Not A Lawyer

In Louisiana a 41-year-old man sits on death row for the rape of a child. The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence amid cries that capital punishment for the crime of rape is cruel and unusual and goes against a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the death penalty for rape unconstitutional. However, in 1977 the Supreme Court wasn’t weighing the punishment for the rape of a child – that case involved the rape of an adult.

While rape in itself is a heinous crime, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the rape of an adult did not warrant the death penalty. Shortly they may have an opportunity to clarify their position, as the rape of a child is an entirely different circumstance.

In 2003 Patrick Kennedy was convicted of the brutal rape of an 8-year-old child while she was sorting Girl Scout cookies in the garage at her home. Kennedy was the girl’s stepfather, someone she should have been able to trust. He raped her and then bragged that he had made her a woman. The Louisiana court decided that the crime rose to the standard of aggravating circumstances and Kennedy was sentenced to die.

Had he been executed many people, including myself, would have felt justice had been served for his young victim. However, Kennedy is fighting for his life and his case may make it to the United States Supreme Court where a battle will be waged over exactly what the phrase “cruel and unusual” actually means.

“Cruel and usual” is one of those phrases often thrown around when people are trying to make a point about how unreasonable they feel something is. Much like the issue of free speech, it’s often misinterpreted and misunderstood.

To some people, the idea of putting a human being to death may seem cruel and unusual. However, in our society the death penalty is an acceptable punishment and has been found not to be cruel. In order to qualify as unusual, the court would have to single out one person or group of people and punish them specifically. This is not the case with the death penalty. While certain crimes warrant the death penalty, no specific race, gender or creed of people are specifically included or excluded from being sentenced to die. Therefore, while hard for some to stomach, the death penalty is not cruel or unusual punishment and courts are well within the bounds of the U.S. Constitution in ordering a prisoner to be put to death.

The death penalty has generally been reserved for people who have been convicted of murder. Society has generally accepted that the people convicted of the most brutal and horrifying murders should face the ultimate penalty and pay the price for their crimes with their lives. However, the public has not had an opportunity to digest that in some states, such as Louisiana, the courts have expanded the type of crime that they consider the worst of the worst to include child rapists and these people may also be put to death if convicted.
According to Law.com, Kennedy claims in his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court that his death sentence is not only cruel and unusual, but it is cruel and unique because he is currently the only person on death row for rape. Also unique about Kennedy’s sentence is that he had not previously been charged or convicted of the rape or sexual abuse of a child. In the other states that have laws allowing the death penalty for child rapists, the conviction must be at least the second conviction for the rape of a child to qualify for capital punishment.

Kennedy’s claim of being unique may not hold true for long. In Missouri, lawmakers say that a man with no previous sex crime convictions who is accused of kidnapping, raping, sodomizing, choking and assaulting a 7-year-old girl deserves to die if convicted of the crimes. In response to this case, legislation has been proposed that would allow the death penalty in Missouri for anyone convicted of the forcible rape of sodomy of a child under the age of 12.

In addition to Louisiana and the proposed legislation in Missouri, lawmakers in South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Montana and Florida have already passed laws allowing death sentences for child rapists. Texas is also considering similar legislation. These legislators are attempting to send a clear message to pedophiles that child rape is just as serious a murder and will be punished accordingly.

Expanding the death penalty for crimes other than murder may have serious consequences. The judicial system is far from perfect and already innocent people die for crimes that they did not commit. By including child rape as a capital offense, we open the door for more wrongful convictions that could end in death. The door also opens for legislators to decide upon other crimes, in addition to child rape, that may be repulsive enough to society to warrant capital punishment. And for that reason alone, many people argue that we should stop death penalty legislation in its tracks immediately rather than risk potential legislative abuses in the future.

There is also the issue of our already crowded courts. Death penalty cases go through an exhaustive appeals process. If the time comes that child rapists are routinely sentenced to die, what effect might that have on the judicial process? Certainly our already overloaded system would buckle under the pressure.

None of these reasons are satisfactory excuses for child rapists not to be sentenced to death, but these are the hurdles that the supporters of these laws and pending legislation must face. Ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a decision as to whether or not Kennedy may be put to death in Louisiana for the rape of a child, and that decision will either pop the top on a can of worms or quiet the debate for the time being. We will just have to wait and see what surprises the Supreme Court justices have in store for us on this issue.

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I fully believe that child molesters can not be cured of their sick desires that lead them to sexually abuse children. They are wired differently than normal people and it can’t be changed.

In one way, I am sickened every time I hear about an Internet child predator arrest but in another way I am glad, because they were caught and arrested. I say we should throw them under the jail and forget about them, but unfortunately the justice system doesn’t work that way.

I am sick to death of the fact that child molesters get such light sentences. Why should they be released back into society to stalk our children? Don’t we owe our children more?

Why is it that a person who rapes a child generally spends less time in prison than a bank robber? Kids are far more valuable than any amount of money. Why is there not appropriate justice for them when sexual crimes are committed against them?

It disgusts me, really disgusts me, to look at the sex offender listings and see how many of these sickos have done little or no time for their sex crimes against children. Yet here they are, moving into your neighborhood, my neighborhood and basically anywhere they damn well choose as long as it’s not near a school, church or playground.. or whatever the state restrictions may be. They are still living near children! And worse, I think, that they can live next door to you and your child and see your child individually every day as you come and go. So what if they don’t have a group of children to stalk, they can still choose individual child targets.

The system is just not good enough. It is not harsh enough on sex offenders, especially when a child has been victimized.

The story below is about a person who has a high profile job with CBS, and was recently busted for making arrangements on the internet to rape an 11-year old girl and have the sexual assault videotaped as well.

What do you think should happen to people like this? I know I have my ideas…

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In Pennsylvania, a Family Court judge ordered a homeless and drug addicted couple, who had four children in foster care due to their neglect, not to have any more children until they could straighten out their lives and get their kids back. Three of the children were born addicted to cocaine.

While many people, including myself, would applaud the judge’s decision, she was, no doubt, in questionable legal territory.

Stephanie Pendleton, the mother of the four children who are now in foster care, challenged the Family Court judge’s ruling and the state Supreme Court overturned the ruling. I can not imagine who would agree to be her lawyer except maybe the most liberal civil libertarian on the planet? The five judge appeals panel decided that the Family Court judge had no authority to prohibit procreation.

The original ruling by the family court judge ordered Stephanie Pendleton and her boyfriend Rodney Evers to seek family planning services, get parental counseling and treatment for their drug addiction.

The judge wrote, “All babies deserve more than to be born to parents who have proven they cannot possibly raise or parent a child. This neglected existence is an immense burden to place on a child and on society.”

That sounds reasonable, right?

Well, the New York Civil Liberties Union had a cow and filed a friend-of-the-court brief when Pendleton filed her appeal. They argues that the Family Court judge had effectively ordered the couple to abstain from sex, use birth control or be sterilized.

I say: “Yeah. And?”

The Family Court judge had put forth that her ruling to prohibit Pendleton from having more children was allowed by a section of law that allows the court to impose medical treatment.

The appeals panel rejected that and overturned the ruling that Pendleton be prohibited from having more children until she can take care of the ones she has. The did not overturn the finding of the Family Court judge that the children were neglected or the one saying that the parents should be stripped of their parental rights.

So now the beast is free to go out and have more drug addicted children for the state and foster homes to raise. Good for you Stephanie Pendleton, good for you, and God help your children. I hope they find good homes FAR away from you.

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