This is now being reviewed by the Supreme Court. I'd like to add my two cents worth and say yes.


WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether a state can execute someone convicted of raping a child, one of the few remaining crimes that does not require the death of the victim to result in capital punishment.
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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A Liberal is a Man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel (Robert Frost 1874-1963).

If I had to guess, I think the SC will strike down the capital punishment statute as cruel and unusual punishment.

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The Lone Ranger of the AWE liberal elitists.....who was that masked man???

And now, I'm the Elitist of liberal Elitists...

I'm all in favor of the death penelty...but only for murderers, and those involved in a crime that results in the death of another.

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If you want change stop electing "liberal: democrats and "radical" Republicans. Find and support true Conservatives; those who believe in fiscal responsibilities, individual accountability, and a smaller government, with less control of your daily life.

I say save the tax payers some money and put him in general population and make sure that all of the guys with kids in there know what the guy did.

Gets kind of iffy for me.

Some asshole prosecutor is gonna seek the death penalty for a 19-20 year old sleeping with a 16-17 year old.


The Death Penalty is not to be thrown around lightly. I do agree, though that outright rape or molestation should either be immediate life with no parole, or some form of putting them to work for the Government. Perhaps growing food for the Military?

Death Penalty, Nah...

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"It is the Right of the People to alter or abolish the Government"
Declaration of Independence
"Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself."
Thomas Jefferson
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."
Milton Friedman

On reading that twice.

Is it not a bit humorous that a Sexual Deviant was named Kennedy?

__________________
"It is the Right of the People to alter or abolish the Government"
Declaration of Independence
"Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself."
Thomas Jefferson
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."
Milton Friedman

A pervert raping a 8 year old step-child,,,? Ok S/N, let's let it live. What happens when it gets a parole? After its been properly "rehabilitated"?

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A Liberal is a Man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel (Robert Frost 1874-1963).

If being raped at 8 years old,,, by your "Step-Father" doesn't count as a crime worthy of death,,,just what are your personal standards Teak?

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A Liberal is a Man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel (Robert Frost 1874-1963).

Mind you all now....I'm asking these questions to sound you out on your personal outlooks.


I see an 8 year old child being raped by a 40 year old sleazy low-life S.O.B...I personally want to castrate to Bastard in a Public Square. With a rusty butcher knife...

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A Liberal is a Man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel (Robert Frost 1874-1963).

Gee, Real, I thought I stated them pretty clearly. But here they are again:

Murder, or the commission of a crime that leads to the death of another.

Granted, rape, at any age is a hideous crime, but if it does not result in a death, then capitol punishment is not warranted. Now life without parole, yeah, just so its served in the general population of a state prison.

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If you want change stop electing "liberal: democrats and "radical" Republicans. Find and support true Conservatives; those who believe in fiscal responsibilities, individual accountability, and a smaller government, with less control of your daily life.