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What these words mean in practice is the subject of much legal argument. In the United States of America, for example, there has not, in all states, been the prohibition of the death penalty, or of execution by electrocution, which many people consider to a cruel and unusual punishment. However, there have been some cases which have resulted in the prohibition of the death penalty in certain circumstances, such as the execution of a minor, or of a mentally handicapped person. In the European Union, on the other hand, prohibition of the death penalty has been made a fundamental condition which must be passed into the law of states hoping to join.
Some people believe that mandatory minimum sentences may constitute cruel and unusual punishment in some cases. In the United States, arguments of this type have generally been rejected by the United States Supreme Court.
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