Happy Sunday! This post is going to go to a really dark place, I’m not going to get graphic, but be forewarned, the question before the Courts in Kennedy v. Louisiana is whether the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment for a child rapist. If you read the Court’s decision it does get into the evidence, but just trust me here: evidence showed Patrick Kennedy had violently raped his eight-year-old stepdaughter. Louisiana state statue made the death penalty an allowable punishment for rape of a child under twelve years old, and Patrick Kennedy was sentenced to death but appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment in the case of crimes other than murder or a crime against society as a whole, like treason. The Court agreed. Patrick Kennedy, monster, was not executed by the State of Louisiana. The opinion of the Court was issued by Justice Anthony Kennedy. The Court’s reasoning was two-pronged. Firstly, the court looked at “public standards of decency” as evidenced by state statutes regarding the imposition of capital punishment in child rape cases. The court concluded from this statute that, the current moral consensus was that the death penalty was not an appropriate punishment for rape of a young child. Secondly, the court reasoned that in the cases of crimes against individuals, capital punishment ought to be reserved for crimes wherein an individual’s life is taken. The opinion states that homicides are unique in the degree of depravity, and the fact that the victim will never be able to recover to any extent. The decision was definitely contentious, Justice Alito wrote the dissent, in this 5-4 decision. The four dissenting judges believed that the majority opinion was wrong on both prongs of their rationale. Firstly, the dissenting judges believed that the reason that state statute did not more often provide for the imposition of the death penalty in child rape cases was not that there was a public consensus that the death penalty was cruel and unusual in these cases. Rather, the dissenting opinion indicated that many state legislatures believed that the Supreme Court had previously indicated their intent to limit capital punishment in non-homicide crimes when they ruled that the death penalty was inappropriate in the case of the rape of an adult woman. Secondly, the dissent indicated that the depravity of homicides was not unique, using the contrast of a homicide in the context of a failed robbery as opposed to the torture and rape of multiple children to illustrate their point. The dissent also indicates that since irreparable harm is often done to the rape victim, especially the child victim of rape, the idea that one can truly recover from that action might not be true. Moreover, the majority mentions that crimes against society such as treason, or drug kingpin activity are eligible for the death penalty; the dissent indicates that the damage that is done to a child victim or rape often has societal implications, arising from the increased rate of psychological issues and criminal behavior among adult victims of child rape. Okay, so nobody is more disgusted by the death penalty than I am. I have protested and gone to prayer vigils and signed and circulated petitions, but I have abundant sympathy for anyone who wants Patrick Kennedy eradicated. I really get why he gots to go. I’m right there with the dissent when they say that most people are far more sympathetic to executing Patrick Kennedy than to executing some young man who shot someone as part of a failed robbery. I think most of us are going to react that way. After thinking about it, I think that’s there are a couple of reasons. I think the permanent damage Kennedy did to his step-daughter’s body and her soul might be just as wicked as murder, maybe even more so. Also, the violence is so wanton and inscrutable that I cannot think of Kennedy as anything other than the thing that goes bump in the night. I don’t know, but maybe you all have some insight. I also think that the Court’s position that murder is the worst outcome possible might be a little nihilistic, but maybe I’m overreading that. There’s a lot to talk about here so hopefully we can continue the conversation in the comments!
1 Comment
Edward Hamilton
4/17/2018 08:35:28 am
Here we have a hard case at the rough-edged boundary of an issue where it's much more comfortable to think about the issue away from that boundary. This happens with abortion as well, in cases like children who would be born with painful genetic conditions (e.g. Tay Sachs) that would make a normal life almost impossible. I'm against abortion across the board, but there are lots of cases where it's easy to say "this is wrong" and then there are a few cases where I REALLY feel for the people involved in making the decision, and have very little heart for condemning those who make the tough decision in one way or the other.
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