Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules

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WASHINGTON (CNN) --The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that child rapists cannot be executed, concluding capital punishment is reserved for murderers.

Patrick Kennedy, 43, was on Louisiana's death row after being convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

The ruling stemmed from the case of Patrick Kennedy, who appealed the 2003 death sentence he received in Louisiana after being convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that "evolving standards of decency" in the United States forbid capital punishment for any crime other than murder.
"We conclude that, in determining whether the death penalty is excessive, there is a distinction between intentional first-degree murder on the one hand and nonhomicide crimes against individual persons, even including child rape, on the other," wrote Anthony Kennedy, who is of no relation to the convicted rapist.
Execution of Patrick Kennedy, the justice also wrote, would be unconstitutional on the grounds of the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Patrick Kennedy, 43, would have been the first convicted rapist since 1964 to be executed in a case in which the victim was not killed.
Kennedy was convicted of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter in her bed. The attack caused internal injuries and bleeding to the child, requiring extensive surgery, as well as severe emotional trauma, Louisiana prosecutors said.

Anthony Kennedy -- supported by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer -- wrote that the prohibition against cruel punishment derives its meaning from the "evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society."
"The rule of evolving standards of decency ... means that resort to the [death] penalty must be reserved for the worst of crimes and limited in its instances of application," the opinion read.
After a review of the "history of the death penalty for this and other nonhomicide crimes, current state statutes and new enactments, and the number of executions since 1964, we conclude there is a national consensus against capital punishment for the crime of child rape," Anthony Kennedy wrote.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent, saying, "The harm that is caused to the victims and to society at large by the worst child rapist is grave." He was supported by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
In his dissent, Alito wrote that the majority ruled against the death penalty "no matter how young the child, no matter how many times the child is raped, no matter how many children the perpetrator rapes, no matter how sadistic the crime, no matter how much physical or psychological trauma is inflicted and no matter how heinous the perpetrator's criminal record may be."
Lawyers for the defendant filed appeals repeatedly raising the issue of skin color, suggesting it may have been a factor in the broader political and legal debate over expanding capital crimes to include rape. Patrick Kennedy and the victim are both African-American.
Billy Sothern of the Capital Appeals Project cited Department of Justice statistics that all 14 rapists executed by Louisiana in the past 75 years or so were African-American. Nationwide from 1930 to 1964, nearly 90 percent of executed rapists were black, he said.
But the issue of race did not come up in oral arguments.
The high court has in recent years banned execution for the mentally retarded, underage killers and those deemed to have had an inadequate defense at trial.
U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 1976 and 1977 barred capital punishment for rape -- and by implication any other crime except murder. But Louisiana later passed a law allowing execution for the sexual violation of a child under 12. State lawmakers argued that the earlier high court cases pertained only to "adult women."
Florida, Montana, Oklahoma and South Carolina have death-penalty laws for rape, but have not applied them in decades. Texas enacted a version a year ago, but no defendant has been designated death-eligible for child rape in any state but Louisiana.
No one has been executed for rape in the United States since 1964. Other state and federal crimes theoretically eligible for execution include treason, aggravated kidnapping, drug trafficking, aircraft hijacking and espionage. None of these crimes have been prosecuted as a capital offense in decades, if ever.
Supporters of Louisiana's law say that besides murder, no crime is more deserving of the death penalty than child rape, and the punishment would be used only in the most heinous of circumstances.

Death penalty opponents contend, among other things, that it could give attackers a reason to murder their victims. In Wednesday's ruling, Anthony Kennedy agreed, writing, "A state that punishes child rape by death may remove a strong incentive for the rapist not to kill the victim."
Patrick Kennedy was recently joined on Louisiana's death row by another convicted child rapist, Richard Davis. Davis' legal appeals have barely begun, but his case, along with Kennedy's, will be sent back for resentencing in light of the ruling.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/25/scotus.child.rape/

This enrages me.
 
This shows why conservatives feel the Supreme Court is the most important battle for the future of the country.
 
:sl:
What I don't get is it's fine to kill enemy soldiers, but not a child rapist?

It used to be fun pointing out the hypocrisy/bullcrap of society....not anymore.
 
Is it really necessary to kill someone who is a criminal and done wrong. i mean is the only way of punishment by killing them? and wouldnt that come as murder?

i mean i understand that the person is evil and that what they have don is beyond any doubt WRONG! but i am sure that there are other ways of punishing them rather than killing them and plus who are we to judge who has the right to live or die? isnt that interfering with Allah swt judgement or trying to more like. not that we will be able to interfer with anything of His unless Allah swt wills.
 
:salamext:

^ Islam allows killing in certain conditions. It's in the Shari'ah. But you should not go beyond what the other person has wronged you.
 
:salamext:

^ Islam allows killing in certain conditions. It's in the Shari'ah. But you should not go beyond what the other person has wronged you.

Agreed. We did execute a child rapist who murdered a child in Florida, but that was because there was a murder charge attached to it. But for rape, this is usually punishable as a form of assault. The Catholic Church paid a small fortune in settlements to the victims of the pedophile priests, and the victims themselves considered this to be an acceptable arrangement. I know what rape is like, but even if the state produced that man, I would not order his execution over it.

The Ninth Scribe
 
Good, a move in the right direction. Hopefully someday the death penalty will be abolished in the US and then, the world.
 
Agreed. We did execute a child rapist who murdered a child in Florida, but that was because there was a murder charge attached to it. But for rape, this is usually punishable as a form of assault. The Catholic Church paid a small fortune in settlements to the victims of the pedophile priests, and the victims themselves considered this to be an acceptable arrangement. I know what rape is like, but even if the state produced that man, I would not order his execution over it.

The Ninth Scribe

if you dont mind me asking under the ninth scribe is that hebrew writing? and what is the 9th scribe?

ma salama.
 
if you dont mind me asking under the ninth scribe is that hebrew writing? and what is the 9th scribe?

ma salama.

Wow, not many people ask that question. It is old Hebrew... it reads:

Love is as Strong as Death ~ Remember me.

It's what my angel always tells me before he leaves. Now, my angel used to be a scribe and the 9th scribe is just a game of numbers. The number 9 has a behavioral quirk to it, in that every time you multiply it with another number, it always comes back to itself, like this:

9 x 2 = 18 (1 + 8 = 9)
9 x 3 = 27 (2 + 7 = 9)
9 x 4 = 36 (3 + 6 = 9)
9 x 5 = 45 (4 + 5 = 9)

So this is just a mathematical expresson of a scribe who remains himself, no matter how many times he's been multiplied forward by the generations. Kind of like the statement, The Beginning is the End. It's not to be taken seriously, it's just an odd form of poetic license. He's weird like that.

The Ninth Scribe
 
Wow, not many people ask that question. It is old Hebrew... it reads:

Love is as Strong as Death ~ Remember me.

It's what my angel always tells me before he leaves. Now, my angel used to be a scribe and the 9th scribe is just a game of numbers. The number 9 has a behavioral quirk to it, in that every time you multiply it with another number, it always comes back to itself, like this:

The Ninth Scribe

Your angel?????? :?
ummm who is ur angel?
 
Your angel?????? :?
ummm who is ur angel?

His name is Azra'el. He is NOT the Angel of Death. He describes himself as Ezra, the son of Sariah, a scribe who lived 2500 years ago.

He turns up in my dreams frequently.

The Ninth Scribe
 
His name is Azra'el. He is NOT the Angel of Death. He describes himself as Ezra, the son of Sariah, a scribe who lived 2500 years ago.

He turns up in my dreams frequently.

The Ninth Scribe

:omg: okaaay.

hmmmm well i have nothing to say to that at least you know an angel i guess. :)
 
Of course the punishment should fit the crime. While all sexual abuse of children(in whatever forms they take) is an obviously terrible crime, there are some cases, as the case the Supreme Court looked at for this decision, when the punishment of death seems quite appropriate. The death penalty is not something I take lightly, but the details of this case are worse than some murders I've seen described.

Just to be blunt without detail, the victim required surgery to repair the damage
 
Wow, not many people ask that question. It is old Hebrew... it reads:

Love is as Strong as Death ~ Remember me.

It's what my angel always tells me before he leaves. Now, my angel used to be a scribe and the 9th scribe is just a game of numbers. The number 9 has a behavioral quirk to it, in that every time you multiply it with another number, it always comes back to itself, like this:

9 x 2 = 18 (1 + 8 = 9)
9 x 3 = 27 (2 + 7 = 9)
9 x 4 = 36 (3 + 6 = 9)
9 x 5 = 45 (4 + 5 = 9)

So this is just a mathematical expresson of a scribe who remains himself, no matter how many times he's been multiplied forward by the generations. Kind of like the statement, The Beginning is the End. It's not to be taken seriously, it's just an odd form of poetic license. He's weird like that.

The Ninth Scribe
It doesn't work with every number.
Its true though that every number multiplied by 9 will have a sum of factors divisible by 9.
 
It doesn't work with every number.
Its true though that every number multiplied by 9 will have a sum of factors divisible by 9.

Post one that doesn't, and you add the sums together, you don't divide them. :)

Divide and Subtract are trouble makers whether it's with numbers or people. In a philosophical sense, you multiply to add to your numbers. You divide to take them away.

The Ninth Scribe
 
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Post one that doesn't, and you add the sums together, you don't divide them. :)

The Ninth Scribe
11 × 9 = 99; 9 + 9 = 18; 18 : 9 = 2

1216123612 × 9 = 10 945 112 508; 1 + 9 + 4 +5 + 1+ 1 + 2 + 5 + 8 = 36; 36 : 9 = 4

What I meant is that if you multiply any number with nine and add up its factors you'll get a number that can be divided by 9.
 
11 × 9 = 99; 9 + 9 = 18; 18 : 9 = 2

1216123612 × 9 = 10 945 112 508; 1 + 9 + 4 +5 + 1+ 1 + 2 + 5 + 8 = 36; 36 : 9 = 4

What I meant is that if you multiply any number with nine and add up its factors you'll get a number that can be divided by 9.

That's using division for the last set.

It's supposed to go: 9 + 9 = 18 (1 + 8 = 9)

You always add the sums from other sums.

1 + 9 + 4 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 5 + 8 = 36 (3 + 6 = 9)

The Ninth Scribe
 
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That's using division for the last set.


It's supposed to go: 9 + 9 = 18 (1 + 8 = 9)

You always add the sums from other sums.

The Ninth Scribe
Ooops, you got me there.:-[ I shouldve looke better.

No, wait.., it's fine.
it's logical, when you look at it. Any number divisible by 9 will have s um of factors divisible by 9, and that sum will also have a sum of factors divisble by nine and it goes on until you come to nine.
 
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Ooops, you got me there.:-[ I shouldve looke better.

No, wait.., it's fine.
it's logical, when you look at it. Any number divisible by 9 will have s um of factors divisible by 9, and that sum will also have a sum of factors divisble by nine and it goes on until you come to nine.

Well the beauty of the mathematical expression is in it's forward motion. There is no division or subtraction used in this little diddy of his. You just multiply the 9, to any number, and then add the sets of sums. It's flawless, so I included it in my screen name ~ but I never dreamt anyone would ever ask what it meant :)

The Ninth Scribe
 
Well the beauty of the mathematical expression is in it's forward motion. There is no division or subtraction used in this little diddy of his. You just multiply the 9, to any number, and then add the sets of sums. It's flawless, so I included it in my screen name ~ but I never dreamt anyone would ever ask what it meant :)

The Ninth Scribe
It's all about divisibility though, not that that make it any less fascinating.
does the hebrew inscription also hold any peculiar mathematical properties?
 
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