The Supreme Court ruled early on Wednesday that raping a child is not punishable by death. Violently and repeatedly raping an innocent child, one that has to forever live with the anguish, does not deserve death? Do those that voted against the death penalty for such sick and twisted acts not have children? In my mind the only thing as wrong as murder is the molestation of an innocent little child.
Death is a merciful punishment for these people. If you ask me I think there should be a worse punishment than death for these types of criminals. I won't get into it--you can use your imagination--but death is far from too harsh. If a child is repeatedly raped, forced to commit such horrific acts, their entire life's are scarred with the punishment that they have received. When you murder someone their punishment has ended, when you rape a child they are left to live with the anguish and pain that they have been struck with throughout their lives.
However devastating the crime to children, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion, "the death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child." His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented.
Bobby Jindal of Louisiana's response was right on. "The opinion reads more like an out-of-control legislative debate than a constitutional analysis," said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican. "One thing is clear: The five members of the court who issued the opinion do not share the same 'standards of decency' as the people of Louisiana."
At this moment there are only two men that have been sentenced to death, in Louisiana, for the rape of a child. Rape on it's own is a disgusting, unforgivable act. You take it one step further when the victim is a young child. So who is the man being saved by the Supreme Court? Patrick Kennedy. What was his crime? Brutally raping his 8 year old step daughter.
L. H. [the 8-year-old rape victim] was transported to the Children’s Hospital. An expert in pediatric forensic medicine testified that L. H.’s injuries were the most severe he had seen from a sexual assault in his four years of practice. A laceration to the left wall of the vagina had separated her cervix from the back of her vagina, causing her rectum to protrude into the vaginal structure. Her entire perineum was torn from the posterior fourchette to the anus. The injuries required emergency surgery.
Instead of being put to a humane and peaceful death, Kennedy gets to sit in a cell the rest of his life. The only thing we can hope for is for a fellow prisoner to do the decent thing that the court decided was "too much for crime committed." You know a crime is horrific when even prisoners look down on it. Rapists can rejoice. Your heinous acts of brutally destroying a child's life is not punishable by death. You can go about your way knowing that when you are caught you will receive free food and shelter for the rest of your life at the expense of the state. That child? They will live on, in fear, because the Supreme Court lacks the moral capacity to do the right thing.