Summary: In this episode we interview Dr. Colin Dayan, the Robert Penn Warren Professor in the Humanities at Vanderbilt and author of “The Story of Cruel & Unusual,” a powerful book which takes a hard look at the American penal system and finds the roots of the recent prisoner abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay in the dismantling of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual” punishment. We cover the history of the Eighth Amendment, the interpretation of it by our courts, the effect certain court decisions have had on our penal system, the parsing of words like “severe,” “significant,” “extreme,” and “serious,” and phrases like “prolonged mental harm,” and “degrading treatment,” and whether or not Vice President Dick Cheney’s championing of the presidential power to torture can be included in his articles of impeachment.

Listen to: How Do They Sleep at Night? (25:37 23.5MB)

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