What is the federal and state constitutional tests for determining whether a sentence is cruel and unusual?

The federal constitutional standard is similar to the state constitutional standard. The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Under the federal constitutional examination, a sentence is cruel and unusual when it is disproportionate to the defendant's crime. (See, e.g., Solem v. Helm (1983) 463 U.S. 277; Harmelin v. Michigan (1991) 501 U.S. 957.) In determining whether crime and sentence are unconstitutionally disproportionate, courts are required to evaluate certain objective criteria including the seriousness of the offense, the penalty imposed, the sentences imposed on others who have committed the same or similar offenses in the same jurisdiction, and the sentences imposed in other jurisdictions for the same or similar offenses. (Solem, at p. 292.)

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