by Kenzy England

Created on: August 20, 2008   Last Updated: October 04, 2008

When I first learned of the Supreme Courts decision concerning the Death Penalty as it applies to child rapists, I was shocked and mortified. Anyone who commits such a violent act on a child deserves to die for it. It is proven that many offenders, upon release from jail, will continue to prey on children. It certainly wouldn't be beneficial for society at large to continue to cover the cost of a lifetime incarceration, and chemical castration doesn't rid the perpetrator of the thoughts or feelings which cause them to rape children. It appears that our Supreme Court is slipping in judgement. Aren't they supposed to make decisions for the greater good of the people?

They say that it would be in violation of the Eighth Amendment, that it would be "cruel and unusual punishment". Isn't it cruel what these people, these rapists, are doing to our children? Isn't the lifelong trama associated with such an act a sort of an unusual punishment for the victim? The death penalty shouldn't apply only to Capital Murder cases. When a child has been raped, the only justice we can provide for that child is to put their attacker to death.

The truth is that just about every offender incarcerated will be released at some point. Does it really matter whether they have to register as a sex offender in their community of choice? Their presence still puts our communities at risk each and every day.

The Supreme Court no longer has my trust. Once upon a time, our Justices made very rational, thought out decisions. I don't understand their thinking on this, and given it was a 5-4 decision, we know that at least some of them were not in the same thought as the five that won out on this argument.

Anthony Kennedy wrote that there "...is a national consensus against capital punishment for the crime of child rape." Interesting, I don't remember any of them asking me what I thought. Come on, child rape is a sick and heinous crime against an innocent. It simply sickens me.

The Supreme Court has basically sided with the offenders on this. Who, exactly, are they really looking out for? Society should come first when they are making their decisions. It is up to them to take our Constitution and interpret it in order to ensure that our rights are being protected.

Prior to the Kennedy vs. Louisiana case of which the Supreme Court heard, there was a federal law that allowed for the death penalty in child rape cases. Patrick Kennedy's sentence has been commuted to life without the possibility of parole. I would wager that most, if not all, offenders who had been previously sentenced to die for their heinous acts on children will receive the same sentence.

It's illogical, it's not fair. Thats our US Supreme Court for you.

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