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Supreme Court bans death penalty for child rape

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The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday the death penalty cannot be imposed for child rape, its first decision in more than 30 years on whether a crime other than murder can be punished by execution.

In a 5-4 vote, the court said the law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in cases of child rape violates the U.S. 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.

Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter in Louisiana. He is one of two people in the United States, both in Louisiana, who have been condemned to death 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.

Forty-five states ban the death penalty for any kind of rape, and the other five states allow it for child rapists. Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas allow executions in such cases if the defendant had previously been convicted of raping a child.

End of AP/MSNBC Article excerpt
Photo: Wikipedia

I'm gonna get some flack for saying this, but I agree with the decision, the DP should only be used in extreme instances.
current89

139 responses // Supreme Court bans death penalty for child rape

  • watch this comment being used here, here and here
    I agree, I think castration is a far better punishment.
    Egnatius212
    2 responses to this
  • That might help keep victims alive?
    Marilynn_Murray
  • how about pharmacuetical castration? but who would regulate the criminals 2 make sure they would take the drugs? how about letting the victims parents pick the punishment 4 the criminals? im sure they would like 2 have some say about how 2 treat the bastads!!!!!!!!
    owner1
  • How ridiculous! Raping a child is worth death!
    shroomfairy
    4 responses to this
  • http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Deat...
    This is a Map of where the Death penalty is legal, and where it is illegal.

    102 Nations have banned the penalty (Blue,Green),and another 34(orange) have not used the Penalty within the past ten years. The European Union, South America, Canada, Mexico, Australia and South Africa are the major nations/unions/areas. in which the Death Penalty is banned.

    Japan and the United States are the only western powers not to have banned the penalty.
    recommended by  uroborus8
    current89
    1 response to this
  • I disagree with teh court's decision on this; when you rape a child, you might as well have murdered them for you have permanently damaged their soul (as if you had murdered them).
    barkway
    3 responses to this
  • Those that harm children are the lowest of the low even in the prison system. Men who beat woman and kill men think that a person that touches a child is horrible and deal with them accordingly.

    I think it's amazing if they survive within the prison. Sending them is a death sentence.
    J_Jammer
    4 responses to this
  • I read that one of the arguments against the death penalty in child rape cases is that a pedophile, might be encouraged to kill the child, if the penalty for rape is the same as murder.
    joshuaheller
    4 responses to this
  • The death penalty, like abortion is a difficult issue for me. Part of me would like ppl to pay the ultimate price for such heinous crimes, but when I think it through, as a moral issue, I'm left with the consciousness that it's not my place to take a life, for any reason. Maybe it's a Christian thing, but 'let he who has not sinned, cast the first stone' is more meaningful to me than 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'. It's interesting that we're one of two Western powers that have not given it up -- it's another illustration of our similarity with the other troglodytic, fundamentalist regimes of the world...
    shelchak
    6 responses to this
  • The death penalty should be illegal for every crime. Civilized societies should not condone killing. The death penalty makes every citizen a participant in murder.
    uroborus8
    4 responses to this
  • It's pretty simple to me, nobody has the right to choose who lives or dies.

    If you kill somebody, you're STILL A KILLER, doesn't matter what color uniform you wear.

    A child rapist will suffer much worse in the prison system anyway. Humans are social animals, so isolation is much worse than a quick easy painless death.

    You're not God, and neither is the Sherriff.

    America is so blood thirsty.
    I'm NOT impressed with about 90% of all posts on this thread.

    I'm surprised frankly.
    onechance
    4 responses to this
  • Hopefully this is a step in the right direction for this country to finally ban the use of the death penalty and show the rest of the world we're actually on the way to becoming a civil society.
    onechance
    5 responses to this
  • It's unfortunate that we even have to make decisions on this matter. It's sickening to think some people are so messed up in the head that they would even rape a child. I guess I've never really thought too much about the subject of the death penalty, I try not to worry about things that are out of my control, that might be a naive perspective but I don't want to get all worked up.

    Of course, if someone raped one of my relatives or anyone I knew that was a child, my first instinct would probably be "I want them dead." Is it right to want that? I don't really know. I'm up in the air on this subject. As long as they get what they deserve in one way or another, it's okay with me :)

    I also agree with castration.
    matthewandrewdrake
    2 responses to this
  • I guess it depends on how you look at the law. If you think of it as punishment, there is no punishment that is enough for this crime. If you think of it like I do, it is supposed to be for making sure that this person will never again be able to do it again to another child. The problem is, people are crazy enough to let these guys out again to do it all over again. If you are not going to execute them, then at least have the decentcy to lock them up forever! DO NOT LET THEM OUT EVER AGAIN! When you hear stories about a man who rapes a girl and then cuts her arms off and throws her out of a moving car, and then he gets out and does it again, I have to ask how crazy are we to allow that to happen? Our kids look to us for protection from these guys and we are failing! I really dont believe in the death penalty but I have to agree that at least John Wayne Gacy isnt going to do it again and neither is Ted Bundy. It makes me sick when I watch shows like AMW and the story always goes that we knew he did things like that and we let him go and now we are looking for him again.
    needu
    2 responses to this
  • i think the rapist should be put in prison and get raped by every inmate every dy 24/7 for however long his sentence is for!!
    jlybean
  • I'm not sure why everyone doesn't agree with the death penalty here, especially with the way our current system works. The same liberal judges who vote in favor of the rapists are the same liberal judges who vote to get them out of prison because of so called "rehabilitation". It seems no one thinks of the victim here.
    shadowtrekker
  • Have you ever heard what happens to child rapists in prison? Fate worse than death, that's for sure!
    egarlow
    1 response to this
  • Wow, I never thought I'd find myself agreeing with the conservative justices. If there's any crime I can think of that would warrant the death penalty, it's raping a child.
    sgwhites
  • if murderers, rapists, pedophiles, etc... are allowed to get out because of "rehabilitation" and they commit the crime again, then they along with the people who let them out should be put in prison for life, at least for life.

    this means another murder, another rape, another molestation of a child that could have been prevented, has again for the second time occurred by people that are obviously monstrously out of their mind. So who are these lawmakers that work to get these monsters out? at that point I think it's the lawmakers to blame, the criminals have already been proven guilty the first time.
    shadowtrekker
  • Re: "I disagree with teh court's decision on this; when you rape a child, you might as well have murdered them for you have permanently damaged their soul (as if you had murdered them)."

    WOW! I'm not sure you really mean this. Many rape victims go on to lead wonderful and productive lives and serve as an example that the human soul is not ever beyond repair. They certainly would not be better off dead. The death penalty is never useful and only serves to fufill the all too human need for revenge. What alarms me is the supreme court justices who voted in favour of the DP. Have all the wrongful executions proved nothing to these well educated individuals?
    estar
    1 response to this
  • It's amazing to see so many people thinking that they(or the Government) should have the legal power to kill someone., taking away a life is much more serious then people think it is, when you end a life you end it for good.

    As I've stated before, I stand with the majority of Nations, You can stand with Iran, China, Saudi Arabia and others, however I'm not willing to support such said nations, nor am I willing to support such a barbaric form of punishment.
    current89
    1 response to this
  • Life w/o parole in a maximum security facility is a living death penality. Not that it should make a difference, but it is more cost effective. These "people" will never be cured. The death penalty is too quick and painless. They should be made to suffer on the level of suffering that they have caused.
    bluestranger
  • I think if you have kids your opinion would be different.
    Jesse_Khaos
  • I'm against death penalty in general, but the idea of this makes me queasy. Torture and rape are one in the same, and in my mind a hundred times worse than death, and more deserving of the death penalty than murder. Well...at least it's a step in the right direction.
    PoisonTheMonkey
  • Ya if someone touched my kid either the judges are going to kill the piece of shit or i am.
    clayjj05
  • Once again we see the Pro-Lifers.....insisting on killing someone!

    Capital punishment is not an effective deterrent nor is it a morally defensible position.

    Because what if we "make that sumbitch pay!" and it turns out -- oops! -- we got the wrong guy?

    Then what?

    Do we kill the judges who ordered the wrong man killed to be killed as punishment?

    Do we kill the lawyers who prosecuted the wrong man?

    Surely the family of the man whowas wrongfully murdered by the State deserves THEIR justice, right? If we abide by the Conservative Code of "Kill'em All!" then the lawyers and the judges must be murdered.

    Doesn't sound like a great system to me.

    I'm confused as to why it always seems to be the Pro-Life judges that are obsessed with killing and torture. They want prisoners murdered and they want POW's beaten with tire irons -- and it doesn't bother them for a minute that they might be exacting this vengence on innocent people (as has been the case with many POW's we've released and the shocking number of prisoners we executed who later turned out to be innocent).
    crob80227
    4 responses to this
  • Millions of children each year are being trafficked, sold and sexually exploited throughout the world and the US Supreme Court should be well aware of this huge industry as well as the amount of child rape court cases. If enacting the death penalty for cases of child rape violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment, then guarantee a prison cell, child rapists obviously can't live in society without being a danger/threat.

    And hey, if the US Supreme Court is so concerned not to violate the constitution. . . Guantanamo Bay may have some extra space.
    Moopak
  • watch this comment being used here, here, here and here
    I dont get why you people are so compassionate towards people who abuse children, but show no mercy to the first second and third trimester babies.

    If you guys would kill a seven month old baby in a partial birth abortion why wouldnt you kill someone who molests a child?
    clayjj05
    6 responses to this
  • Another point to think about:

    I doubt the Conservative judges would EVER allow the judge who ordered an innocent man to be executed to be killed for his mistake -- so what does that tell you about the values placed on the lives of "the State" verses the value of "the people."

    In my humble opinion this seems to illustrat the hypocrisy of so-called small government Conservatives who claim that they want to depower the government and empower individuals.

    What are they doing in this example? Empowering the government and depowering the individual.

    It's the liberals who are saying, "Let's limit the power of government and prevent them from ordering the execution of citizens for this particular crime."

    It's the Conservative judges who are making the case that the power of government MUST be expanded so that the State can kill the citizens as it sees fit.

    And if the State makes a mistake and executes an innocent man?

    Would those Conservative judges allow vengence, er, justice to run equally in both directions?

    If you accidentally execute the wrong man wouldn't it be logical that the judge and lawyer should be executed for their mistake?

    No.

    The State gets to get away with a shrug of the shoulders and a mumbled "Sorry dude" to the family and that's it.

    The lives of the State? Too valuable to kill.

    The lives of civilians? Expendable.

    Seems to me if you want more freedom and safety from government, well, you better start voting Democratic.
    crob80227
    1 response to this
  • The proper question isn't "Would you want to kill somebody if they raped your child"... Of course you would, there is obvious bias. The right question is "Would you want to kill somebody who raped *you* as a child?" This is the foundation of all justice... Justice for the victim, not for the victims parents. What would you want *as the victim*?
    closetgeek
  • At first I was disgusted by this. If anyone should get the death penelty it should be people who rape children. Then, I realized that this is just a step in the right direction to ban the death penelty. What would be an even better step is if we took the time to look at our society and ask why these crimes are being committed.
    samanthadian
  • also, if the death penalty is the appropriate punishment for raping a child, then why not rape and then kill them? What would the punishment be then? Why let them live to tell the story? I see death for rape as a danger to victims, not protection.
    closetgeek
  • I say we keep them in general population, let them get raped (1. it will prob. happen any way and 2. the AIDs rate is really high in prison) and once they have AIDs we find the cure....it makes evil kiddy touchers more useful
    Meaghan1126
    2 responses to this
  • murky waters indeed...raping children is definitely cruel & unusual, but i suppose an eye for an eye makes the world a bunch of blind idiots that can't interpret the constitution's gray areas to help serve the greater good.
    blackdaylight
  • I'm not entirely sure what to think of this.

    Raping a child is possibly the worst thing an average human being could ever do, but on the other hand, we do not have any right to decide who lives and who dies.

    So long as they get life in prison for scarring the poor child, I suppose this is okay.
    ShadesOfInsanity