric for this paper are as follows:

1. APA format, (15 points) including:
   1. proper citations within the text
   2. 10 to 15 pages in length, excluding the title and references pages
   3. A title page with given title for your chosen research project
   4. An abstract page, briefly stating your research topic, major conclusions, and possible implications of your research, 75 and 150 words.
2. A main body (120 points), divided with appropriate subheadings, including at least the following:
   1. An introductory paragraph (40 points), discussing:
      1. The Eighth Amendment basis for the project's topic
      2. A quotation of the Eighth Amendment, properly cited
      3. The topic or thesis of the paper, i.e., the relationship between the Eighth Amendment and subject matter. See more on this in the section on your conclusion, below.
   2. A subheading and discussion for the leading Supreme Court case or cases (40 points) with illustrative quotations from the opinion(s), inluding:
      1. facts and procedural history
      2. the prevailing test for Eighth Amendment analysis of the subject matter, i.e., categorical exemptions from the death penalty or life without parole (Project #1), or methods used in executions (Project #2)
      3. the US Supreme Court's reasoning and conclusion about why a particular sentence (Project #1) or method of execution (Project #2) violated the Eighth Amendment
      4. the US Supreme Court's final disposition of the case (conviction reversed or affirmed, remanded for further proceedings, etc.)
      5. all properly cited within the text of your paper
   3. A subheading and ordered discussion of the additional Supreme Court cases as they related to your topic, including
      1. facts and procedural histories of cases following the leading case
      2. the US Supreme Court's application of Eighth Amendment principles to determine whether the challenged sentence (Project #1) or execution method (Project #2) was unconstitutional
      3. the US Supreme Court's conclusion about whether the challenged sentence (Project #1) or execution method (Project #2) was unconstitutional
      4. the US Supreme Court's final disposition of the case (conviction reversed or affirmed, remanded for further proceedings, etc.)
      5. all properly cited within the text
3. A subheading and conclusion, of one or more paragraphs (15 points), including:
   1. Re-stating the constitutional protection of the Eighth Amendment in relation to particular exemptions from the death penalty and life without parole (Project #1), or methods of execution (Project #2)
   2. Summarizing the Supreme Court's development of Eighth Amendment analysis of the problem
   3. Summaring the application of those principles in the other leading Supreme Court cases
   4. Your positive or negative legal, moral, or policy reactions and views on the topical material, briefly re-stating evidence supporting your position.
      1. For example, your thesis might be that the Supreme Court's categorical exemption of the insane, the intellectually disabled, certain accomplices who don't commit homicide, all non-homicide crimes that once carried the death penalty (rape, child molestation), and juveniles, from sentences of death or some life without parole sentences in the case of juveniles, is either a sensible or incorrect reading of the Eighth Amendment, and/or has good or bad policy implications for society, and your reasons why; or,
      2. Your thesis might be that the Supreme Court's analysis of execution methods from Wilkerson (firing squad) to Kemmler (electrocution) to Baze/Glossip (lethal injection), is either a sensible or incorrect reading of the Eighth Amendment, and/or has good or bad policy implications for society, and your reasons why.