<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>gnode</author><text>Case law has further defined &amp;quot;cruel and unusual punishment&amp;quot;. The Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia established that punishment must not: &amp;quot;by its severity be degrading to human dignity&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;a severe punishment that is obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;a severe punishment that is clearly and totally rejected throughout society,&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;a severe punishment that is patently unnecessary.&amp;quot;
 severe punishment that is patently unnecessary.&lt;p&gt;I think it would be difficult to argue that any of Michael Cicconetti&amp;#x27;s creative punishments are &amp;quot;severe&amp;quot;. Conversely, they appear to be relatively lenient compared to orthodox punishments. Additionally, the punishments are arguably the opposite of arbitrary, being designed to match the specifics of the crimes.</text><parent_chain><item><author>apo</author><text>The first thing this brings to mind:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Eighth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Eighth_Amendment_to_the_United...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The article on Judge Cicconetti doesn&amp;#x27;t mention how many of his alternative punishments have been challenged on appeal (or if that&amp;#x27;s even an option).&lt;p&gt;Let&amp;#x27;s say a judge wants to do something similar, but in a more malevolent way supported by the local community. What checks the power of this judge other than an appeal through the court system?</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Michael Cicconetti</title><url>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cicconetti</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>paggle</author><text>Courts have ruled that punishment must be both cruel AND unusual to qualify. These sentences are unusual but not cruel. Prison may be cruel but is not unusual.</text><parent_chain><item><author>apo</author><text>The first thing this brings to mind:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Eighth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Eighth_Amendment_to_the_United...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The article on Judge Cicconetti doesn&amp;#x27;t mention how many of his alternative punishments have been challenged on appeal (or if that&amp;#x27;s even an option).&lt;p&gt;Let&amp;#x27;s say a judge wants to do something similar, but in a more malevolent way supported by the local community. What checks the power of this judge other than an appeal through the court system?</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Michael Cicconetti</title><url>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cicconetti</url></story>