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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