Supreme Court - Louisiana law

[jerseygirl67]

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_rdp

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but the say that this violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Pardon? Children are so innocent...how can we not do everything within our power to protect them?

I think the punishment would fit the crime, in this instance. Just my thoughts.

[Michelino]

Regardless of the crime, the death penalty is recognized as a barbaric practice in most modern democracies. And especially in the United States, it has traditionally been disproportionately applied to minorities, a fact recognized in many other countries as the most direct evidence of the lingering stain of prejudicial justice in this country.

As it is in other countries that love their children just as much as we do ours, Justice can be fair, firm, swift and appropriate without having to get the state involved in murder.

[jerseygirl67]

Regardless of the crime, the death penalty is recognized as a barbaric practice in most modern democracies. And especially in the United States, it has traditionally been disproportionately applied to minorities, a fact recognized in many other countries as the most direct evidence of the lingering stain of prejudicial justice in this country.

As it is in other countries that love their children just as much as we do ours, Justice can be fair, firm, swift and appropriate without having to get the state involved in murder.

Fair enough. I still believe in the death penalty....when applied judiciously (sp?). Concrete, caught in the act evidence. I do realize that it is not always applied properly. However, there are certain crimes that I believe warrant it.

[Lester_leaps_in]

Regardless of the crime, the death penalty is recognized as a barbaric practice in most modern democracies. And especially in the United States, it has traditionally been disproportionately applied to minorities, a fact recognized in many other countries as the most direct evidence of the lingering stain of prejudicial justice in this country.

As it is in other countries that love their children just as much as we do ours, Justice can be fair, firm, swift and appropriate without having to get the state involved in murder.

This decision was not about whether we should or should not have the death penalty.

The question was, given that we do have the death penalty, should child rapists be eligible for it. The specific case being reviewed concerned a person who brutally raped an eight year old girl.

Given that we do have the death penalty, and given the heinous nature of the crime, I feel that the death penalty should be included in the options available to the justice system in this case.

Four Supreme Court Justices agreed with my position, implying that this was not a simple issue for the court.

[festivalgirl]

This decision was not about whether we should or should not have the death penalty.

The question was, given that we do have the death penalty, should child rapists be eligible for it. The specific case being reviewed concerned a person who brutally raped an eight year old girl.

Given that we do have the death penalty, and given the heinous nature of the crime, I feel that the death penalty should be included in the options available to the justice system in this case.

Four Supreme Court Justices agreed with my position, implying that this was not a simple issue for the court.

[/QUOTE]Originally Posted by Michelino View Post
Regardless of the crime, the death penalty is recognized as a barbaric practice in most modern democracies. And especially in the United States, it has traditionally been disproportionately applied to minorities, a fact recognized in many other countries as the most direct evidence of the lingering stain of prejudicial justice in this country.

As it is in other countries that love their children just as much as we do ours, Justice can be fair, firm, swift and appropriate without having to get the state involved in murder.[/QUOTE]

Actually, we do not have the death penalty everywhere.

I completely agree with Mich. I'd add that death is too good for these people. I think they should take their chances in prison. Child rapists tend to experience instant karma.

[Michelino]

This decision was not about whether we should or should not have the death penalty.

The question was, given that we do have the death penalty, should child rapists be eligible for it. The specific case being reviewed concerned a person who brutally raped an eight year old girl.

Given that we do have the death penalty, and given the heinous nature of the crime, I feel that the death penalty should be included in the options available to the justice system in this case.

Four Supreme Court Justices agreed with my position, implying that this was not a simple issue for the court.

I smell nothing more that yet another election year red herring here. Still, in my opinion: Ignoring the continual inequitable application of the death penalty, and instead expanding its scope should be unconscionable to anyone who truly believes in justice and who can also understand the simplest ratios and statistics. Across the globe, our death penalty symbolizes American bigotry, which is about as far away from the concept of justice as the moon is from mars.

[linza22]

I smell nothing more that yet another election year red herring here. Still, in my opinion: Ignoring the continual inequitable application of the death penalty, and instead expanding its scope should be unconscionable to anyone who truly believes in justice and who can also understand the simplest ratios and statistics. Across the globe, our death penalty symbolizes American bigotry, which is about as far away from the concept of justice as the moon is from mars.

i don't agree with it either. there are many innocent folks behind bars right now, and to see even one killed for crimes they did not commit, is too much.

[mangoon]

As of January 1, 2008, 3,350 convicted murderers
were awaiting execution on Death Row in the U.S., including 44/09 on Federal / Military Death Row.
CURRENT DEATH ROW BY RACE

White 1,517 (45%)
Black 1,397 (42%)
Hispanic 359 (11%)
Asian 039 (01%)
Native Am 037 (01%)
Unknown 001 (0.3%)

U.S. EXECUTIONS BY RACE AND GENDER

White 630 (57%) Male 1,088 (99%)
Black 377 (34%) Female 011 (01%)
Hispanic 076 (07%)
Native Am 014 (01%)
Asian 008 (01%)

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/dpusa.htm

Interesting if not morbid reading. I for one would not shed a tear if the child molesters joined the murderers on death row.

[breambob]

My bleat:

First I'll say that I'm against the death penalty. First because I don't think it's a deterrent, second because it is very expensive to carry out (almost neverending court processes.) Having said that, I don't give a rats' ass about what "world opinion" says about our laws. We got ours, they got theirs. They should not be mixed up in any way, shape or form.

I say let them rot in jail forever, and put child rapists into the general prision population. Of course this could be ruled as cruel and unusual punishment. It's all about the convict, and not the victim. And we should remember the victim:

Warning: The facts are graphic and awful. Kennedy (not the justice) was charged with the aggravated rape of L.H., his then-8-year-old stepdaughter. When police found L.H. some two hours after the attack, she was bleeding profusely from the vaginal area. She was transported to the hospital, where she was discovered to have a laceration to the left wall of the vagina that “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.” Shortly after he committed the rape, Kennedy called a colleague to ask “how to get blood out of a white carpet because his daughter had ‘just become a lady.’”

[mightyradgumbo]

As sick and twisted and utterly heinous as the act is, I think killing someone is not really a solution as much as a response. Many people have been unjustly given the death penalty, some are acquitted because of dna evidence while others are put to death without warrant.
For me to buy the death penalty, that is the first hurdle that needs to be cleared-whether or not a guarantee can be made that no innocent people will die because of an error in the system. We are no better than the killer or the attacker.
Secondly, the cost, as Mac points out, is much higher than letting the sumbitch rot in prison (that is, for those who go through the appeals process). I am not sure if I can subscribe to the prison yard justice argument but it is what it is.
They will get theirs when it is time to meet whatever maker they pray to or blaspheme by their act, I guarantee (IMHO of course ;) )

[marignygreg]

You steal, chop off the hand. You rape, chop off the gland. Justice done.

[mightyradgumbo]

You steal, chop off the hand. You rape, chop off the gland. Justice done.

Ouch!!!

[Michelino]

I don't give a rats' ass about what "world opinion" says about our laws. We got ours, they got theirs. They should not be mixed up in any way, shape or form.

Sound like a quote from Dick Cheney. IM(rarely)HO, it is that type of arrogance that has gotten the US to the point when habeas corpus is no longer respected and where our administration feels that the Geneva conventions are no longer appropriate. These are disgraces no matter how big you imagine the world of valued opinions to be...

Personally, I have no problem admitting that I am both a citizen of one nation but also of one world. I owe allegiance to this great country which was protecting freedoms long before I was born. And this is nation from which the the concept of modern democracy originated - Because our founding fathers viewed concepts of liberty and civil rights as universal, civilization as we know it will forever be in their debt. On the other hand, there are other recent histories and paradigms of human experience and we would be wise to learn and incorporate these whenever it benefits us as a people. See universal healthcare and environmental consciousness for other examples.

[Michelino]

You steal, chop off the hand. You rape, chop off the gland. Justice done.

I think you've been watching too many Saudi Arabian cop shows.