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Published May 04, 2008 09:28 pm - For more than 30 years since reinstating the death penalty the U.S. Supreme Court has found ways to limit capital punishment, and now the most heinous crime, raping a child, is before the court. A ruling should come down soon.
Patrick Kennedy, 43, is a Louisiana death-row inmate convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter in 1998 in an assault so brutal that the girl required surgery.
Other voices: Rape and death penalty
For more than 30 years since reinstating the death penalty the U.S. Supreme Court has found ways to limit capital punishment, and now the most heinous crime, raping a child, is before the court. A ruling should come down soon.
Patrick Kennedy, 43, is a Louisiana death-row inmate convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter in 1998 in an assault so brutal that the girl required surgery.
However, in 1977 the court ruled that a state could not execute a man who raped an adult woman unless death occurred. Justice Byron R. White wrote for the court: “We have the abiding conviction that the death penalty, which is unique in its severity and irrevocability, is excessive penalty for the rapist who, as such, does not take human life.”
In the past the court has ruled on the death penalty according to society’s “evolving standards of decency,” removing juvenile and mentally retarded killers from death row.
Proponents of the death penalty for child rapists believe society demands retribution for those who harm its most vulnerable members. Louisiana and Texas are two of five states that allow executions for those who rape children. And there is the question about clergy raping children.
It is a fact that rapists and sex offenders often repeat their offenses soon after being released from prison. Nancy Miller, retired St. Louis Post-Dispatch lifestyle editor, was murdered by a sex offender soon after his release. Rape is a hate attack on a woman, and every precaution should be taken before releasing a rapist from prison.
The least sentence a child rapist should receive is life imprisonment.
— The Washington Missourian
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