Louisiana vs. Kennedy Essay Example for Free

Louisiana vs. Kennedy Essay Louisiana vs. Kennedy was a petition to the case that involved a death penalty that was imposed to a 42 year man who had raped his stepdaughter. The petition took place on June 2008. It was a punishment that was sentenced to him by the Louisiana court for having been convicted of committing the crime. In accordance to the law, the murders are supposed to be sentenced to death but for the past three decades, only two cases that did not involve murder were registered one for Patrick Kennedy and another one. He was sentenced to death penalty by the Louisiana court on 22nd May 2007 in a case No 05-KA-1981 Louisiana vs. Kennedy. In 2008, Patrick Kennedy decided to challenge the decision by the Supreme Court that was reached in 2007 citing that the sentence was a violation of the 8th constitutional amendment which stated that depending on the rarity of the case, death penalty may not be imposed. Was it in order for the supreme court of America to sentence to death a step father who raped his 8 year old stepdaughter? This is what this research paper will discuss about. Patrick Kennedy was sentenced to death after he was convicted by the Supreme Court to have raped his step daughter who was less than twelve years old. Initially the girl had refuted the claim that he was raped by his step father but after further investigations were done, the girl changed her story and said that it was her step father who raped her and told her to say it was the two boys that were her neighbors. It was established that the victim was assaulted for three times but the last time involved sexual intercourse. Even blood stains that Patrick had tried to clean were seen in her â€Å"After police were called to investigate the rape of the girl on March 2, 1998, Kennedys stepdaughter initially told them that two neighborhood boys had raped her after dragging her from her garage to a side yard. Police, however, found evidence of blood in her bedroom that Kennedy apparently had tried to clean up. The stepdaughter testified later that Kennedy had raped her and urged her to relate a false account. † (The Supreme Court in the Kennedy case, O7. 373. PDF) Ever since the death penalty was reinstated in US about 30 years ago, justices have been looking for ways to revoke the death penalty on child rapists which according to them was unconstitutionally imposed on Patrick Kennedy. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, (2008) of about 3,350 inmates in the death row because of murder, only two cases were different and they involved rape. Patrick Kennedy could not understand which statutes were used to sentence him. In his argument, it was a violation of the 8th amendment of the constitution. In another rape case, Coker vs. Georgia, the offender was accused of raping a 16 year old lady but on this case, the Supreme Court ruled that this case was not punishable by death because the victim was more than twelve years old. In the light of the above ruling, it was asked if the stepfather who raped his stepdaughter but did not kill her was bound by the constitution to be sentenced to death. (Hamilton, 2008) According to the Louisiana state, committing such a crime was equal to killing and the only appropriate sentence was death penalty. The majority of the United States had not passed the law but five of them namely Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and South Carolina had already passed it and were in use for example, it was the one that was used in Louisiana to sentence Patrick to death. Though these laws existed in books, they were limited to persons who were in the past convicted of committing crime of assaulting a minor but this only applied to the four states with the exception of Louisiana. The other states were contemplating to extend the death penalty to child rapists. According to the statistics given by the Death Penalty Information Center, death sentence has been on the decline in America for the past years. â€Å"The number of executions has dropped steadily since, hitting a 10 year low of 53 in 2006. † (Lithwick, 2008) According to a survey that was done by Gallop in 2006 concerning the preference between death penalty and life without parole, it was established that more people prefer life sentence to death sentence but this was due to a number of factors for example, some people were sentenced to death judging them on their race. Despite this, majority advocated for murders to be sentenced to death. The decision to review the decision to impose death penalty on child rapists was due to Patrick Kennedy’s case and the pressure that was amounted by the National Association of Social Workers, the Louisiana Foundation against Sexual Assault, and the Texas Association Against sexual assault as well as the National Alliance to end Sexual Violence. These organizations pressurized the supreme court of America to review its ruling on the case. In Patrick’s petition, it was stated that Patrick, â€Å"is the only person in the United States who is on death row for a non-homicide offense. He has been sentenced to die for the crime of rape, an offense for which no person has been executed in this country for over forty years since Missouri executed Ronald Wolfe in 1964. † (Denniston, 2008) The arguments that were put forward by these organizations were that death penalty for child rapists worsen the problem in that many cases of sexual abuse went unreported. Secondly, they argued that no child molester would leave his victim alive to avoid being reported therefore this acted as an incentive to kill victims. The third argument was that those statutes subjected the raped child to many trials and appeals thereby keeping those memories a fresh instead of them being repressed. (Death Penalty Information Center, 2008) It is for these reasons and the appeal that was made by Patrick that led to the reviewing of the ruling by the Supreme Court on 16th April, 2008 in a case between Louisiana and Kennedy. (Hamilton, 2008) It is in this case that it was ruled that the decision to execute Patrick Kennedy for raping his stepdaughter was a contravention to the 8th constitutional amendment that bans death penalty on rare and cruel cases. The majority’s argument was that the penalty should be reserved for the few offenders who are most egregious. (Linda G. , 2008) According to Justice Anthony Kennedy, death penalty was to be imposed on murders. He also differentiated between the first degree murder which is also referred to as intentional murder and the non homicide crime such as rape. He said that the later was more devastating in terms of moral depravity but he said that murder cases due to their nature, severity and irrevocability could not be compared with non homicide. The dissenting judges led by Samuel Alito objected to this observation arguing that, â€Å"The harm that is caused to the victims and the society at large by worst child rapists is grave. †(Biskupic, 2008) In justifying its decision, the state of Louisiana in its briefs argued that raping a child under twelve years is not different from other crimes because its results are devastating and lasts for a life time but in his argument, Justice Kennedy argued that the Supreme court’s decision to nullify Patrick’s case was reached objectively by the judges and this was backed by the fact that many American states were not in agreement with the statute and that was why they had not passed it. (Richey W. 2008) In response to the conclusion reached by Justice Kennedy, Justice Samuel objected to this arguing that many judges and lawyers misinterpreted the 1977’s Coker’s decision on capital punishment. They understood that death sentence should not be applied on any rape cases but that was not the case because in that case the victim was married and had assumed the status of an adult thus she was no longer a minor. He noted that due to this reason, the state’s legislatures have not understood the societal standards in terms of decency. â€Å"Evolving standards of decency must embrace and express respect for the dignity of the person and the punishment of criminals must conform to that rule. † (The Supreme Court in the Kennedy case, O7. 373. PDF) According to the Supreme Court’s statutes, rape is said to be committed where anal sex or virginal sexual intercourse is done without the consent of the victim and if the victim is less than twelve years, lack of knowledge of her age is no defense. If convicted of having committed aggravated rape, punishment should be life imprisonment without parole, suspended sentence or probation but the offender could be punished by death if the District Attorney seeks for capital verdict. In the light of the above, Patrick Kennedy’s case was a rare occurrence and thus he did not deserve the death sentence but deserved life sentence without parole. (Biskupic, News Washington 2008). The decision to reject death penalty was greatly opposed by the conservative judges. Even the two presidential candidates were opposed to the move though no one had been executed since 1964. Justice Kennedy argued that of all the 3300 people on the death row, only two were there for the reasons apart from murder. Justice Samuel questioned this majority logic that murders are more morally depraved than child rapists. â€Å"I have little doubts that the eyes of ordinary Americans, the very worst child rapists-predators who seek out and inflict serous physical and emotional injury or defenseless young children are the epitome of moral depravity. † (Barnes, 2008) In conclusion of this research paper, it is okay to say that the decision by the Louisiana’s Supreme Court to execute Patrick Kennedy for raping his step daughter was harsh and was a contravention to the 8th amendment. Of all the inmates in the death row, only two inmates whose cases were not murder. Patrick’s case was one of those rare cases that were addressed in that amendment. The appeal acted as an opportunity to interpret law as it is this was because according to Justice Samuel, most legislatures misunderstood the decision that was made on Coker’s case and assumed that he meant that death penalty should not be applied on rape cases. References. The Supreme Court in the Kennedy case. Accessed at http://www. supremecourtus. gov/opinions/07pdf/07-343. pdf Linda G. 26th June, 2008. Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty for Child Rape. Available at http://www. nytimes. com/2008/06/26/washington/26scotuscnd. html? _r=2hpor ef=sloginoref=slogin Scotus Blog. June 25th, 2008Commentary: Death penalty options narrow. http://www. scotusblog. com/wp/commentary-death-penalty-options- narrow/#more-7553 Barnes R. June 26, 2008. High Court Rejects Death For Child Rape Penalty Reserved for Murder And Crimes Against State. Available at