Court rejects death penalty for raping children

[leatherneck]

As much as sex crimes are fabricated, this is a good decision.

 

I also agree with you my friend.

[HHSDad]

I'm against the Death Penalty, but this part of the Opinion really rubbed me the wrong way:

 

The constitutional prohibition against excessiveor cruel and unusual punishments mandates that punishment "be exercised within the limits of civilized standards." Trop, 356 U. S., at 99–100. Evolving standards of decency counsel the Court to be most hesitant before allowing extension of the death penalty, especiallywhere no life was taken in the commission of the crime.

 

BTW, I'm not sure why this ever came to trial. The SC had already decided in Coker v. Georgia that the capital punishment was a disproportionate punishment for rape. This decision came 1 year almost to the date after the Gregg v. Georgia decision that once again allowed the imposition of the death penalty. To my knowledge, capital punishment has not been permitted for any crime that did not involve the death of the victim.

Edited June 26, 2008 by HHSDad

[madman]

I thought I heard today that Barack Obama expressed disagreement with this ruling. I was half asleep, so maybe I heard wrong.

 

According to MSN, McCain and Obama both disagree with the ruling.

[20/20Hindsight]

Wonder what the deal is with hard-core cons and the hater attitude towards child predators? These are people that have done their best to destroy the lives of kids by taking the moms, dads, brothers and sisters from children, not to mention, choosing a life of crime instead of raising their own kids.

 

 

Not sure if there are any statistics to support this, but I'm willing to bet that there is a large percentage of prisoners that have once been sexually abused. Maybe they look at their vigilante justice as "payback" for the times they suffered as a child at the hands of a sexual predator. Just a thought...

[leo42171]

I'm against the Death Penalty, but this part of the Opinion really rubbed me the wrong way:

 

The constitutional prohibition against excessiveor cruel and unusual punishments mandates that punishment "be exercised within the limits of civilized standards." Trop, 356 U. S., at 99–100. Evolving standards of decency counsel the Court to be most hesitant before allowing extension of the death penalty, especiallywhere no life was taken in the commission of the crime.

 

BTW, I'm not sure why this ever came to trial. The SC had already decided in Coker v. Georgia that the capital punishment was a disproportionate punishment for rape. This decision came 1 year almost to the date after the Gregg v. Georgia decision that once again allowed the imposition of the death penalty. To my knowledge, capital punishment has not been permitted for any crime that did not involve the death of the victim.

 

The Louisiana law was for the death penalty to be used against child rape offenders. The Coker vs. Georgia was an adult rape case.

[Hatz]

Interesting to listen to the conservative talk-radio folks rail against this decision yesterday. Both Limbaugh and Savage were basically saying "Who is the Supreme Court to rule against states and their laws? What do they think they're doing?"

 

:lol: I doubt they said the same thing about the SC ruling to overturn the DC Gun Ban.

[the mathemagician]

According to MSN, McCain and Obama both disagree with the ruling.

 

And I doubt if either really do disagree with it. I would venture this is a popular stance to take with regards the voting public. Political pandering, pure and simple.