In mainstream analytical political philosophy and popular political discourse, the justness of a society is usually determined by how its citizens, ordinarily it’s non-criminal citizens, are treated. What I argue in my dissertation is that an important indicator of the justness of a society is how its criminals are treated. Specifically, a minimally just society is one that respects its criminals moral right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. What does this moral right consist in and why is its recognition by a society relevant to how just that society is? I take up these questions in the project. I also argue that, given the elucidation of the moral right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment that I offer, the U.S. is it not a minimally just society. Its incarceration law and practices of punishment fail to adequately protect the moral right of its criminals to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. I received a J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law in 2023, B.A. from University of Rochester in 2018 and completed two years of community college, which I still consider to be the most fruitful intellectual experience I have had.