Supreme Court rejects death penalty for raping children

[kpete]

Supreme Court rejects death penalty for raping children
By Associated Press | Uncategorized | Wednesday, 25 June 2008

The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child.

In a 5-4 vote, the court said the Louisiana law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in such cases violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion. His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented.

There has not been an execution in the United States for a crime that did not also involve the death of the victim in 44 years.

Developing…
http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/25/supreme-court-rejects-death-penalty-for-raping-children/

[NightWatcher]

1. yay, now let the bastard spend the rest of his time in prison

no other child will be harmed by this guy. This is what justice is for (incapacitation)

[fasttense]

2. Strange ruling by this supreme court.

You can give a mentally handicapped person the death penalty but not a child rapists. I don't get it.

Could it be because so many republicans like little boys?

[Winterblues]

3. A seventeen year old boy can be convicted of raping a child if he has sex

with his fifteen year old girlfriend. You think he should get death?

[Oregone]

5. I don't...

But its possible he will get a VD if she sleeps around.

[Oregone]

4. You don't get it?

Why would there be perfect consistency and logic involved with an illogical concept such as the death penalty?

[iamthebandfanman]

6. oh my

i thought they ruled you couldnt execute mentally handicapped people? or atleast they did back in 2002. has that changed?

[sharp_stick]

9. You can't

It is unconstitutional to execute the menally handicapped but States that enjoy executing people are working hard to test their prisoners in ways to prove that they have an IQ of 71 so they can strap em down.

[iamthebandfanman]

10. i cant say thats suprising. n/t

[MiniMe]

11. It makes sense to me, the death penalty is only imposed in a case where there is a death

If the child dies, then they can go after the death penalty. I think that when child rapists get to prison, the other prisoners are disgusted by the act too.

As far as the mentally ill, the question is always if they are competent to stand trial. I think that is where the fight is, finding the "right" doctor. The defense gets a lawyer to say the person is mentally ill and the prosecutor finds somebody who will say they are sane. Who does the judge and jury believe?

[cbc5g]

7. A brighter day will come when..

The death penalty is gone .. non violent drug users are liberated from prison and these sick rapists and murderers are stuck in prison for good.

[iamthebandfanman]

8. good

nobody deserves an easy exit like death.
make 'em squirm in a small jail cell 23 hours a day for the rest of their life.

trust me, theyll die anyway.

[Mandate My Ass]

12. *and* they'll know what it feels like to be helpless prey

child molesters are marked men in prison.

[redqueen]

13. We need to ban the death penalty for everything.

How long are we going to lag behind the rest of the civilized world?

[varkam]

14. I am quite surprised.

I was thinking that it was going to be a split decision, but I thought that it was going to go the other way. In the end, I think the court made the right decision not to uphold DP for child rape in that it is counter-productive to the ends of deterrence.