WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2008
Court To Rule On Executing Child Rapists
Supreme Court Will Review La. Law Allowing Death Sentence For Child Rapists
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Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter in Louisiana. He is the only person on death row in the United States for a rape that was not also accompanied by a killing.
The Supreme Court banned executions for rape in 1977 in a case in which the victim was an adult woman.
Kennedy's lawyers say the death penalty for child rape violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
The justices will hear arguments in the case in April.
The last executions for rape or any other crime that did not also include the victims' death were in 1964.
Forty-five states already ban the death penalty for any kind of rape and among the other five states that in theory allow it for child rapists. Kennedy's case is the only time a state has sought to execute someone. Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas allow executions in such cases.
The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the sentence. "Our state legislature and this court have determined this category of aggravated rapist to be among those deserving of the death penalty, and short of first-degree murder, we can think of no other non-homicide crime more deserving," Justice Jeffrey Victory wrote.
Chief Justice Pascal Calogero dissented, saying that with the possible exception of espionage or treason, "the Eighth Amendment precludes capital punishment for any offense that does not involve the death of the victim."
The child rape case is the second capital punishment case from Louisiana this term at the Supreme Court. The justices already are considering whether a prosecutor improperly excluded blacks from a jury and then inflamed the all-white panel with references to the O.J. Simpson case.
In addition, the court is weighing whether the way Kentucky executes prisoners by lethal injection - procedures similar to those used in three dozen states - violates the Constitution.
Kennedy was convicted in 2003 of raping his stepdaughter at their home in suburban New Orleans. The girl initially told police she was sorting Girl Scout cookies in the garage when she was assaulted by two boys.
Police arrested Kennedy a couple of weeks after the March 1998 rape, but more than 20 months passed before the girl identified him as her attacker.
His defense attorney at the time argued that blood testing was inconclusive and that the victim was pressured to change her story.
Kennedy's Supreme Court lawyers also called pointed out that Kennedy is black and that nearly 90 percent of people executed for rape in the United States were black. "This court should pause before condoning a practice so heavily tinged with the scourge of racism," Stanford University law professor Jeffrey Fisher, Kennedy's lead lawyer, said.
The state said the court should turn down the case because Louisiana law is narrowly tailored to apply only to people convicted of raping children younger than 12.
The case is Kennedy v. Louisiana, 07-343.
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See all 188 CommentsI don''t see any deterrent capability in getting a nice peaceful lethal injection. Most child rapists will not fear a punishment such as this.
No matter how much counseling they get--their lives will never be "normal".
The insult suffered from rape in childern interferes with their self esteem, confidence and trust.
Years of counseling will merely "get them past it" but a lifetime of "flashbacks" and recall will forever be with them.
Death is too good a punishment for these people for they are leaving behind a damaged child.
I''m not for this.
I wouldn''t want to stand before God and explain about when the first innocent was executed.
Same for murder cases. If you folks who bang the drum for capital punishment wan''t to risk your soul- go ahead.... But I''ll not participate.
Now my question is some people are filed as "child rapists" for sleeping with a 16 or 17 year old that KNEW what they were doing and it was perfectly consentual regardless of whether we think it''s wrong or right. Will they be included in this?
Castration could also be an effective punishment.
here we are dealing with human lust..take the lust away..CASTRATE THE FU CKER AT THE FIRST OFFENSE hence taking the lust away from the equation..
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good luck with that idea..ready to fight an army of angry bleeding heart liberals??
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Posted by MichelleM99 at 04:39 PM : Jan 04, 2008
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that is the problem..executing them unrealistic..locking them up ''for the rest of thier lives'' is unrealistic..there would come a time where the jails are busting at the seams and they very first ones they release are the *** crimes..CASTRATE THEM..its our insurance policy...CASTRATE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rape is a crime of brutal control over another person; for the pleasure of the offender, and not necessarily for sexual gratification. Reports indicate that castration DOES NOT control the psychological urges involved with rape. Removal of all the male genitalia would not solve that problem.
Folks yelling for castration, you need to become more informed about it.
China has an effective way of dealing with this. Upon conviction, the offender has an almost immediate bullet in the back of the head.
Those executions are always public, attended by large crowds, and serve as a reminder, %u201Cdon%u2019t do the crime if you can%u2019t do the time;%u201D or, in China%u2019s case, if you rape someone, and get convicted, you will very soon.
In the United States, each state has different laws regarding rape. There should be a better method of punishment. Life in prison might be too expensive a burden the taxpayers to pay.
A few days ago, a man in prison for 26+ years, was finally cleared by DNA evidence proving he did not commit the rape. In China, he would have already been dead.
Clearly, there needs to be a better way to deal with this type of crime and punishment.
Man you are one sick individual, you have lost it man!
One good thing from this post is the rest of us will now consider your words or posts nothing more than the rants and ravings of a lunatic.
NO, the Constitution does not preclude any such thing, what was allowed when it was written is still in force today.
It''s because of the courts placing themselves above the law that the people have to act in the interest of justice, however the people need to force these activist judges out.
Unless your joking, it is shocking that you consider an evil, vile & terrorizing act like child rape a petty offense!
Yet, you seem to be offended by jail justice? Maybe you missed the point?
Go rent the movie Short Eyes (Sean Penn) .. Even criminals have a line in the sand ... and most child molesters are dealt with by the inmates .. some are mortally wounded.
There would be no mistakes with DNA & Technology .. It would be nice if we dealt with such evil with public hangings,
most folks just can''t seem to deal with the reality of some other countries, but they are smart enough to eliminate thier society of such trash .. no human deserves to live if they dont respect life.
I concur with you Dakota ....
This article is about a CHILD RAPIST !!
To the avergae human, your position is certainly preposterous and untennable ...
Why don''t you let him come live with you and your family?
Your way out there dude.
Do you have a family? Maybe they can get you some help?
When you grow up and get a job maybe you will see why a majority of taxpayers dont like long prison sentences for scum like this .. this costs taxpayers and uses resources that could be better utilized rehabing someone who deserves it ...
myopic dude ... and WRONG
Ciao
"At most, rape should carry a fine and few days in jail unless it results in serious injuries."
He may possibly be predator himself and perpetrated. Don''t bother to argue with him. He obviously has no understanding of the ramifications of such a heinous act.
Perhaps tuckerndfw should spend time in a maximum security prison and experience rape. the mindset may change when he/she realizes that rape is not about ***. it''s about control. If it''s about ***, the rape shouldn''t occur. with the morals as low as tuckerndfw claims they are, then *** should be fairly easy to obtain, such as a prostitute. Children should not be subject to such an act and rape itself should not be punished with a mere slap on the wrist and a stern tongue lashing.....
Rape is a vile offense, much different that any other form of assault. It''s bad enough against an adult, but it is worthy of the death penalty when it involves a child.
The act of rape is performed by the weakest and most inferior of men on adult females, but when it involves children, the perpetrators are degenerate pedophiles, creating a horror of such magnitude for a child, that if the child lives, their life is ruined, a form of death. If they are killed, the process has to be one of unspeakable abomination.
Your equating child rape to any other assault, is based on lack of understanding for the precious innocence of childhood and societal disgust for such an offense. These individuals should be shot on the spot.
Let''s hope you don''t change your mind based on some such event happening to a child of importance in your life. The price of the lesson is too high, even for you.
"...or removed from society. "
Wouldnt putting a crimimal to death solve this? Or do you have another way that will not waste tax payers hard earnded money?
By Nancey
Thats why we can''t let history,,repeat itself,,,thats why the U.S. exsists today. regards
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