The Eighth Amendment can be separated into two pieces: No excessive fines or bail, and no cruel and unusual punishment. The first piece has yet to be applied to the states through the process of Selective Incorporation.
No Cruel and Unusual Punishment
In the 1962 Supreme Court case Robinson v. California, the court ruled that laws imprisoning people who had addiction was cruel and unusual punishment. States could not punish someone because of their "status" of addiction.
The ruling of this case incorporated the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishments.
The ruling of this case incorporated the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishments.
What if?
If this part of the Eighth Amendment had not been incorporated, state governments would have the ability to inflict excessive, inhumane punishments such as various kinds of torture upon people believed to have committed crimes.