Supreme Court bans death penalty for child rape

[babylonsister]

Court bans death penalty for child rape
Posted June 25, 2008 10:50 AM
The Swamp

By James Oliphant



A divided Supreme Court Wednesday slammed the door on expanding the death penalty to cover violent crimes that do not result in the death of the victim, overturning a Louisiana law that permitted capital punishment for child rapists.

In the 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court held that the law violated the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Allowing the execution of child rapists, Kennedy wrote, runs counter to "evolving standards of decency in a maturing society."

Kennedy said that the court and society has an interest in limiting the application of the death penalty, and noted that 44 states currently prohibit the execution of defendants who are convicted of crimes where a death did not occur.

The case involved Patrick Kennedy, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1998 rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter. The girl was badly injured in the assault and required surgery.

more...

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/06/court_bans_death_penalty_for_c.html

[aikoaiko]

1. For some cases, its too bad that they can't be put to death.

eta: But I understand why people are against the death penalty in all cases.

[ccharles000]

2. Good.

[sharesunited]

3. Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas dissented.

They are a menace to society of an entirely different kind.

[question everything]

4. We need justices who are not blood thirsty

We need justices who look carefully and deliberately at any case where the state is taking the life of anyone - regardless of how a monster he is. Justices who are willing to err on the side of conviction. This, always, has been the basis of our penal code.

This rule barely passed, 5 to 4.