Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules (OP)
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.
It's all about divisibility though, not that that make it any less fascinating.
does the hebrew inscription also hold any peculiar mathematical properties?
I don't think so. It's part of an actual record called the Song of Songs, except the "Remember me" part. I'm not sure where that comes from, but the whole passage read:
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for Love is as strong as Death.
I was going to have that tatooed on my arm, but the Jewish scholars went ballistic, and it led to a 4 month long debate. One that I lost because of this passage:
Deuteronomy 14:1 You are the sons of God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness on your heads on account of the dead.
On a weirder note, that incident led to the second time I read a passage that described the "sons of God" as men... and that, in turn, led me into a whole different debate. Like the math formula, one thing leads to another and it never seems to end. Sometimes, I feel like I'm just following a trail of bread crumbs.
The Ninth Scribe
Last edited by Ninth_Scribe; 06-26-2008 at 08:53 PM.
Re: Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules
i am against the death penalty mainly for 2 reasons.
there have been people who have sat in prison for decades for crimes they did not commit (including rape and murder) and eventually, through DNA testing, their innocence was proven and they were exonerated.
see here: http://www.innocenceproject.org/
the other reason is that our justice system is not always just. often there are different versions for rich and poor.
each man thinks of his own fleas as gazelles
question authority
Re: Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules
format_quote Originally Posted by Ninth_Scribe
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for Love is as strong as Death.
I was going to have that tatooed on my arm, but the Jewish scholars went ballistic, and it led to a 4 month long debate. One that I lost because of this passage:
Deuteronomy 14:1 You are the sons of God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness on your heads on account of the dead.
this is true - tatoos are forbidden in judaism, as is body piercing. i'm pretty sure that islam forbids both also.
btw, do you know hebrew?
each man thinks of his own fleas as gazelles
question authority
Re: Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules
format_quote Originally Posted by Eeman
Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!
someone is being a little unrealistic.
plus i do not think any law would allow that and im pretty sure that is not in shariah law either.
lol
ma salama brother.
How is that unrealistic? It happens in many countries parts of India, Pakistan and Afganistan. Also it was just a suggestion. I actually agree more with Shariah bury him half way and allow the families of victims to throw rocks on them.
Re: Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules
format_quote Originally Posted by Questfortruth
How is that unrealistic? It happens in many countries parts of India, Pakistan and Afganistan. Also it was just a suggestion. I actually agree more with Shariah bury him half way and allow the families of victims to throw rocks on them.
yeah but i mean is that really necessary?
in Afghanistan the taliban used to shoot women who were simply accused of commiting zina by their mother in laws.
Re: Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules
That is disgusting...
For the judge to think that the death penalty is excessive for rape is pathetic.
format_quote Originally Posted by Eeman
yeah but i mean is that really necessary?
in Afghanistan the taliban used to shoot women who were simply accused of commiting zina by their mother in laws.
Re: Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules
format_quote Originally Posted by Questfortruth
How is that unrealistic? It happens in many countries parts of India, Pakistan and Afganistan. Also it was just a suggestion. I actually agree more with Shariah bury him half way and allow the families of victims to throw rocks on them.
I heard women are buried up to the neck. Is this true?
Under Islamic law a male convict is buried up to the waist with his hands tied behind his back, while a female is usually buried up to her neck.
I don't know enough about that case to make a fair judgement. I've heard some pretty bad stuff about Iran and I do not know how well they follow Islamic law. I don't know how qualified their judge is in terms of sharia law nor do I know the social context of that country well enough to make any form of judgement. From what I have read, the semi burying is part of the punishment for adultery under Islam law (if one would like, I can explain to you why the punishment is so harsh)
Child rape (and rape in general) would come under adultery/zina. But, only the adult (or rapist) would come under punishment - not the victim. With that being said, the accused would have to go on trial and the opposition would have to 100% sway the judge that the accused was guilty - any doubt in the judges mind and he is not to hand out the hadd (aka harsh aka stoning etc) punishment. Thus, the Judge (or Qadi) has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and should not take any pleasure in handing this punishment out (infact, the way the islamic courts work is that the judge is on the accused side ergo innocent until proven guilty); it is a very harsh punishment for a very serious crime.
Someone said to the Prophet, "Pray to God against the idolaters and curse them." The Prophet replied, "I have been sent to show mercy and have not been sent to curse." (Muslim)
Re: Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules
format_quote Originally Posted by aamirsaab
I don't know enough about that case to make a fair judgement. I've heard some pretty bad stuff about Iran and I do not know how well they follow Islamic law. I don't know how qualified their judge is in terms of sharia law nor do I know the social context of that country well enough to make any form of judgement. From what I have read, the semi burying is part of the punishment for adultery under Islam law (if one would like, I can explain to you why the punishment is so harsh)
All I'm trying to find out is whether women are always buried deeper than men. If not, does it depend on the severity of the crime, can men too be buried to the neck?
Do the Quran and the hadiths say anything about semi-burial?
Under Islamic law a male convict is buried up to the waist with his hands tied behind his back, while a female is usually buried up to her neck.
OH so now you read from the dailymail:enough!: thats even worse,you know what i live in a country and society that stimulates rape like no business,i woke up today to have some breakfast and on the cereal box there's a naked women and for complete thirty minutes i was trying to figure out what has this naked women got to do with a cereal?
I looked at the justice system of britain regarding rape and sexual assault and i think its very just,because they stimulate rape and then they forgive or just be lenient with suspect,on that particular thing i think its very just LOL
Re: Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules
format_quote Originally Posted by Ahmedjunior
OH so now you read from the dailymail:enough!: thats even worse,you know what i live in a country and society that stimulates rape like no business,i woke up today to have some breakfast and on the cereal box there's a naked women and for complete thirty minutes i was trying to figure out what has this naked women got to do with a cereal?
I looked at the justice system of britain regarding rape and sexual assault and i think its very just,because they stimulate rape and then they forgive or just be lenient with suspect,on that particular thing i think its very just LOL
She was not naked, I am sure. 30 minutes, eh?
Look, if you can't answer my question, then don't reply at all.
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