text: A manga spin-off illustrated by Mitomo Sasako, titled "Killer Killer", began serialization in Kodansha's "Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine" from March 9, 2016. Initially released as "Killer Killer", in its third chapter, published on May 9, 2016, the manga series was revealed to be a side-story of "Danganronpa 3". The series focuses on Misaki Asano, a young woman assigned to the Future Foundation's sixth branch. She specializes in murder investigations, and is teamed up with fellow investigator Takumi Hijirihara, who, following "The Tragedy", has secretly become a serial killer, known as the "Killer Killer", obsessed with killing other serial killers the pair are tasked with apprehending. Two comic anthologies were released on September 9, 2016, and another was released on October 25, 2016, by Kadokawa Shoten.


title: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School

text: A stage play was based on the anime, with InnocentSphere's Hideyuki Nishimori writing the script and directing. It premiered on July 20, 2018. Shun Nishime took the leading role of Makoto Naegi. He claimed that his character was an ideal hero based on his actions presented in the high school scenario. He also admitted being a fan of the "Danganronpa" games and felt joy when being cast as Makoto. Natsume Okamoto happily played the role of Kyoko Kirigiri. Riho Iida claimed she would give her best effort with Aoi Aasahina. Nishimori said that because of difficulties in casting other actors, they could not adapt the "Despair Arc".


text: Themed food and drinks were sold, in a collaboration between Spike Chunsoft and the Cure Maid Cafe. The Despair Arc collaboration ran from August 26 to September 12, 2016, and the Future Arc collaboration ran from September 13 to October 2, 2016.


text: A "Danganronpa 3" collaboration is also present in "Hōkai Gakuen 2", a Chinese side-scrolling shooter mobile game developed by miHoYo for iOS and Android.


text: In promoting the anime, a collaboration between "Danganronpa" and "Absolute" took place in Tokyo during 2016, where fans could interact with the voice actors, with Takayama reprising her role of Hajime.


text: The series was received positively by fans. "Pollsters Charapedia" ranked it as the ninth most anticipated anime of 2016. According to "Polygon", Western fans voted it as the tenth best new anime series from 2016. "Polygon" noted that the character of Junko Enoshima became more popular thanks to the anime, especially her interaction with Ryota Mitarai about the importance of anime to Japanese culture. Although the English dub changed lines from the original series, the site said it still appealed to the audience. "HobbyConsolas" listed it as one of the best anime series released in 2016. In a "Manga.Tokyo" poll in 2016, "Future Arc" was the 21st most popular anime of the year, while "Despair Arc" was 33rd. In a "Goo Ranking" poll, the entire series was voted the 19th best anime of 2016. In a "Biggest in Japan" poll, "Future Arc" was voted the sixth best anime of 2016 while "Despair Arc" was eighth.


text: In reviewing the anime's three story arcs, "GamesRadar"s Kenneth Shepard praised the series, saying that despite the franchise changing media from games to television, the series' narrative was appropriate. He felt the story was easy to understand by newcomers, not just by returning players. "USGamer" regarded "End of Hope's Peak Academy" as a better "Danganronpa" anime than its predecessor. It was recommended the series to people who have played the first two games as it continues their narratives. "HardCore Gaming" recommended watching the two arcs together since both make reference to each other. The website praised Seiji Kishi's direction of both series, despite finding some of the arcs' elements frustrating. "THEM Anime Reviews"s Tim Jones gave it two stars out of five, panning the series because of the amount of exposition in the series and because it requires knowledge of both arcs to understand the plot. He criticized the short screen-time given the antagonist and felt that the series would require more episodes to recreate a more coherent work. Other issues involved the dark tone, such as Makoto's attempted suicide when learning the "modus operandi" from the culprit or the decision to revive a character in "Hope". Like Jones, Chris Beveridge of "The Fandom Post" felt that "Future Arc" can only be fully enjoyed alongside the "Despair Arc" because of their interconnectedness.


text: Some critics found the first episodes of "Future Arc" appealing but were bothered by the new characters who harshly antagonize Makoto. As noted by Beveridge and "UK Anime Network"s Dan Barnett, this in turn made the narrative too dark, the darkness emphasized by the drab atmospheric color palette, which resulted in mixed reactions. "UK Anime Network" scored it a 7 out of 10. Critics found the antagonism between allies, such as Juzo and Kyosuke and Izayoi and Ruruka confusing, particularly in how they wind up killing each other. They praised Makoto's rivalry with Kyosuke, the similarities in their ideals of hope—a theme commonly explored in the franchise—and how Makoto managed to stay true to himself in the end, to redeem his corrupted rival in an argument.


text: Critics felt that Makoto's love for Kyoko made his character grow more powerful, and his second confrontation with Kyosuke more impactful, especially because of the parallels between the two characters. James Becket of "Anime News Network" found the story unique but he, too, felt that, to enjoy it fully, the viewer needs to watch both interconnected arcs. He gave a "B" to Funimation's release, while panning the art and animation provided by Lerche. He praised the English cast—including Caitlin Glass, who played Kyoko—but felt that the entire cast had been overshadowed by the lead actor, Bryce Papenbrook, who provided "the goofy charm and charisma that has made Makoto such an endearing hero over the years".


text: Barnett felt the early episodes of "Despair Arc" were too comical and slow-paced. Nevertheless, he found it passable and worth watching despite its flaws. Hajime's interactions with Chiaki were praised. Many felt their relationship became tragic when Hajime nearly lost his humanity, to the point where he could not react to her death. Beckett was more positive. He found the new cast appealing, including the return of Junko Enoshima as an antagonist. Thanasis Karavasilis, of "Manga Tokyo", was glad that Junko had returned, but felt the other characters were not as entertaining.


text: Beveridge found that most of the cast was not as engaging as the characters in "Danganronpa: The Animation", because of the more serious tone of this series. He acknowledged he did not know Hajime or the rest of the cast members from "Goodbye Despair" because he had not played the original visual novel. He felt the number of deaths was too depressing, as he could not become attached to any of the more outstanding members of the cast. Nevertheless, he felt Funimation's release was well done, as was the English dub they provided. "Manga.Tokyo"s reviewer named Nagito as one of his favorite characters, believing his calm demeanor and distinctive design made an interesting parallel to Junko. The encounter between Nagito and Hajime's alter ego, Izuru, earned mixed responses; though it was appealing, it could only be fanservice to returning fans. Beckett found the English cast entertaining, mentioning actors such as Johnny Yong Bosch, who played Hajime, and Colleen Clinkenbeard, as Chisa. In conclusion, Beckett enjoyed the storyline, but felt the animation was inferior, and gave the compilation a "B+".


text: "Hope Arc" earned an average "B−" rating from "Anime News Network"s Jacob Chapman, who found the relationship between Makoto and Kyoko Kirigiri one of the most appealing and compared them to "Romeo and Juliet" as a romantic tragedy. But he felt a fake plot twist ruined the portrayal of the burden Makoto had been carrying. Nevertheless, he found it appealing, but not as deeply moving as it could have been. Because of the handling of the antagonist, he did not feel Makato was as likable as other characters introduced throughout "Future Arc". He found the encounters of both protagonists interesting, despite claiming there were no major tragedies on Makoto's side because of Kyoko's survival. Thanasis Karavasilis felt that "Hope Arc" was more interesting than Chapman did. He believed the anime gave Makoto and Hajime a strong finale, especially with the revelation of Kyoko's survival, whom he deemed as too important for the former. He praised the encounter between Makoto and the villain Mitarai, as during their encounter neither was made out as the culprit. In addition, Karavasilis praised the execution of the finale based on the originality of the encounter and how original the result was, when comparing it to the trials from the video games, scoring it a 6 out of 6. "GamesRadar" also felt the anime similarly brought closure to Makoto's story arc.


title: Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution

text: The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution protects against imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments. This amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the United States Bill of Rights. The amendment serves as a limitation upon the federal government to impose unduly harsh penalties on criminal defendants before and after a conviction. This limitation applies equally to the price for obtaining pretrial release and the punishment for crime after conviction. The phrases in this amendment originated in the English Bill of Rights of 1689.


text: The prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments has led courts to hold that the Constitution totally prohibits certain kinds of punishment, such as drawing and quartering. Under the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause, the Supreme Court has struck down the application of capital punishment in some instances, but capital punishment is still permitted in some cases where the defendant is convicted of murder.


text: The Supreme Court has held that the Excessive Fines Clause prohibits fines that are "so grossly excessive as to amount to a deprivation of property without due process of law". The Court struck down a fine as excessive for the first time in "United States v. Bajakajian" (1998). Under the Excessive Bail Clause, the Supreme Court has held that the federal government cannot set bail at "a figure higher than is reasonably calculated" to ensure the defendant's appearance at trial. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Excessive Fines Clause and the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause apply to the states, but has not done this regarding the Excessive Bail Clause.


text: The Eighth Amendment was adopted, as part of the Bill of Rights, in 1791. It is almost identical to a provision in the English Bill of Rights of 1689, in which Parliament declared, "as their ancestors in like cases have usually done... that excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."


text: The provision was largely inspired by the case in England of Titus Oates who, after the accession of King James II in 1685, was tried for multiple acts of perjury that had led to executions of many people Oates had wrongly accused. Oates was sentenced to imprisonment, including an annual ordeal of being taken out for two days' pillory plus one day of whipping while tied to a moving cart. The Oates case eventually became a topic of the U.S. Supreme Court's Eighth Amendment jurisprudence. The punishment of Oates involved ordinary penalties collectively imposed in a barbaric, excessive and bizarre manner. The reason why the judges in Oates' perjury case were not allowed to impose the death penalty (unlike in the cases of those whom Oates had falsely accused) may be because such a punishment would have deterred even honest witnesses from testifying in later cases.


text: England's declaration against "cruel and unusual punishments" was approved by Parliament in February 1689, and was read to King William III and his wife Queen Mary II on the following day. Members of Parliament then explained in August 1689 that "the Commons had a particular regard... when that Declaration was first made" to punishments like the one that had been inflicted by the King's Bench against Titus Oates. Parliament then enacted the English Bill of Rights into law in December 1689. Members of parliament characterized the punishment in the Oates case as not just "barbarous" and "inhuman" but also "extravagant" and "exorbitant".


text: There is some scholarly dispute about whom the clause intended to limit. In England, the "cruel and unusual punishments" clause may have been a limitation on the discretion of judges, requiring them to adhere to precedent. According to the great treatise of the 1760s by William Blackstone entitled "Commentaries on the Laws of England":


text: Virginia adopted this provision of the English Bill of Rights in the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, and the Virginia convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution recommended in 1788 that this language also be included in the Constitution. Virginians such as George Mason and Patrick Henry wanted to ensure this restriction would also be applied as a limitation on Congress. Mason warned that, otherwise, Congress may "inflict unusual and severe punishments". Henry emphasized that Congress should not be allowed to depart from precedent:


text: Ultimately, Henry and Mason prevailed, and the Eighth Amendment was adopted. James Madison changed "ought" to "shall", when he proposed the amendment to Congress in 1789.


text: In "Coker v. Georgia" (1977) it was decided that "Eighth Amendment judgments should not be, or appear to be, merely the subjective views of individual Justices; judgment should be informed by objective factors to the maximum possible extent." In "Timbs v. Indiana" (2019) the Supreme Court stated that the Excessive Bail Clause, the Excessive Fines Clause and the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause together form a shield against abuses stemming from the government’s punitive or criminal-law-enforcement authority.


text: In England, sheriffs originally determined whether to grant bail to criminal suspects. Since they tended to abuse their power, Parliament passed a statute in 1275 whereby bailable and non-bailable offenses were defined. The King's judges often subverted the provisions of the law. It was held that an individual may be held without bail upon the Sovereign's command. Eventually, the Petition of Right of 1628 argued that the King did not have such authority. Later, technicalities in the law were exploited to keep the accused imprisoned without bail even where the offenses were bailable; such loopholes were for the most part closed by the Habeas Corpus Act 1679. Thereafter, judges were compelled to set bail, but they often required impracticable amounts. Finally, the English Bill of Rights (1689) held that "excessive bail ought not to be required."


text: However, the English Bill of Rights did not determine the distinction between bailable and non-bailable offenses. Thus, the Eighth Amendment has been interpreted to mean that bail may be denied if the charges are sufficiently serious.


text: The Supreme Court has also permitted "preventive" detention without bail. In "United States v. Salerno", , the Supreme Court held that the only limitation imposed by the Excessive Bail Clause is that "the government's proposed conditions of release or detention not be 'excessive' in light of the perceived evil". In "Stack v. Boyle", , the Supreme Court declared that a bail amount is "excessive" under the Eighth Amendment if it were "a figure higher than is reasonably calculated" to ensure the defendant's appearance at trial.


text: The incorporation status of the Excessive Bail Clause is unclear. In "Schilb v. Kuebel", 404 U.S. 357 (1971), the Court stated in "dicta": "Bail, of course, is basic to our system of law, and the Eighth Amendment's proscription of excessive bail has been assumed to have application to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment." In "McDonald v. City of Chicago" (2010), the right against excessive bail was included in a footnote listing incorporated rights.


text: In "Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v. Texas", , the Supreme Court held that excessive fines are those that are "so grossly excessive as to amount to a deprivation of property without due process of law". The Court wrote in its syllabus:


text: In essence, the government must not be able to confiscate such a large amount of property without following an established set of rules created by the legislature.


text: In "Browning-Ferris Industries of Vermont, Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc.", , the Supreme Court ruled that the Excessive Fines Clause does not apply "when the government neither has prosecuted the action nor has any right to receive a share of the damages awarded". While punitive damages in civil cases are not covered by the Excessive Fines Clause, such damages were held to be covered by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, notably in "State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell", .


text: In "Austin v. United States" , the Supreme Court ruled that the Excessive Fines Clause does apply to civil asset forfeiture actions taken by the federal government, in the specific case, the government's seizure of the petitioner's auto body shop on the basis of one charge of drug possession for which he had served seven years in prison.


text: In "United States v. Bajakajian", , the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to confiscate $357,144 from Hosep Bajakajian, who had failed to report possession of over $10,000 while leaving the United States. In what was the first case in which the Supreme Court ruled that a fine violated the Excessive Fines Clause, the Court held that it was "grossly disproportional" to take all the money Mr. Bajakajian had attempted to take out of the United States in violation of a federal law that required that he report an amount in excess of $10,000. In describing what constituted "gross disproportionality", the Court could not find any guidance from the history of the Excessive Fines Clause, and so relied on Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause case law:


text: Thus the Court declared that, within the context of judicial deference to the legislature's power to set punishments, a fine would not offend the Eighth Amendment unless it were "grossly disproportional to the gravity of a defendant's offense".


text: In "Timbs v. Indiana" the Supreme Court ruled that the Excessive Fines Clause applies to state and local governments under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case involves the use of civil asset forfeiture to seize a $42,000 vehicle under state law in addition to the imposition of a $1,200 fine for drug trafficking charges, house arrest, and probation.


text: The Constitution was amended to prohibit cruel and unusual punishments as part of the United States Bill of Rights as a result of objections raised by people such as Abraham Holmes and Patrick Henry. While Holmes feared the establishment of the Inquisition in the United States, Henry was concerned with the application of torture as a way of extracting confessions. They also feared that the federal government would misuse its powers to create federal crimes as well as to punish those who committed them under the new Constitution and thus use these powers as a way to oppress the people. Abraham Holmes, a member of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention for the federal constitution, for example noted in a letter from January 30, 1788 that the new Constitution would give the U.S. Congress the power "to ascertain, point out, and determine, what kind of punishments shall be inflicted on persons convicted of crimes." He added with respect those who would belong to the new government under the new Constitution: "They are nowhere restrained from inventing the most cruel and unheard-of punishments, and annexing them to crimes; and there is no constitutional check on them, but that racks and gibbets may be amongst the most mild instruments of their discipline." Relying on the history of the Eighth Amendment and its own caselaw the Supreme Court stated in "Ingraham v. Wright" (1977) that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause was designed to protect those convicted of crimes. The Supreme Court consequently determined in "Ingraham" that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause limits the criminal process in three ways: "[F]irst, it limits the kinds of punishment that can be imposed on those convicted of crimes, "e.g., Estelle v. Gamble, supra; Trop v. Dulles, supra;" second, it proscribes punishment grossly disproportionate to the severity of the crime, "e.g., Weems v. United States, supra"; and third, it imposes substantive limits on what can be made criminal and punished as such, "e.g., Robinson v. California, supra"."


text: In "Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber", , the Supreme Court assumed "arguendo" that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause applied to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In "Robinson v. California", , the Court ruled that it did apply to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. "Robinson" was the first case in which the Supreme Court applied the Eighth Amendment against the state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment. Before "Robinson", the Eighth Amendment had been applied previously only in cases against the federal government.


text: Justice Potter Stewart's opinion for the "Robinson" Court held that "infliction of cruel and unusual punishment is in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments." The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment, such as John Bingham, had discussed this subject:


text: In "Furman v. Georgia", , Justice Brennan wrote, "There are, then, four principles by which we may determine whether a particular punishment is 'cruel and unusual'."


text: Justice Brennan added: "The function of these principles, after all, is simply to provide [the] means by which a court can determine whether [the] challenged punishment comports with human dignity. They are, therefore, interrelated, and, in most cases, it will be their convergence that will justify the conclusion that a punishment is 'cruel and unusual'. The test, then, will ordinarily be a cumulative one: if a punishment is unusually severe, if there is a strong probability that it is inflicted arbitrarily, if it is substantially rejected by contemporary society, and if there is no reason to believe that it serves any penal purpose more effectively than some less severe punishment, then the continued infliction of that punishment violates the command of the Clause that the State may not inflict inhuman and uncivilized punishments upon those convicted of crimes."


text: Justice Brennan also wrote that he expected no state would pass a law obviously violating any one of these principles, so court decisions regarding the Eighth Amendment would involve a "cumulative" analysis of the implication of each of the four principles. In this way, the United States Supreme Court "set the standard that a punishment would be cruel and unusual [if] it was too severe for the crime, [if] it was arbitrary, if it offended society's sense of justice, or if it was not more effective than a less severe penalty."


text: The plurality of the Supreme Court in "Furman v. Georgia" stated that the Eighth Amendment is not static, but that its meaning is interpreted in a flexible and dynamic manner to accord with, in the words of "Trop v. Dulles", , at page 101, "the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society." Punishments including capital punishment must therefore not be "excessive". The "excessiveness" of a punishment can be measured by two different aspects, which are independent of each other. The first aspect is whether the punishment involves the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain. The second aspect is that the punishment must not be grossly out of proportion to the severity of the crime. In "Miller v. Alabama", 567 U.S. 460 (2012), the Court explained that the Eighth Amendment “guarantees individuals the right not to be subjected to excessive sanctions,” and that “punishment for crime should be graduated and proportioned to both the offender and the offense.” The Supreme Court has also looked to “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society” when addressing the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.


text: The Supreme Court held in "Bucklew v. Precythe" (2019) that the Due Process Clause expressly allows the death penalty in the United States because "the Fifth Amendment, added to the Constitution at the same time as the Eighth, expressly contemplates that a defendant may be tried for a ‘capital’ crime and ‘deprived of life’ as a penalty, so long as proper procedures are followed". The Court also explicitly said: "The Constitution allows capital punishment. [...] Nor did the later addition of the Eighth Amendment outlaw the practice. [...] The same Constitution that permits States to authorize capital punishment also allows them to outlaw it. [...] While the Eighth Amendment doesn’t forbid capital punishment, it does speak to how States may carry out that punishment, prohibiting methods that are “cruel and unusual.”" The Court also explained in "Bucklew" that “what unites the punishments the Eighth Amendment was understood to forbid, and distinguishes them from those it was understood to allow, is that the former were long disused (unusual) forms of punishment that intensified the sentence of death with a (cruel) superadd[ition] of terror, pain, or disgrace.”


text: According to the Supreme Court, the Eighth Amendment forbids some punishments entirely, and forbids some other punishments that are excessive when compared to the crime, or compared to the competence of the perpetrator. This will be discussed in the sections below.


text: In "Wilkerson v. Utah", , the Supreme Court commented that drawing and quartering, public dissection, burning alive, or disembowelment constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Relying on Eighth Amendment case law Justice William O. Douglas stated in his "Robinson v. California", concurrence opinion that "historic punishments that were cruel and unusual included "burning at the stake, crucifixion, breaking on the wheel" ("In re Kemmler", 136 U. S. 436, 136 U. S. 446), quartering, the rack and thumbscrew (see "Chambers v. Florida", 309 U. S. 227, 309 U. S. 237), and, in some circumstances, even solitary confinement (see In re Medley, 134 U. S. 160, 134 U. S. 167-168)." In "Thompson v. Oklahoma", , the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment if the defendant is under age 16 when the crime was committed. Furthermore, in "Roper v. Simmons", , the Court barred the executing of people who were under age 18 when the crime was committed. In "Atkins v. Virginia", , the Court declared that executing people who are mentally handicapped constituted cruel and unusual punishment.


text: The case of "Weems v. United States", , marked the first time the Supreme Court exercised judicial review to overturn a criminal sentence as cruel and unusual. The Court overturned a punishment called cadena temporal, which mandated "hard and painful labor", shackling for the duration of incarceration, and permanent civil disabilities. This case is often viewed as establishing a principle of proportionality under the Eighth Amendment. However, others have written that "it is hard to view "Weems" as announcing a constitutional requirement of proportionality."


text: In "Trop v. Dulles", , the Supreme Court held that punishing a natural-born citizen for a crime by revoking his citizenship is unconstitutional, being "more primitive than torture" because it involved the "total destruction of the individual's status in organized society".


text: In "Robinson v. California", , the Court decided a California law authorizing a 90-day jail sentence for "be[ing] addicted to the use of narcotics" violated the Eighth Amendment, as narcotics addiction "is apparently an illness", and California was attempting to punish people based on the state of this illness, rather than for any specific act. The Court wrote:


text: However, in "Powell v. Texas", , the Court upheld a statute barring public intoxication by distinguishing "Robinson" on the basis that "Powell" dealt with a person who was drunk "in public", not merely for being addicted to alcohol.


text: Traditionally, the length of a prison sentence was not subject to scrutiny under the Eighth Amendment, regardless of the crime for which the sentence was imposed. It was not until the case of "Solem v. Helm", , that the Supreme Court held that incarceration, standing alone, could constitute cruel and unusual punishment if it were "disproportionate" in duration to the offense. The Court outlined three factors that were to be considered in determining if a sentence is excessive: "(i) the gravity of the offense and the harshness of the penalty; (ii) the sentences imposed on other criminals in the same jurisdiction; and (iii) the sentences imposed for commission of the same crime in other jurisdictions." The Court held that in the circumstances of the case before it and the factors to consider, a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for cashing a $100 check on a closed account was cruel and unusual.


text: However, in "Harmelin v. Michigan", , a fractured Court retreated from the "Solem" test and held that for non-capital sentences, the Eighth Amendment constrains only the length of prison terms by a "gross disproportionality principle". Under this principle, the Court sustained a mandatory sentence of life without parole imposed for possession of 672 grams (1.5 pounds) or more of cocaine. The Court acknowledged that a punishment could be cruel but not unusual, and therefore not prohibited by the Constitution. Additionally, in "Harmelin", Justice Scalia, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist, said "the Eighth Amendment contains no proportionality guarantee," and that "what was 'cruel and unusual' under the Eighth Amendment was to be determined without reference to the particular offense." Scalia wrote "If 'cruel and unusual punishments' included disproportionate punishments, the separate prohibition of disproportionate fines (which are certainly punishments) would have been entirely superfluous." Moreover, "There is little doubt that those who framed, proposed, and ratified the Bill of Rights were aware of such provisions [outlawing disproportional punishments], yet chose not to replicate them."


text: In "Graham v. Florida", 560 U.S. 48 (2010), the Supreme Court declared that a life sentence without any chance of parole, for a crime other than murder, is cruel and unusual punishment for a minor. Two years later, in "Miller v. Alabama", , the Court went further, holding that mandatory life sentences without parole cannot be imposed on minors, even for homicide.


text: In "Coker v. Georgia", , the Court declared that the death penalty was unconstitutionally excessive for rape of a woman and, by implication, for any crime where a death does not occur. The majority in "Coker" stated that "death is indeed a disproportionate penalty for the crime of raping an adult woman." The dissent countered that the majority "takes too little account of the profound suffering the crime imposes upon the victims and their loved ones". The dissent also characterized the majority as "myopic" for considering legal history of only "the past five years".


text: In "Kennedy v. Louisiana", , the Court extended the reasoning of "Coker" by ruling that the death penalty was excessive for child rape "where the victim's life was not taken". The Supreme Court failed to note a federal law, which applies to military court-martial proceedings, providing for the death penalty in cases of child rape. On October 1, 2008, the Court declined to reconsider its opinion in this case, but did amend the majority and dissenting opinions to acknowledge that federal law. Justice Scalia (joined by Chief Justice Roberts) wrote in dissent that "the proposed Eighth Amendment would have been laughed to scorn if it had read 'no criminal penalty shall be imposed which the Supreme Court deems unacceptable.'"


text: The Supreme Court in "Bucklew v. Precythe" (2019) explicitly said: "The Constitution allows capital punishment. [...] Nor did the later addition of the Eighth Amendment outlaw the practice. [...] While the Eighth Amendment doesn’t forbid capital punishment, it does speak to how States may carry out that punishment, prohibiting methods that are “cruel and unusual.”" The Supreme Court also held in "Bucklew" that the Due Process Clause expressly allows the death penalty in the United States because "the Fifth Amendment, added to the Constitution at the same time as the Eighth, expressly contemplates that a defendant may be tried for a ‘capital’ crime and ‘deprived of life’ as a penalty, so long as proper procedures are followed".


text: The first significant general challenge to capital punishment that reached the Supreme Court was the case of "Furman v. Georgia", . The Supreme Court overturned the death sentences of Furman for murder, as well as two other defendants for rape. Of the five justices voting to overturn the death penalty, two found that capital punishment was unconstitutionally cruel and unusual, while three found that the statutes at issue were implemented in a random and capricious fashion, discriminating against blacks and the poor. "Furman v. Georgia" did not hold—even though it is sometimes claimed that it did—that capital punishment is "per se" unconstitutional.


text: States with capital punishment rewrote their laws to address the Supreme Court's decision, and the Court then revisited the issue in a murder case: "Gregg v. Georgia", . In "Gregg", the Court ruled that Georgia's revised death penalty laws passed Eighth Amendment scrutiny: the statutes provided a bifurcated trial in which guilt and sentence were determined separately; and, the statutes provided for "specific jury findings" followed by state supreme court review comparing each death sentence "with the sentences imposed on similarly situated defendants to ensure that the sentence of death in a particular case is not disproportionate." Because of the "Gregg" decision, executions resumed in 1977.


text: Some states have passed laws imposing mandatory death penalties in certain cases. The Supreme Court found these laws unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, in the murder case of "Woodson v. North Carolina", , because these laws remove discretion from the trial judge to make an individualized determination in each case. Other statutes specifying factors for courts to use in making their decisions have been upheld. Some have not: in "Godfrey v. Georgia", , the Supreme Court overturned a sentence based upon a finding that a murder was "outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible, and inhuman", as it deemed that any murder may be reasonably characterized in this manner. Similarly, in "Maynard v. Cartwright", , the Court found that an "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel" standard in a homicide case was too vague. However, the meaning of this language depends on how lower courts interpret it. In "Walton v. Arizona", , the Court found that the phrase "especially heinous, cruel, or depraved" was not vague in a murder case, because the state supreme court had expounded on its meaning.


text: The Court has generally held that death penalty cases require extra procedural protections. As the Court said in "Herrera v. Collins", , which involved the murder of a police officer, "the Eighth Amendment requires increased reliability of the process..."


text: In "Wilkerson v. Utah", the Court stated that death by firing squad is not cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.


text: In "Rummel v. Estelle", , the Court upheld a life sentence with the possibility of parole imposed per Texas's three strikes law for fraud crimes totaling $230. A few months later, Rummel challenged his sentence for ineffective assistance of counsel, his appeal was upheld, and as part of a plea bargain Rummel pled guilty to theft and was released for time served.


text: In "Harmelin v. Michigan", , the Court upheld a life sentence without the possibility of parole for possession of 672 grams (1.5 pounds) of cocaine.


text: In "Lockyer v. Andrade", , the Court upheld a 50 years to life sentence with the possibility of parole imposed under California's three strikes law when the defendant was convicted of shoplifting videotapes worth a total of about $150.


text: In "Bucklew v. Precythe", the Court ruled that when a convict sentenced to death challenges the State's method of execution due to claims of excessive pain, the convict must show that other alternative methods of execution exist and clearly demonstrate they would cause less pain than the state-determined one. The Supreme Court also held in "Bucklew" that the Due Process Clause expressly allows the death penalty in the United States because "the Fifth Amendment, added to the Constitution at the same time as the Eighth, expressly contemplates that a defendant may be tried for a ‘capital’ crime and ‘deprived of life’ as a penalty, so long as proper procedures are followed". The Court also explicitly said: "The Constitution allows capital punishment. [...] Nor did the later addition of the Eighth Amendment outlaw the practice. [...] Of course, that doesn’t mean the American people must continue to use the death penalty. The same Constitution that permits States to authorize capital punishment also allows them to outlaw it. But it does mean that the judiciary bears no license to end a debate reserved for the people and their representatives. While the Eighth Amendment doesn’t forbid capital punishment, it does speak to how States may carry out that punishment, prohibiting methods that are “cruel and unusual.”"


text: In "Trop v. Dulles", , Chief Justice Earl Warren said: "The [Eighth] Amendment must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society." Subsequently, the Court has looked to societal developments, as well as looking to its own independent judgment, in determining what are those "evolving standards of decency". In "Kennedy v. Louisiana" (2008) the Supreme Court stated: "Evolving standards of decency must embrace and express respect for the dignity of the person, and the punishment of criminals must conform to that rule."


text: Originalists, like Justice Antonin Scalia, argue that societies may rot instead of maturing and may decrease in virtue or wisdom instead of increasing. Thus, they say, the framers wanted the amendment understood as it was written and ratified, instead of morphing as times change, and in any event legislators are more competent than judges to take the pulse of the public as to changing standards of decency.


text: The "evolving standards" test has been subject to scholarly criticism. For example, law professor John Stinneford asserts that the "evolving standards" test misinterprets the Eighth Amendment:


text: On the other hand, law professor Dennis Baker defends the evolving standards of decency test as advancing the moral purpose of the Eighth Amendment to ban the inflicting of unjust, oppressive, or disproportional punishments by a state on its citizens.


text: The Supreme Court has applied evolving standards not only to say what punishments are inherently cruel, but also to say what punishments that are not inherently cruel are nevertheless "grossly disproportionate" to the offense in question. An example can be seen in "Jackson v. Bishop" an Eighth Circuit decision outlawing corporal punishment in the Arkansas prison system: "The scope of the Amendment is not static...[D]isproportion, both among punishments and between punishment and crime, is a factor to be considered..." Relying on and citing its early cases "O'Neil v. Vermont", and "Weems v. United States" the Supreme Court concluded in "Enmund v. Florida" that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause is partly a prohibition of all punishments which, by their excessive length or severity, are greatly disproportioned to the offenses charged.


text: Law professor John Stinneford asserts that the Eighth Amendment forbids punishments that are very disproportionate to the offense, even if the punishment by itself is not intrinsically barbaric, but he argues that "proportionality is to be measured primarily in terms of prior practice" according to the word "unusual" in the amendment, instead of being measured according to shifting and nebulous evolving standards. Stinneford argues that the word "unusual" in the Eighth Amendment has a very different meaning in comparison to those who use originalism to interpret the U.S. Constitution. He writes: "But in reality, the word "unusual" in the Eighth Amendment did not originally mean “rare”– it meant “contrary to long usage,” or “new.” A punishment is cruel and unusual if it is “cruel in light of long usage” – that is, cruel in comparison to longstanding prior practice or tradition." Similarly, law professor John Bessler points to "An Essay on Crimes and Punishments", written by Cesare Beccaria in the 1760s, which advocated proportionate punishments; many of the Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, read Beccaria's treatise and were influenced by it.


text: Thus, Stinneford and Bessler disagree with the view of Justice Scalia, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist, in "Harmelin v. Michigan" where they denied that the Punishments Clause contains any proportionality principle. With Scalia and Rehnquist, Richard Epstein argues that the amendment does not refer broadly to the imposition of penalties, but rather refers more narrowly to the penalties themselves; Epstein says judges who favor the broad view tend to omit the letter "s" at the end of the word "punishments".


title: To the Moon

text: To the Moon is a psychological drama adventure game developed and published by Freebird Games. It was originally released for Windows in November 2011, with ports later being released for Mac OS X, Linux, Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch. The story follows two doctors who offer to fulfill a dying man's last wish using artificial memories. The game features relatively few gameplay mechanics, with the player controlling the two doctors, exploring the narrative and solving puzzles as they try to reconstruct the dying man's memories in order to fulfill his wish.


title: To the Moon

text: The game was designed by Kan Gao using the RPG Maker XP toolkit. Development started in 2010, when Gao was struck by questions of mortality following his grandfather's life-threatening condition. "To the Moon" would become Freebird Games' first commercial product, following smaller, experimental games released for free on the studio website. The game was updated later to include free downloadable content called "minisodes" to give more context to the main characters. A sequel, titled Finding Paradise, was eventually released in 2017.


title: To the Moon

text: While criticized for lacking much gameplay, "To the Moon" received praise for its narrative, music, thematic material, and emotional power. The game was nominated for several awards and considered by many to be a leading example of artistic expression in video games. An animated film adaptation is in development, partially scripted and supervised by Gao.


title: To the Moon

text: "To the Moon" is built on the RPG Maker XP engine, which is used to create 16-bit 2D role-playing games in the style of "Suikoden 1" and "2". However, unlike a typical RPG, "To the Moon" has no battle system (aside from a joke battle near the beginning), inventory system, nor party system. The game's focus, being a more story-driven game, is around puzzle solving, interpreting information from the subject's (Johnny's) life, and finding ways to get deeper into his memories.


title: To the Moon

text: Gameplay is primarily about exploring Johnny's memories to find significant objects and collect energy from them to strengthen the memory and connect to a more distant one, from Johnny's old age leading back to his childhood. Occasionally, the player will have to explore Johnny's house and the surrounding area for certain clues, if they cannot gather enough energy from a certain memory, or don't know how to proceed to a further one.


title: To the Moon

text: Once the items are all gathered and the player has seen all the memories, they can connect certain objects that exist across two different memories to move freely between them. At this point, the player can begin manipulating the memories, by changing around characters, objects and events, to make Johnny believe he had achieved his dream of going to the Moon.


title: To the Moon

text: Sigmund Corp. uses a technology that can create artificial memories. Since they conflict with the patient's real memories, the procedure is only legal to do on comatose patients without much time left to live. Thus, they offer this as a "wish fulfillment" service to people on their death beds.


title: To the Moon

text: Sigmund Corp. employees Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts are contracted with fulfilling the wish of the dying Johnny Wyles. Johnny wants to go to the Moon, but is unable to state why. The doctors insert themselves into an interactive compilation of his memories and traverse backwards through his life via 'mementos', items of great personal significance to Johnny that act as a link between his various memories. With each leap to an important moment in Johnny's memories, they learn more about him, largely revolving around his somewhat unhappy marriage to his teenage sweetheart, River. However, Rosalene and Watts are unable to find any kind of explanation for Johnny's wish. The doctors also encounter an unusual gap in Johnny's earliest childhood memories, rendering them inaccessible. Nevertheless, the doctors insert his desire to go to the moon into his earliest accessible memories of his teenage years. In theory, Johnny's mind would create new memories based on that desire, thus fulfilling his last wish.


title: To the Moon

text: Johnny's mind does not create the new memories as planned, prompting the doctors to find a way to access the missing childhood memories. The doctors later uncover medical records explaining that Johnny once received a large dose of beta blockers as a child despite not having a heart condition, causing significant memory loss. The doctors then use a combination of their tech and external stimuli to forcibly restore Johnny's earliest childhood memories, where it is revealed that Johnny and River first met as young children at a carnival. They looked at the night sky together and made up a constellation: a rabbit with the moon as its belly. The two agreed to meet at the same place the following year, with Johnny promising that should he forget or get lost, the two would "regroup on the moon", finally explaining the motivation behind his last wish. Sometime later, Johnny's mother accidentally kills his twin brother Joey in a car accident. In her grief, Johnny's mother deliberately gave Johnny the beta blockers to erase all memories of Joey. This also causes him to forget his first encounter with River, but Johnny would later meet her again in school and would eventually marry her. River later realized that Johnny had forgotten their meeting at the carnival, greatly upsetting her. River, who is implied to have Asperger Syndrome, would never directly tell Johnny about their first meeting. Instead, unaware of the reasons behind Johnny's memory loss, she would spend the rest of her life indirectly jostling Johnny's memories to no avail by cutting her hair and crafting numerous paper bunnies, including a dual-colored one representing the constellation they made up during their first encounter. River died without ever explaining her actions to Johnny, leaving him sad and confused. Rosalene then concludes that the only way to fulfill Johnny's wish is if River is removed from Johnny's childhood after their first meeting.


title: To the Moon

text: Over Watts' protests, Rosalene implants a memory sequence in which Joey did not die, thereby averting the beta blockers, and removed River from Johnny's school. As a result, Johnny would spend his entire youth working on becoming an astronaut in order to fulfill his promise to River. Johnny would not meet River again until they started working together at NASA. As the comatose real-life Johnny begins to die, he imagines going on a moon mission with River. As the shuttle leaves Earth, River wordlessly holds out her hand to Johnny. The moon comes into view, and Johnny takes River's hand just before his heart monitor flatlines. In the epilogue showing Johnny's revised memories, Johnny and River get married like before. They build and retire to the same house as they did in real life. The only difference now is Joey's presence in all of Johnny's major life events, and the friction between Johnny and River caused by his original memory loss is now gone. Rosalene and Watts, now back in the real world, look to Johnny's grave, placed adjacent to River's, behind their home. Rosalene receives a phone call, and the doctors move on to their next patient. Before Watts leaves, he feels a sudden wave of pain and takes pills.


title: To the Moon

text: "To the Moon" was developed and published by Freebird Games, the independent game studio of Canadian designer Kan Gao as their first commercial production. Made using the RPG Maker XP engine, development began in 2010 after Gao's grandfather became seriously ill, an event that made Gao question mortality and death. His thoughts on regret before one's death eventually inspired the concept for the story of the game.


title: To the Moon

text: "To the Moon" was originally released on the author's website and various digital download portals. It was made later also available via major digital distribution sites like Steam in November 2011 and GOG.com in June 2012. Originally available only for Windows, it was later released for OS X and Linux through Humble Bundle's "Humble Indie Bundle X" in January 2014. Amaryllis Kulla ported the game with the open-source and cross platform "RPG Maker XP" game engine recreation "MKXP". Later this engine was also used for ports to other systems like the OpenPandora handheld. In May 2017, "To the Moon" was also released on Android and iOS by X.D. Network Inc. with the cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies. The game was localized in Chinese, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Polish, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Vietnamese, Dutch, Korean, and Turkish. The score of the game was composed by Gao, with a theme song titled "Everything's Alright" being written and performed by Laura Shigihara. The soundtrack was released on Bandcamp on November 4, 2011.


title: To the Moon

text: A downloadable minisode was released on December 31, 2013, which centers on Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts during a holiday party at their local Sigmund Corp. office. A second minisode was released on February 18, 2015.


title: To the Moon

text: "To the Moon" received generally favorable reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Critics, while noting that the gameplay itself was lacking, praised the story and music.


title: To the Moon

text: In August 2016, Gao announced that a mobile remake of the game was being developed by X.D. Network Inc. After about a year, the remake released for Android and iOS on May 12, 2017. The remake features high-definition graphics, as opposed to the 16-bit graphics of the original PC release. The game released for Nintendo Switch on January 16, 2020 and released for China Nintendo eShop on February 8, 2021, remade using the Unity engine.


title: To the Moon

text: A game set in the same universe, titled "A Bird Story" was released in November 2014. While not a direct continuation of the story, it serves as a bridge between "To the Moon" and "Finding Paradise", a sequel which was released in December 2017. An animated film adaptation is in development. The film will be a collaborative project, with it being partially scripted and supervised by Gao with Japanese companies leading production and Chinese company Ultron Event Horizon funding it.


title: To the Moon

text: In GameSpot's 2011 Game of the Year awards, "To the Moon" was given the "Best Story" award, which was won against "Catherine", "", "Portal 2", and "Xenoblade Chronicles". which were also voted in the same category. The game was also nominated in the categories of "Best Music", "Most Memorable Moment", "Best Writing/Dialogue", "Best Ending", and "Song of the Year". In 2015, it was included on "GamesRadar" top 100 games of all time list. In 2018, the mobile version was nominated for the "Game, Original Adventure" and "Original Light Mix Score, New IP" categories at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear Decatur as the address. The city is served by three MARTA rail stations (Decatur, East Lake, and Avondale). The city is located approximately northeast of Downtown Atlanta and shares its western border with both the city of Atlanta (the Kirkwood and Lake Claire neighborhoods) and unincorporated DeKalb County. The Druid Hills neighborhood is to the northwest of Decatur. The unofficial motto of Decatur used by some residents is "Everything is Greater in Decatur."


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Prior to European settlement, the Decatur area was largely forested (a remnant of old-growth forest near Decatur is preserved as Fernbank Forest). Decatur was established at the intersection of two Native American trails: the Sandtown, which led east from the Chattahoochee River at Utoy Creek, and the Shallowford, which follows today's Clairmont Road, and eventually crossed near Roswell. A site for the DeKalb County courthouse was designated in 1822 in what would become downtown Decatur; the city of Decatur was incorporated on December 10, 1823. It was named for United States Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: During the American Civil War, Decatur became a strategic site in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. In July 1864, Major-General James McPherson occupied the town to cut off the Confederates' supply line from Augusta. On July 22, during the Battle of Atlanta, Confederate cavalry under Major-General Joseph Wheeler attacked McPherson's supply wagons and the Union troops left to defend the wagons. A historical marker at the old courthouse marks the site of this skirmish.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: In the second half of the twentieth century the metropolitan area of Atlanta expanded into unincorporated DeKalb County, eventually surrounding two sides of the town of Decatur. Concurrently many well-to-do and middle class white Americans fled the area to more distant suburbs. The 1960s and 1970s witnessed dramatic drops in property values. However, more recently the city has regained economic vigor, partially thanks to several long-term downtown development plans that have come to fruition, making Decatur a trendy small mixed-use district with easy transit to downtown Atlanta. Over the past twenty years, it has gained a local and national reputation as a progressive city with a high level of citizen involvement that retains a small-town feel despite its proximity to Atlanta.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: The Eastern Continental Divide bisects the city along the CSX (formerly Georgia Railroad) trackage right of way.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 24,928 people, 8,841 households, and 5,597 families residing in the city.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: As of the 2010 census, there were 19,335 people, 8,599 occupied housing units, and 4,215 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 9,335 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 73.5% White, 20.2% African American, 0.2% Native American, 2.9% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.6% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.2% of the population.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: There were 2,541 (29.5%) households which had children under the age of 18 living with them, 3,336 (38.8%) were a husband-wife family living together, 984 (11.4%) of households had a female householder with no husband present, and 4,063 (47.2%) did not fit into either of the two previously mentioned categories. 3,263 (37.9%) of all households were made up of individuals of those, 1,814 (21.1%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.96.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 19, 5.2% from 20 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. There are roughly 44 males for every 56 females.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: The median income for a household in the city was $73,602. Males had a median income of $73,089 versus $58,580 for females. The per capita income for the city was $42,926. About 12.20% of families and 14.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.2% of those under age 18 and 12.5% of those age 65 or over.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Education levels for Decatur are above average for the Atlanta area, with 56% of residents having obtained a bachelor's degree or higher, and 27% having obtained a graduate degree or higher.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur and adjacent areas are popular with the lesbian community thanks in part to the Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The pair met in elementary school and started making music together in high school in Decatur. They both went on to Emory University and laid down roots in the community.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: City Schools of Decatur, which serves only students within the city limits, holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of a pre-K early childhood learning center, five lower elementary schools, two upper elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. Decatur High School is the district's sole high school. The Decatur City district has 224 full-time teachers and over 4,400 students from pre-K through grade 12.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta operates St. Thomas More School in Decatur; it opened on September 1, 1950. At first it only had elementary grades and its initial enrollment was 150. A dedicated elementary building opened in 1955, and an addition for kindergarten classes with two rooms was placed in 1994. St. Peter Claver Regional School has a Decatur mailing address but is in nearby Candler-McAfee CDP.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: The DeKalb County Public Library system operates the Decatur Branch and is also the Dekalb County Library Headquarters.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur has operated under a Commission-Manager form of government since 1920. The Charter of the City of Decatur establishes the City Commission as the governing and legislative authority of the City government. A five-member City Commission is elected for four-year terms on two-year cycles. Two members are elected from the south side of the city, two from the north side and one is elected at-large. At their organizational meeting each January, the Commissioners elect a mayor and mayor-pro-tem from among their own membership for a one-year term. The mayor is not a separate elected office. The current mayor is Patti Garrett. Previous mayors have included Leslie Jasper Steele (1915), Jack Hamilton, Walter Drake, Mike Mears, Ann A. Crichton, Elizabeth Wilson, William Floyd, Jim Baskett and Scott Candler, Sr. (known as Mr. DeKalb).


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: The Commission appoints a professional City Manager to carry out the policies, directives and day-to-day business of the city. The current city manager is Andrea Arnold. There are also several citizen volunteer boards and commissions appointed by the City Commission, including the Planning Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Historic Preservation Commission.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice has its headquarters in Avondale Estates, near Decatur. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has its headquarters near Decatur, in an unincorporated area.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur has a thriving art and festival scene. The Decatur Arts Alliance hosts the Decatur Arts Festival each May, in addition to installing public art around the city, providing gallery space for local artists, producing YEA!, which is an event for young emerging artists, and supporting arts and arts education throughout the City.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur holds the annual AJC Decatur Book Festival, which claims to be one of the largest independent book festivals in the United States. It has featured thousands of famous authors, book signings, speeches, and attracted upwards of 85,000 people in 2019.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur is known for its frequent festivals, which include the annual Decatur Arts Festival, Summer In The City, Decatur BBQ, Blues & Bluegrass Festival, the Decatur Book Festival, the Decatur Maker's Faire, The Decatur Craft Beer Festival and the Decatur Wine Festival. Other events throughout the year include parades, Concerts on the Square, wine crawls, art walks, runs, and races.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Public art in Decatur includes Celebration (artist Gary Price), Valentine (artist George Lundeen), Thomas Jefferson (George Lundeen), Commodore Stephen Decatur (artist unknown), Roy A. Blount Plaza, and Living Walls Murals (various artists).


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur is known for its food scene and was named one of the South's "Tastiest Towns" in 2012. In 2016, the New York Times called it "Atlanta's gastronomic equivalent of Berkeley or Brooklyn".


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur has a growing beer scene with the award-winning Brick Store Pub, Wild Heaven Beer, and Three Taverns Brewery. The Decatur Craft Beer Festival was named one of the top ten beer festivals in the United States. Decatur is also home to Independent Distilling Co.


title: Decatur, Georgia

text: Decatur's downtown area and residential neighborhoods are filled with historic structures and sites of interest. This list primarily consists of structures on the National Register of Historic Places, but many remain privately owned and may only be viewed from the exterior.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: Survivor: The Amazon is the sixth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series "Survivor". The season was filmed from November 11, 2002, through December 15, 2002, in the Amazon and premiered on February 13, 2003. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of the usual 39 days of gameplay with 16 competitors.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: This was the first "Survivor" season to initially divide the tribes by gender. At the live finale, swimsuit model Jenna Morasca, won and was named Sole Survivor after defeating Matthew von Ertfelda by a jury vote of 6-1.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: The cast is composed of 16 new players initially divided into two tribes by gender: the all-female Jaburu (named for a native stork) and the all-male Tambaqui (a native fish). They were eventually merged into the Jacaré (Portuguese for "alligator") tribe when ten contestants remained.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: Christy Smith became the first reality show contestant with a disability overall, and as well to compete in any edition of "Survivor".


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: A challenge during the season in which Jenna Morasca and Heidi Strobel removed their clothing ultimately led to a cover shot and nude pictorial in a "Playboy" spread.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: Morasca and Rob Cesternino later competed in "". Outside of "Survivor", in 2005 Morasca competed on a "Reality All-Stars" episode of "Fear Factor". In 2011, Morasca appeared on "The Amazing Race 19" with her then-boyfriend and winner of "" Ethan Zohn.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: The season began with the contestants divided into tribes split by gender for the first time. The men's tribe, Tambaqui, wearing blue, was quick to get their camp life squared away, building shelter, and alliances were quickly formed. The women's tribe, Jaburu, wearing yellow, experienced quarreling within their tribe, and spent almost the entire first week without a shelter. On Tambaqui, an alliance of four was formed, led by Roger, which included Butch, Alex, and Dave. However, Rob quickly emerged as an arbiter between Roger's alliance and the outliers of the tribe, solidifying allegiances with both. On Jaburu, the younger women, Heidi, Jenna, and Shawna quickly began to coalesce, pulling in Deena and Christy to control the voting on Jaburu.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: On Day 13, Dave and Jenna traveled to an isolated location to act as tribal ambassadors. Jenna gave Dave crucial information about Jaburu, giving Dave an advantage when, the next day, they were forced to choose new tribes, equally distributing the men and the women. Rob, Matthew and Alex were sent to Jaburu while Heidi, Jeanne and Christy were sent to Tambaqui. At Tambaqui, Heidi decided to align with the men to vote off Jeanne. At Jaburu, the men and women joined forces to vote off an untrustworthy Shawna. Deena and Rob created an alliance and when the merge occurred, they aligned with Alex, Matthew and the rest of the women. At the merge, Deena and Rob's alliance controlled the votes against sexist Roger and physical and mental threat Dave. leaving Butch as the last player remaining outside of Rob and Deena's alliance.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: Convinced she had control over the game, Deena decided to spare Butch in order to vote out Alex for being a social and physical threat. The women quickly informed Alex of Deena's betrayal and he was able to convince Heidi, Jenna and the men to eliminate Deena at the next Tribal Council. With Deena gone, Alex was convinced he was solid in an alliance of four with Jenna, Heidi, and Rob. However, he revealed to Rob that his plan was to vote him out at the final four to avoid a tie with Heidi and Jenna. Rob used this information to form a counter-alliance with Matthew, Butch, and Christy, where they voted out Alex. With three men and three women remaining, Christy became the swing vote but was voted out after failing to commit to either side. The next Tribal Council, the men stuck together and voted off Heidi, perceived to be the more physical of the two women left.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: At the Final Four, Jenna, the final woman remaining, won immunity, forcing the men to prematurely turn on themselves. Faced with either avenging Alex and Heidi by voting off Rob or getting rid of an undeserving Butch, she voted with Matthew and Rob to vote off Butch. Jenna continued her winning streak and won immunity again, giving her the sole vote at the penultimate Tribal Council leaving Rob and Matthew at the mercy of Jenna. She eliminated Rob due to his strong strategic gameplay. Facing the jury, Matthew was praised for his survival skills and work ethic, but he was criticized for hypocrisy and lack of strategic gameplay for the majority of the game. On the other hand, Jenna was criticized for her lack of work ethic and even wanting to quit a few days earlier. However, as a result of having better relationships with people on the jury, and being seen as playing the game more strategically from the beginning, Jenna was voted to become the Sole Survivor in a vote of 6-1.


title: Survivor: The Amazon

text: Unlike the previous three seasons, reception to "Survivor: The Amazon" was mostly positive with common praise being the tribe division by gender and bearing colorful players such as Rob Cesternino. Jeff Probst ranked "The Amazon" as his 10th favorite season, citing the women's alliance led by Jenna, among other factors. Dalton Ross, the official "Survivor" columnist of "Entertainment Weekly", ranked it as his seventh favorite season, calling it "probably the most unpredictable season ever." In 2012 and 2013, ""Survivor" Oz" ranked "The Amazon" in the top 10 greatest seasons in its annual polls ranking every season of the series; it was 9th in 2012 and 7th in 2013. In the official issue of "CBS Watch" commemorating the 15th anniversary of "Survivor", "The Amazon" was voted by viewers as the 8th greatest season of the series. Also, in another poll for the same magazine, Rob was voted as the #3 greatest player in the series for his performance in "The Amazon". In 2015, when Rob himself eventually held a poll on his reality TV podcasting website, "The Amazon" was ranked by his viewers as the 5th-greatest season in the series; Rob himself personally ranked it as the seventh-greatest. This was updated in 2021 during Cesternino's podcast, "Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings", ranking 8th. In 2020, "Purple Rock Podcast" ranked this season 14th out of 40 saying that "this season earns its rank based on several memorable moments of both gameplay and comedy." Later in the year, "Inside Survivor" ranked this season 8th out of 40 saying ""The Amazon" takes "Survivor" strategy to new heights, which makes for exciting and unpredictable television."


The Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets prescribed the words that are used to represent each letter of the alphabet, when spelling other words out loud, letter-by-letter, and how the spelling words should be pronounced for use by the Allies of World War II. They are not a "phonetic alphabet" in the sense in which that term is used in phonetics, i.e. they are not a system for transcribing speech sounds.


title: Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets

text: The Allied militaries – primarily the US and the UK – had their own radiotelephone spelling alphabets which had origins back to World War I and had evolved separately in the different services in the two countries. For communication between the different countries and different services specific alphabets were mandated.


text: The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the NATO members calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet".


text: During WWII, the Allies had defined terminology to describe the scope of communications procedures among different services and nations. A summary of the terms used was published in a post-WWII NATO memo:


text: Thus, the Combined Communications Board (CCB), created in 1941, derived a spelling alphabet that was mandated for use when any US military branch was communicating with any British military branch; when operating without any British forces, the Joint Army/Navy spelling alphabet was mandated for use whenever the US Army and US Navy were communicating in joint operations; if the US Army was operating on its own, it would use its own spelling alphabet, in which some of the letters were identical to the other spelling alphabets and some completely different.


text: The US and UK began to coordinate calling alphabets by the military during World War II and by 1943 they had settled on a streamline communications that became known as the CCB. Both nations had previous independently developed alphabet naming system dating back to World War I. Subsequently, this second world war era letter naming became accepted as standard by the ICAO in 1947.


text: After the creation of NATO in 1949, modifications began to take place. An alternative name for the ICAO spelling alphabet, "NATO phonetic alphabet", exists because it appears in Allied Tactical Publication ATP-1, Volume II: "Allied Maritime Signal and Maneuvering Book" used by all navies of NATO, which adopted a modified form of the "International Code of Signals". Because the latter allows messages to be spelled via flags or Morse code, it naturally named the code words used to spell out messages by "voice" its "phonetic alphabet". The name "NATO phonetic alphabet" became widespread because the signals used to facilitate the naval communications and tactics of NATO have become global. However, ATP-1 is marked "NATO Confidential" (or the lower "NATO Restricted") so it is not available publicly. Nevertheless, a NATO unclassified version of the document is provided to foreign, even hostile, militaries, even though they are not allowed to make it available publicly. The spelling alphabet is now also defined in other unclassified international military documents. The NATO alphabet appeared in some United States Air Force Europe publications during the Cold War. A particular example was the Ramstein Air Base Telephone Directory, published between 1969 and 1973 (currently out of print). The US and NATO versions had differences, and the translation was provided as a convenience. Differences included Alfa, Bravo and Able, Baker for the first two letters.


text: The NATO phonetic spelling alphabet was first adopted on January 1, 1956, while the ICAO radiotelephony spelling alphabet was still undergoing final changes.


text: The RAF radiotelephony spelling alphabet, sometimes referred to as the "RAF Phonetic Alphabet", was used by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) to aid communication after the take-up of radio, especially to spell out aircraft identification letters, e.g. "H for Harry", "G for George", etc. Several alphabets were used, before being superseded by the adoption of the NATO/ICAO radiotelephony alphabet.


text: During World War I battle lines were often static and forces were commonly linked by wired telephone networks. Signals were weak on long wire runs and field telephone systems often used a single wire with earth return, which made them subject to inadvertent and deliberate interference. Spelling alphabets were introduced for wire telephony as well as on the newer radio voice equipment.


text: The British Army and the Royal Navy had developed their own quite separate spelling alphabets. The Navy system was a full alphabet, starting: "Apples, Butter, Charlie, Duff, Edward", but the RAF alphabet was based on that of the "signalese" of the army signallers. This was not a full alphabet, but differentiated only the letters most frequently misunderstood: "Ack (originally "Ak"), Beer (or Bar), C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, eMma, N, O, Pip, Q, R, eSses, Toc, U, Vic, W, X, Y, Z".


text: By 1921, the RAF "Telephony Spelling Alphabet" had been adopted by all three armed services, and was then made mandatory for UK civil aviation, as announced in Notice to Airmen Number 107.


text: In 1956, the NATO phonetic alphabet was adopted due to the RAF's wide commitments with NATO and worldwide sharing of civil aviation facilities.


text: The US Navy's first phonetic spelling alphabet was not used for radio, but was instead used on the deck of ships "in calling out flags to be hoisted in a signal". There were two alternative alphabets used, which were almost completely different to one another, with only the code word "Xray" in common.


text: The US Navy's first "radiotelephony" phonetic spelling alphabet was published in 1913, in the Naval Radio Service's Handbook of Regulations developed by Captain William H. G. Bullard. The Handbook's procedures were described in the November 1917 edition of "Popular Science Monthly".


text: The Joint Army/Navy (JAN) spelling alphabet was developed by the Joint Board on November 13, 1940, and it took effect on March 1, 1941. It was reformulated by the CCB following the entrance of the US into World War II by the CCB "Methods and Procedures" committee, and was used by all branches of the United States Armed Forces until the promulgation of its replacement, the ICAO spelling alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, etc.), in 1956. Before the JAN phonetic alphabet, each branch of the armed forces had used its own radio alphabet, leading to difficulties in interbranch communication.


text: The US Army used this alphabet in modified form, along with the British Army and Canadian Army from 1943 onward, with "Sugar" replacing "Sail".


text: The JAN spelling alphabet was used to name Atlantic basin storms during hurricane season from 1947 to 1952, before being replaced with a new system of using female names.


text: Vestiges of the JAN spelling system remain in use in the US Navy, in the form of Material Conditions of Readiness, used in damage control. Dog, William, X-Ray, Yoke, and Zebra all reference designations of fittings, hatches, or doors. The response "Roger" for "· – ·" or "R", to mean "received", also derives from this alphabet.


text: The names "Able" to "Fox" were also widely used in the early days of hexadecimal digital encoding of text, for speaking the hexadecimal digits A to F (equivalent to decimal 10 to 15), although the written form was simply the capital letters A to F.


title: Radhika Kumaraswamy

text: Radhika Kumaraswamy (born 1 November 1986), credited as Radhika and as Kutty Radhika in Tamil films, is an Indian actress. She has primarily appeared in Kannada films.


title: Radhika Kumaraswamy

text: Radhika started her acting career with the Kannada film "Neela Megha Shama" (2002) when she had just completed her ninth class. Her first release was "Ninagagi", opposite Vijay Raghavendra, which was followed by "Tavarige Baa Tangi", starring Shivrajkumar; both films were highly successful ventures. In 2003, she appeared in five Kannada films, including Hemanth Hegde's directorial debut "Ooh La La"; "Hudugigaagi", alongside S. P. B. Charan; Yograj Bhat's maiden feature film "Mani", in which she played the daughter of a prostitute; "Mane Magalu" and "Tayi Illada Tabbali", all of which were commercial failures. In spite of the film's poor box office returns, Radhika's performance as Gowri in "Tayi Illada Tabbali" won her the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress.


title: Radhika Kumaraswamy

text: Radhika subsequently began to work in Tamil cinema, acting in five Tamil films in quick succession. Her debut Tamil film was S. P. Jananathan's award-winning debut directorial "Iyarkai" (2003). "The Hindu" in its review noted that Kutty Radhika as the "impulsive, immature and obdurate Nancy looks just right for the role". Three of her four releases in 2005—"Rishi", "Masala" and "Auto Shankar"—featured her alongside another lead female character. Again in 2005 she appeared in Anna Thangi collaborating with the "Tavarige Baa Tangi" team, Shivrajkumar and Radhika again playing the elder brother and younger sister roles, respectively.


title: Radhika Kumaraswamy

text: The following year, she was again seen in five Kannada films and one Tamil film "Ulla Kadathal", that remains her last Tamil release. On her performance in "Hatavadi", Rediff.com's critic R. G. Vijayasarathy wrote: "Though this is essentially a Ravichandran film, it is to Radhika's credit that she stands up to a superb performance. Her emotions are perfect and she is presented very well on screen". After the long-delayed devotional film "Navashakthi Vaibhava" (2008), that featured her as a goddess alongside eight other lead actresses she went on a 5-year hiatus.


title: Radhika Kumaraswamy

text: Radhika has also worked as a film distributor and producer. She has acquired the distribution rights of her own film "Anatharu" (2007), co-starring Upendra and Darshan. In 2008, she bought the rights of her film "Ishwar", which was launched in 2007 as "Narasimha", and revived it, although she was unsuccessful in releasing it. She later established a production studio named Shamika Enterprises, named after her daughter, and produced the film "Lucky", starring Ramya and Yash.


title: Radhika Kumaraswamy

text: In 2013, she made a comeback to acting with "Sweety Nanna Jodi" which she also produced. With regards to her performance, Sify stated: "Radhika...is a treat to watch and has given a brilliant performance" while Rediff wrote: "Radhika looks ravishing and comes as a surprise for those who have watched her earlier films". Her Telugu mythological film "Avataram", by Kodi Ramakrishna released in 2014.


title: Radhika Kumaraswamy

text: Born in Tulu speaking family, Radhika reportedly married Ratan Kumar at the Sri Durga Parameshwari Temple, Kateel on 26 November 2000. In April 2002, Ratan Kumar filed a complaint, alleging that Radhika's father Devraj had abducted her as he feared that news of her marriage may "jeopardise her career". Only a few days later, Radhika's mother wanted the marriage to be annulled as Radhika was just 13 1/2 years old and said that Ratan Kumar had forcibly married her. Devraj further claimed that Ratan had tried to burn Radhika alive. Ratan Kumar died in August 2002, following a heart attack.


title: Radhika Kumaraswamy

text: In November 2010, Radhika revealed that she was married to H.D.Kumaraswamy, former chief Minister of Karnataka. According to Radhika, they married in 2006 and have a daughter named Shamika.


title: Dummy variable (statistics)

text: In regression analysis, a dummy variable (also known as indicator variable or just dummy) is one that takes the values 0 or 1 to indicate the absence or presence of some categorical effect that may be expected to shift the outcome. For example, if we were studying the relationship between gender and income, we could use a dummy variable to represent the gender of each individual in the study. The variable would take on a value of 1 for males and 0 for females.


title: Dummy variable (statistics)

text: Dummy variables are commonly used in regression analysis to represent categorical variables that have more than two levels, such as education level or occupation. In this case, multiple dummy variables would be created to represent each level of the variable, and only one dummy variable would take on a value of 1 for each observation. Dummy variables are useful because they allow us to include categorical variables in our analysis, which would otherwise be difficult to include due to their non-numeric nature. They can also help us to control for confounding factors and improve the validity of our results.


title: Dummy variable (statistics)

text: As with any addition of variables to a model, the addition of dummy variables will increases the within-sample model fit (coefficient of determination), but at a cost of fewer degrees of freedom and loss of generality of the model (out of sample model fit). Too many dummy variables result in a model that does not provide any general conclusions.


title: Dummy variable (statistics)

text: Dummy variables are useful in various cases. For example, in econometric time series analysis, dummy variables may be used to indicate the occurrence of wars, or major strikes. It could thus be thought of as a truth value represented as a numerical value 0 or 1 (as is sometimes done in computer programming).


title: Dummy variable (statistics)

text: Dummy variables may be extended to more complex cases. For example, seasonal effects may be captured by creating dummy variables for each of the seasons: D1=1 if the observation is for summer, and equals zero otherwise; D2=1 if and only if autumn, otherwise equals zero; D3=1 if and only if winter, otherwise equals zero; and D4=1 if and only if spring, otherwise equals zero. In the panel data fixed effects estimator dummies are created for each of the units in cross-sectional data (e.g. firms or countries) or periods in a pooled time-series. However in such regressions either the constant term has to be removed, or one of the dummies removed making this the base category against which the others are assessed, for the following reason:


title: Dummy variable (statistics)

text: If dummy variables for all categories were included, their sum would equal 1 for all observations, which is identical to and hence perfectly correlated with the vector-of-ones variable whose coefficient is the constant term; if the vector-of-ones variable were also present, this would result in perfect multicollinearity, so that the matrix inversion in the estimation algorithm would be impossible. This is referred to as the dummy variable trap.


title: Stepanakert

text: Stepanakert (, ), or Khankendi (, ), is the "de facto" capital and the largest city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, "de jure" part of Azerbaijan, located within the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The city is located in a valley on the eastern slopes of the Karabakh mountain range, on the left bank of the Karkar river.


title: Stepanakert

text: The area that would become Stepanakert was originally an Armenian settlement named "Vararakn". During the Soviet period, the city was made the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, becoming a hub for economic and industrial activity. In addition, the city became a hotbed for political activity, serving as the center for Armenian demonstrations calling for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Stepanakert suffered extensive damage following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the outbreak of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and passed into the hands of local Armenians with the establishment of the Republic of Artsakh.


title: Stepanakert

text: The city is a regional center of education and culture, being home to Artsakh University, musical schools, and a palace of culture. The economy is based on the service industry and has varied enterprises, food processing, wine making, and silk weaving being the most important. As of 2021, the population of Stepanakert is 75,000.


title: Stepanakert

text: Medieval Armenian sources attest to a settlement in the locale called "Vararakn" (). Vararakn remained the local Armenian name for the town until 1923.


title: Stepanakert

text: Most Azerbaijani sources claim that the settlement was built in late 18th century, as a place of rest for the heads of the Karabakh Khanate. In the first years, it was known as "Khan's village" () because only the khan's family and his relatives lived there. By the 19th century, the settlement was renamed "Khankendi" ("village of the khan" in Azerbaijani).


title: Stepanakert

text: The town was renamed "Stepanakert" ("city of Stepan") in 1923, after Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary Stepan Shahumian. The name is formed from the words "Stepan" () and "kert" ().


title: Stepanakert

text: According to medieval Armenian sources, the settlement was originally an Armenian village named Vararakn (). From the 10th-16th centuries, the settlement was a part of the Armenian Principality of Khachen. Over the centuries, it would successively pass into the hands of the meliks of Karabakh and the Karabakh khans before coming under the control of the Russian Empire in 1822.


title: Stepanakert

text: In the Russian Empire, the town was a part of the Shusha uezd of the Elizavetpol Governorate. According to the 19th century author Raffi, in 1826, the local Armenian meliks met with the Persian crown prince Abbas Mirza, who had invaded Karabakh with his army, in the village to reconcile relations with the Persians and ensure the safety of the Karabakh Armenian population. In 1847, Vararakn was a village of about 132 houses, consisting of 80 Armenian households, 52 Russian households, an Armenian church, and a cemetery. That same year, the village was renamed from Vararakn to Khankendi. By 1886, there were 52 houses in the settlement. The population of Khankendi consisted of retired soldiers and their descendants, who belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church. The population was engaged in agriculture, as well as various crafts, carriage, the renting of apartments (mainly to military personnel), and so on. After 1898, the tsarist government turned Khankendi into a Russian military garrison. The garrison consisted of barracks, hospitals, and a church, as well as, several houses where officers' families and a small local population, who supplied the military units with food, lived. The local population consisted of Armenians and Azerbaijanis.


title: Stepanakert

text: In February 1920, after a body thought to be of an Azerbaijani soldier was found, an anti-Armenian riot took place in the village that claimed several hundred lives. Following the massacre of the Armenian population of Shusha in March 1920, the city received an influx of Armenians; as a result, Armenians formed the majority of the population from that time onwards. In the summer of 1920, the city was occupied by part of the Red Army. In 1923, Khankendi was renamed Stepanakert by the Soviet government in honor of Stepan Shahumian, a fallen Bolshevik party member and leader of the 26 Baku Commissars. The former regional capital was Shusha. However, following the depopulation of Armenians in Shusha, the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was sited in Stepanakert. At the time of the formation of the NKAO, Stepanakert was a dilapidated settlement, where the number of surviving buildings barely reached 10 to 15. Some of the buildings were completely destroyed, others lacked doors and windows, while only walls remained from a number of buildings. During the first years of the oblast, some of the buildings were restored and many were rebuilt, roads were improved, and electricity and telephone communications were installed in the city. In time, Stepanakert grew to become the region's most important city (a status it received in 1940). Its population rose from 10,459 in 1939 to 33,000 in 1978.


title: Stepanakert

text: In 1926, municipal authorities adopted a new city layout designed by Aleksandr Tamanian; two additional designs for expansion were approved in the 1930s and 1960s, both of which retained Tamanian's initial plan. Several schools and two polyclinics were established, and an Armenian drama theater was founded in 1932 and named after Maxim Gorky. In 1960, the ensemble of the central square of Stepanakert was built with the building of the regional committee (now the NKR government). This square, then named after Lenin, became the arena of many rallies demanding the transfer of the NKAO to the Armenian SSR. By 1968, the first outbreak of ethnic violence occurred in Stepanakert. In the city, a trial was held over an Azerbaijani director of the city school who was accused of murdering an Armenian girl. The Armenians, who considered the verdict of the Azerbaijani judge too lenient, gathered outside the court building and burned the car in which the criminal and judge were in.


title: Stepanakert

text: Stepanakert served as Nagorno-Karabakh's main economic hub, and by the mid-1980s there were nineteen factories in operation in the city, including an electrical and asphalt plant. By the end of the Soviet era, Stepanakert had an agricultural technical school, a pedagogical institute, a medical and music school, a local history museum, and a drama theater.


title: Stepanakert

text: The political and economic reforms that General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev undertook in 1985 saw a marked decentralization of Soviet authority. Armenians, in both the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh, viewed Gorbachev's reform program as an opportunity to unite the two together. On 20 February 1988, tens of thousands of Armenians gathered to demonstrate in Stepanakert's Lenin Square (now Renaissance Square) to demand that the region be joined to Armenia. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to join the Armenian SSR, a move strongly opposed by the Soviet Azerbaijani authorities.


title: Stepanakert

text: Relations between Stepanakert's Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who supported the Azerbaijani government's position, deteriorated in the following years. Inter-ethnic strife in the city in September 1988, encompassing physical attacks and burning of property, forced nearly all Azerbaijanis to flee the city. The Soviet Army took up positions in the city and announced a curfew three days later. In 1990 the army dispatched special forces units and various other elements to Stepanakert in order to prevent its takeover by Azerbaijani forces.


title: Stepanakert

text: After Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Stepanakert was renamed Khankendi by the Azerbaijani government. Fighting broke out over control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which, after three years of war, resulted in Armenian control of the region and a connecting corridor to Armenia to the west. Prior to the conflict, Stepanakert was the largest city of the NKAO, with a population of 70,000 out of a total 189,000 (Armenians at the time comprised 75% of the region's total population). By early 1992, that figure had dropped to 50,000.


title: Stepanakert

text: During the war, the city suffered immense damage from Azerbaijani bombardment, especially in early 1992 when the Azerbaijanis positioned BM-21 Grad rocket artillery in Shusha and rained down missiles over Stepanakert. A journalist for "Time" noted in an April 1992 article that "scarcely a single building [had] escaped damage in Stepanakert." It was not until 9 May 1992, with the capture of Shusha, that the ground bombardment ceased. The city, nevertheless, continued to suffer aerial bombardment until the end of the war. As a result, the majority of the city was in a severely damaged state. As of 2016, the city had not been completely restored from the war.


title: Stepanakert

text: The city came under intense bombardment once again during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Residential areas were continuously hit by the Azerbaijani Army with cluster munitions throughout the war, starting on the first day of fighting, and residents were urged to use the city's bomb shelters. As Azerbaijani forces advanced on the city of Shusha, the Lachin corridor was shut down by Artsakh authorities.


title: Stepanakert

text: With Azerbaijani forces from the capital, a ceasefire agreement was signed on 10 November. As part of the agreement, Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region. Following the war, the population of Stepanakert swelled to 75,000 residents as a result of some 10,000 to 15,000 displaced people who lost their homes elsewhere in the Republic of Artsakh during the war.


title: Stepanakert

text: The city has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa") according to the Köppen climate classification system and a semi-arid climate ("BS") according to the Trewartha climate classification system. In the month of January, the average temperature drops to . In August, it averages around .


title: Stepanakert

text: During the period of the USSR, Stepanakert served as the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, between 1923 and 1991. With the self-declared independence of Artsakh in 1991, Stepanakert continued with its status as the political and cultural centre of the newly established republic, being home to all the national institutions: the Government House, the National Assembly, the Presidential Palace, the Constitutional Court, all ministries, judicial bodies and other government organizations.


title: Stepanakert

text: Artsakh is a presidential democracy since the 2017 constitutional referendum. The Prime Minister's post was abolished and the executive power now resides with the President, who is both the head of state and head of government. The president is directly elected for a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. The current President is Arayik Harutyunyan. On 19 July 2012, Sahakyan was re-elected for a second term. He was again re-elected to a third term on 19 July 2017.


title: Stepanakert

text: The National Assembly is a unicameral legislature. It has 33 members who are elected for five-year terms.


title: Stepanakert

text: According to the data of the Transcaucasian Statistical Committee, extracted from the family lists of 1886, there were 71 houses and 279 residents registered in Khankendi (recorded as Ханкенды, "Khankendy" in Russian), of which 276 were Russians, 2 Armenians and 1 Tatar (later known as Azerbaijani), who were respectively Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian and Sunni Muslim by religion. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897, the village, labelled as Khan-kendy (), had a population of 1,495 consisting of 801 men and 694 women; there were 628 Armenian Apostolics, 442 Muslims, and 394 Orthodox.


title: Stepanakert

text: According to the 1910 publication of the "Caucasian Calendar"—a statistical almanac published by the office of the viceroy—there were 362 residents in the village of Khankendy of the Shusha uezd of the Elizavetpol Governorate in 1908, predominantly Russians. The 1912 publication of the "Caucasian Calendar" registered 1,076 residents, also predominantly Russians. According to the 1915 publication of the "Caucasian Calendar", there were 1,550 predominantly Tatar residents in Khankendi. According to the Azerbaijani agricultural census of 1921, Khankendi had a population of 1,208 residents, mostly Armenians. In 1973, Stepanakert had a population of 32,000.


title: Stepanakert

text: The late-19th-century church of Vararakn was destroyed in the 1930s to build the Stepanakert Drama Theatre. Throughout the rest of the Soviet era, there were no traditional churches in Stepanakert, although most of the population of the city were members of the Armenian Apostolic Church.


title: Stepanakert

text: The church of Surp Hakob (or "Saint James") was opened in 2007; it remained the only open church in the city until 2019. The church was financed by Nerses Yepremian from Los Angeles. The church was consecrated on 9 May 2007, in honor of the 15th anniversary of the capture of Shusha by Armenian forces.


title: Stepanakert

text: The construction of the Holy Mother of God Cathedral was launched on 19 July 2006. The cost of the project was expected to be around US$2 million and the architect of the church is Gagik Yeranosyan. However, the construction process was slow due to a lack of financial resources. The inauguration of the church was expected to take place in September 2016. Construction finished and the church was opened in 2019.


title: Stepanakert

text: There is a small community of Armenian Evangelicals with around 500 members. The only Armenian evangelical church in Artsakh is located in Stepanakert. The Evangelical community supports many schools, hospitals and other institutions through the help of the Armenian Diaspora.