Death Penalty

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana regarding the constitutionality of imposing the death penalty for the rape of a child, when no murder has taken place.  It has been 44 years since the last execution in the U.S. for rape or any other crime except murder.

The need for justice and healing for the victims of such horrific crimes is great, but is punishment by death really the solution?  Multiple editorials, in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Denver Post, all agree that the death penalty for child rape would be wrong and excessive.

Whether for or against the death penalty generally, we must all ask whether this is in fact in the best interest of children...

According to a friend-of-the-court brief filed by a coalition of social workers and groups that work on behalf of victims of sexual assault, the answer is no. 

First, imposing the death penalty for child rape will reduce the likelihood that abuse will be reported and stopped, thus increasing the amount of abuse the victim suffers as well as the number of children who each abuser can victimize. Second, by equalizing the penalties for child rape and murder, Louisiana's statute encourages abusers to kill their victims. Finally, when a case does go to trial under Louisiana's law, the trauma caused by the extensive trial process itself and the prolonged notoriety the case will generate will be even more severe and long-lasting.

It has been over 30 years since the Supreme Court considered imposing the death penalty in nonmurder cases.  In last case, Coker v. Georgia, the Court ruled 7-2 that the death penalty was a "grossly disproportionate" punishment for the crime of rape of an adult (although the "adult" in this case was only 16 years old).  Is there a now national consensus (i.e. "evolving standard of decency") that the death penalty is in fact appropriate when the rape involves a child?  Let's take a look ...

In Coker, the court based their decision in part on the fact that Georgia was the only state that allowed the death penalty for adult rape.  Right now, Louisiana is one of only 5 states that permit the death penalty for the rape of a child - and only 2 people, out of almost 3400, are on death row for such a crime.  Both are in Louisiana. 

While demanding the harshest sentence for heinous crimes against children may make sense politically, or even seem like the right thing to do in the interests of justice, it is not what child victims actually need.