Kennedy v. Louisiana

This is a photo of Patrick Kennedy of New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2003 Kennedy was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Since his sentencing Kennedy has begun a series of appeals to overturn his conviction. His case reached the Louisiana Supreme Court, who upheld the ruling, and was then reviewed by the United States Supreme Court. The question is whether States have the authority under the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause to impose the death sentence on a person convicted of child rape, a rape in which a death did not occur.

Kennedy’s defense contested that in Coker v. Georgia the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that rape does not compare with murder in its depravity and injury to the person. It continued on to say that because of the severity and irrevocability of the death penalty, to impose it onto a rapist who did not take a human life would be excessive. The Court ruled a death sentence for a rapist was a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The state of Louisiana counteracted this ruling by creating a state law stating that the aggravated rape of a child under the age of 12 (later 13) years of age was punishable by death. Their argument was that the Coker v. Georgia ruling only protected those who committed rape against an adult woman from receiving the death penalty, allowing those who raped a child be subject to capital punishment.

On June 25th, 2008, the United States Supreme Court overturned the previous court decisions in Kennedy v. Louisiana. Quoting Coker v. Georgia they stated that the Eighth Amendment forbids the courts from sentencing a child rapist to death. This landmark case established that the death penalty may only be applied to cases involving murder.



According to recent surveys the median age for child sexual abuse is 9 years old, and 20% of children will be sexually abused before the age of 8. These statistics include, but are not limited to, aggravated rape, forcible sodomy, and oral copulation. The numbers are astounding and heartbreaking. Would the implementation of the death penalty for the rape of a child assist to lower these numbers?

During the Kennedy v. Louisiana hearings proponents of the death penalty for child rape argued that eligibility for capital punishment would deter would-be child rapists from committing their heinous crimes. Counteracting their arguments were opponents of capital punishment who contested that a penalty of death would give perpetrators even more reason to murder their victims. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy extended this further by stating that, “A state that punishes child rape by death may remove a strong incentive for the rapist not to kill the victim.”

Regardless of arguments for and against capital punishment for child rapists, the conclusion of Kennedy v. Louisiana is concise; the death penalty may only be applied to cases in which the death of the victim has occurred. This may leave the door open for litigation in future cases where victims later take their own life because of the permanent scaring (physical and mental) that occurred as a result of the rape they experienced as a child. It is far fetched but it is possible.

What the ruling has essentially done is protected child rapists from ever receiving the death penalty so long as their victim survives. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote, “No matter how young the child, no matter how many times the child is raped, no matter how many children the perpetrator rapes, no matter how sadistic the crime…” the perpetrator is safeguarded from ever receiving capital punishment. It may have been wise for the courts to allow the issuance of the death penalty in a child rape case where the child is left with a permanent disfigurement. An example is a girl who will never be able to have children because of the damage the rapist did to her little body when he assaulted her at age 7.

Because of Kennedy v. Louisiana these types of aggravating circumstances will have no higher objectivity than a life without the possibility of parole sentence. Is this disproportionate or equal justice?

http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=Kennedy_v._Louisiana
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/kennedy-v-louisiana/80750/?print=5415318421
http://www.darkness2light.org/KnowAbout/statistics_2.asp