After raping his 8-year-old step-daughter, Patrick O. Kennedy called the carpet cleaning company to remove blood stains before calling 911. When the police arrived he blamed two boys in the neighborhood for the rape, a deed so brutal the little girl required surgery. Then he instructed the girl to lie to the police to cover his tracks.
He was sentenced to death in Louisiana for raping the child, making him only one of two people in America facing capital punishment without having committed murder.
Murder, ultimately, is the precise reason why victims’ rights groups supported Kennedy’s appeal of his sentence which was struck down today when the U.S. Supreme Court found that a death sentence is not a proportional punishment for child rape. The threat of capital punishment, victims’ advocacy groups claim, would only encourage child rapists to kill their victims.
“If the offenders know that they don’t face any greater risk for killing the victim then they do for raping the victim, what is their incentive for letting the victim live?” said Judy Benitez, who is the executive director for the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault.
I can’t say I agree with the SCOTUS opinion on disproportionality, but I do see the logic behind LFASA’s explanation. So how about we reach a happy medium and call it justifiable homicide when the parents of child rape victims pop a cap in the perverts who violated their children?
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008, 11:02 am | 
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June 25, 2008 at 11:06 am
I think the death penalty is perfect for child rapists (heck, rapists in general). But children especially – they have no means to defend themeselves; the adults who commit these depraved acts lose any rights for humane treatment.
Data points,
Barbara
Barbara Lings last blog post..Make money with high gas prices – 109+ Resources and Ideas
June 25, 2008 at 11:44 am
I whole heartedly disagree with SCOTUS on the proportionality argument. Let them sit for years in therapy rooms with the victims of these monsters and say that lives have not been ruined or lost. Not proportional to the act, my ass.
jaes last blog post..Lessons in Probability
June 25, 2008 at 12:08 pm
As one could imagine, I have been following this week’s SCOTUS activity with more than casual concern. There’s a lot on their plate that will have far-reaching effects on the US. I’m of the belief that the last century of SCOTUS has perverted the original intent of the Constitution and had had the effect of creating bad law based on faulty logic. This decision, along with the vacation of over $2 billion in the Exxon Valdez case just strikes me as the highest court saying that it is okay to do something with tragic effect and fully expect to escape full accountability.
As for the ultimate fate of Kennedy, one can only hope that Louisiana’s prisons haven’t reformed all that much and that everyone doing time with him knows that this skid mark on the underwear of life is a child raper…
Jeffs last blog post..Bed Head
June 25, 2008 at 12:47 pm
If incentives were really the issue, let’s make the death penalty discretionary for child rapists, and available only under the most egregious cases, but mandatory for child killers. Offer a relatively painless form of death for those who “only” rape children, but a slow and painful one for those who kill them. Etc.
But we won’t do that, of course, ‘cuz it never really was about incentives.
Xrlqs last blog post..You’ll Get Gay-o For Our Mayo
June 25, 2008 at 12:55 pm
People planning to sit out the election or vote for the Obamanation just out of spite should have this decision stapled to their foreheads.
Forget about the rights of law abiding citizens. No, it’s the rights of terrorists and child rapists that we should be focusing all our energy on, ya know? That’s much more important.
Lincolns last blog post..Am I Screwed?
June 25, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I say make the “He needed killin’” defense available to defendants/family members of the rape victims.
It’s something I understand on an intellectual level but I’m not loving it on a more personal one.
Margis last blog post..Back to work *whipcrack*
June 25, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I’m torn on this one. To me, death is an easy way out for child rapists. Life in prison, knowing what other inmates think of and do to child molesters and child rapists is almost close to what they deserve. Almost. Yet in the end after years of torture, and only after years of torture, they should be killed. As a side note, oddly enough the state I live in gives longer prison terms to rapists and child molesters than it does to murderers.
June 25, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I think child rape is more heinous than murder simply because I can imagine killing a child rapist but I simply cannot imagine raping a child.
Donna B.s last blog post..Computer Pranks
June 26, 2008 at 6:36 am
I agree with the decision, but am all for the ‘justifiable homicide’ defense for the parents of victims. Actually, I’m all for parading the perp naked around the city, tied to a wooden cart and allowing citizens to throw melons in his/her direction. I have no problem with a little torture before life in solitary.
Lynnes last blog post..Kids befuddle me
June 26, 2008 at 8:06 am
To count as torture can we at least fill those melons with acid? Or play the theme song to Barney throughout the whole thing?
June 26, 2008 at 10:54 am
i say “kill ‘em all. the Lord will surely know His own.” but’s that’s me. and for those who worry that an innocent person might be mistakenly executed, i say that they probably did something we don’t know about so it all evens out.
June 26, 2008 at 11:18 am
At least put the Barney theme song on repeat on an iPod. Don’t torture the rest of us by making us listen to it.
June 26, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Metal Dad for President!
Lincolns last blog post..Am I Screwed?
June 26, 2008 at 1:58 pm
How can you “agree” with the decision? How does the court establish an arbitrary bar for capital punishment that must always be tied to death? That’s utter horse shit. We have the death penalty in our country. Whether you agree with that or not is another matter. But we have it. And for SCOTUS to say that one heinous crime deserves death and one does not is not logical.
You got to rob a convenience store. A cop walks in while you are jacking the place and you freak out and kill the cop. You get the death penalty… You go and rape a child so savagely that surgery is required and you wind up with complimentary 3 hots and a cot for the rest of your life (or less). The death of a cop in a random fashion is more heinous than the deliberate brutalization of a child? How? Why?
Jeffs last blog post..More SCOTUS
June 26, 2008 at 3:08 pm
How can I agree? For the exact reasons the victims’ advocacy group pointed out: rapists would only be more likely to kill the children they’ve violated.
Venomous Kates last blog post..Parents Investigated Due to Psychic’s “Vision”
June 26, 2008 at 3:08 pm
And they call ME harsh.
Venomous Kates last blog post..Parents Investigated Due to Psychic’s “Vision”
June 26, 2008 at 3:09 pm
What, you don’t believe in deterrence?
Venomous Kates last blog post..Parents Investigated Due to Psychic’s “Vision”
June 26, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Arghh.. darn nesting feature…
A person is not convicted of a crime because “somebody told”. They are convicted when guilt is proven or they cop a plea. Letting somebody off the hook because a child might have some bad feelings about it is utter nonsense.
Advocating life in prison without segregation is still advocating the death penalty. You just get to push the act a little farther away from your own hands.
And as for creating some status where it’s better for the criminal to kill than *just* rape… I’m not sure I buy it. I’d like to see a litmus test for heinous crimes. If you pass the test, you get killed. Problem is… the way things are currently set up, the death penalty is not all that much of a deterrent. The process takes so long that the effect is diminished. Now, if a criminal knew that the penalty for committing a heinous crime is death and that it would be carried out within 6 months of the verdict…
Jeffs last blog post..Nigerian Scam Compensation Through Nigerian Scam
June 26, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Jeff, the point is not that a child might have bad feelings about it. The point is that someone depraved enough to molest a child is still smart enough to realize that a condom + murder = no case.
Venomous Kates last blog post..Parents Investigated Due to Psychic’s “Vision”
June 26, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I totally agree with you but I saw a report on the news last night that gave me pause:
1) a grownup who was molested (I didn’t hear his background story) said that he was glad because kids didn’t need the pressure of knowing that someone was killed “because they told,” and;
2) I’m all for life in prison. As long as there’s no segregation for that prisoner involved. We’ve all seen and heard enough stories to put two and two together there. How long do you think someone like that would last in the general population? A year? A month? A week? “Life in prison” is relative.
Having said all that, I can tell you if I were a juror on that case I would be PISSED OFF.
Margis last blog post..Back to work *whipcrack*
June 26, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Grrr.. Grumble… The laws that allow this fuzziness to take place just suck. I hate ambiguity in the law. I know that it is a difficult subject.
And I think that my “bad feelings” comment was in reference to Margi’s commentary:
***
1) a grownup who was molested (I didn’t hear his background story) said that he was glad because kids didn’t need the pressure of knowing that someone was killed “because they told,”
***
All heinous crimes should have dramatic and profound consequences for the guilty.
Jeffs last blog post..Nigerian Scam Compensation Through Nigerian Scam
June 26, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Jeff, I can tell you from first hand experience that convincing the child victim of this is far easier said than done. And children, while having been violated and victims in these cases, are confused and scared, they are not stupid. While they may wish the death of the person who hurt them in many various violent ways, they also are very conflicted and feel that if that person died, any person at all died because they opened their mouth and told the truth, that they are somehow responsible for that death.
Trust me, you don’t want to be the parent or the therapist trying to help the child dealing with this. Which is why I cannot say I agree or disagree with this act by the SCOTUS. Personally, I can think and have thought of much more inventive ways to torture a child predator than what others have mentioned. In the end some form of justice must be seen so the child and family can find some sense of closure so that healing can truly begin and the child can truly sense hope and safety again.
June 27, 2008 at 8:49 am
Chelle,
I’ve taken a bit of time to contemplate your post. As a father of two daughters… I HAD to. And I thoroughly and completely empathize with and understand what you are saying. Kids’ minds and thought processes have not become hardened to the ways of the world and their drawn conclusions may not be correct or logical. But that does not create a reason to excuse behavior or limit the consequences of that behavior.
A child rapist is a criminal and should suffer all that the law allows as punishment for guilt. Same with murder, burglary, etc.
Let’s say a freak shows up at a home, kicks in the door, and decides that they want to steal the new big screen TV. But first, they decide to take a pocket knife and carve up the man/little girl that was at home with a 1000 nearly (but not quite) fatal slashes. Heinous crime, right? The guy goes to court. Should the DA seek a lesser charge, a lighter load, because the man’s/little girl’s feelings are harsh and intense? Should the DA not seek the biggest conviction because it will require more effort to coax the truth out of either?
No. Criminals should be responsible for the crimes they commit. And while difficult and emotionally charged, heinous crimes, especially those committed against children, should have EXTRA effort applied so that the appropriate punishment is doled out.
Jeffs last blog post..Nigerian Scam Compensation Through Nigerian Scam
June 27, 2008 at 9:19 am
I never said that criminals shouldn’t be responsible for the crimes that they commit. The scenario that you depicted, while I agree with your line of thought is an example of a very rare case of child rape. In most cases, such as the one the SCOTUS was dealing with, it is a family member.
By all means, I do agree, the punishment should fit the crime and those committed against children should extra effort applied so that the appropriate punishment is doled out. But alas, knowing what happens to those who rape & molest children when put in prison, as the parent of a child victim, a life sentence w/out separation from general prison population while, not entirely satisfying would be a sentence I could live with. No matter how much I’d like the bastard tortured in many various ways and then tied & quartered and then set on fire. See, I told you I could come up with many more vicious ways to torture child rapists.
June 27, 2008 at 9:52 am
Jeff, the two situations you’ve described both involve someone murdering another. In those cases, yes, we have the death penalty in a number of states.
Rape is not murder. Morally it may be just as, if not even more, reprehensible, particularly when the victims are children.
But it’s still not murder.
Hence SCOTUS’s “non-proportional” phrase.
Venomous Kates last blog post..Is Bill At It AGAIN?
June 27, 2008 at 10:25 am
Turns out Louisiana has come up with another way to deal with it: chemical castration.
One problem, though, is that judges are given discretion whether to sentence first-time offenders to it while repeat offenders are obligatorily injected.
Another problem: I anticipate they’re going to have a lot of offenders (first timers included) fleeing the state the instant they’re out of jail, and fleeing felons don’t usually bother to check in with the authorities in the state to which they move.
June 27, 2008 at 12:58 pm
VK,
Actually, I did say “not quite” as far as the knife slashing goes. I wanted to use that example because I think most folks would agree that torturing a victim during a burglary by means of knife slashing… but not quite killing… is a heinous act. And whether that act was done to a child or an adult matters not one wit to me and I believe that somebody found guilty of such a heinous act be subject to the death penalty. *A death penalty for a crime committed that did not involve death.*
But that is not the law of this land.
June 27, 2008 at 1:16 pm
(Forget the nesting, heh.)
Jeff,
I was in NO WAY suggesting criminals somehow get away with anything by my comment about the victim feeling guilty because they “told,” and someone got put to death. I was, however, trying to understand the feelings OF the victim, who, after all, is the one who has to carry around the crime upon their person.
I said that hearing that bit of information from an adult who was a child victim of rape “gave me pause.”
I’m a bit confused as to why you’re arguing with everyone here because without a doubt, I think that we all would like to see the death penalty on the table for rape of a child.
I think we’re all on the same page – but unfortunately, the Supreme Court doesn’t see it that way.
I mean, with the handgun decision, it’s clear that four out of the nine have problems with reading comprehension.
Finally, I agree with you Kate – although I’m quite sure that fleeing jurisdiction is quite common with this subset of criminal.
Margis last blog post..Back to work *whipcrack*
June 27, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I apologize if I seem argumentative. I wanted to make certain that my position is clear: I support the death penalty for certain crimes that do not involve killing. I think that SCOTUS got it wrong when they ruled otherwise.
Part of my present angst is my current belief that SCOTUS is primarily responsible for the castration and amalgamation of the Constitution in ways our founding fathers would have never even imagined. I consider it a travesty.
I recently recommended a book to the Venomous One… The Dirty Dozen. Have a read. Then read the Federalist Papers. We’ve had at least a century of fiddling with the basic components of US society that is headed straight for a major calamity. Brutal child rapers should be eligible for the death penalty. We should be able to defend ourselves as we see fit against aggressors, both individual and governmental. We should be responsible for ourselves (not the government acting as our nannies)…
Bother… I should be in a happier state. It’s my 21st anniversary!
Jeffs last blog post..Sharapova Not Photoshopped
June 27, 2008 at 3:33 pm
An Anniversary and a birthday so close together? Dude, if I were you I wouldn’t have bothered sobering up between the two.
Happy Anniversary!
And thanks for the reminder that I need to publish that Summer Reading List. Thought I’d put it in draft mode already but now I can’t seem to find it. Ugh.
Venomous Kates last blog post..Parents Investigated Due to Psychic’s “Vision”
June 27, 2008 at 3:06 pm
On this, we are in total agreement.
And HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Margis last blog post..Back to work *whipcrack*
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