8th Amendment to the Constitution of the US: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted".

The contradiction is not of theory and practice. It works at a much more fundamental level. It is the contradiction of pre-war and post-war. It is the contradiction of human ethics and the lack of them.
"What we have here..is failure to communicate."
-Srother Martin, Cool Hand Luke