The Supreme Court ruled that child rapists cannot be executed, concluding capital punishment is reserved for murderers.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/25/scotus.child.rape/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Quotes from the story:
Anthony Kennedy -- supported by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer -- wrote that the prohibition against cruel punishment derives its meaning from the "evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society."
You gotta be kidding me? Since when does prohibition of capital punishment mark the progress of a maturing society? Especially something that is as detestable as this ruling?
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent, saying, "The harm that is caused to the victims and to society at large by the worst child rapist is grave." He was supported by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
In his dissent, Alito wrote that the majority ruled against the death penalty "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, no matter how much physical or psychological trauma is inflicted and no matter how heinous the perpetrator's criminal record may be."
Thumbs up to Justice Samuel Alito.
Death penalty opponents contend, among other things, that it could give attackers a reason to murder their victims. In Wednesday's ruling, Anthony Kennedy agreed, writing, "A state that punishes child rape by death may remove a strong incentive for the rapist not to kill the victim."
But executing them for raping a child would give them strong incentive not to commit the crime in the first place, don't you think? This ruling benefits nobody but child rapists.
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