Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277 (1983)
Type
Case
Week
Week 7
Course
LA 50: Constitutional Law
Definition
A United States Supreme Court case concerned with the scope of the Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment. Mr. Helm, who had written a check from a fictitious account and had reached his seventh nonviolent felony conviction since 1964, received a mandatory sentence, under South Dakota law at that time, to life in prison with no parole