Published:
March 12, 2020
Michele Deitch, senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Law and Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, said it would be difficult to argue that a year in jail is not a disproportionately harsh punishment for failing to carry a felon ID card.
"It would be challenged as an 8th Amendment violation," she said. "It's disproportionate to the underlying offense. And cruel and unusual — is there another locality that would sentence you to a year for that? Probably not. So that's pretty unusual."