The Supreme Court narrowly ruled against a Louisiana law that would have applied the death penalty for people found guilty of child rape. The issue proportionality. Does the punishment fit the crime? From the American Constitution Society:
In Kennedy v. Louisiana, a split 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that, under the Eighth Amendment, the death penalty cannot apply to crimes against individuals that do not end with or intend the death of the victim. Specifically, the Court held the Constitution prohibits the death penalty for the crime of child rape where the crime did not, and was not intended to, end in the death of the child. After examining the practice of states and death penalty statistics and finding no support for pro-death penalty arguments, Justice Kennedy, writing for the Court, turned to precedent and the Court’s own judgment.
He reasoned that applying the death penalty would not balance the wrong done to the victim, noted the particular evidentiary problems with often-unreliable child testimony, and voiced the concern that applying the death penalty to non-murder crimes might cause the perpetrator to commit murder to hide the crime. The Court distinguished between crimes against the State (like treason) and crimes against individuals. Justice Samuel Alito authored the dissent, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia, and Justice Clarence Thomas.
The death penalty was the de facto punishment for many crimes in American history. Are we seeing support for further expansion?
More from the Associated Press.
