Entirely another issue ... right now ... I'd have to read the entire decision to see if this was the only reason given ...
I'm not one for montage of facts.
thats a good Idea. I think I ought to read it too....
I do know the court relied on "cruel and unusual punishment" and I am not willing to give the court that much leeway.
at some point the death penalty is Cruel and Unusual. I mean you cant execute people who drive 56 MPH in a 55 MPH zone.
I just dont know if this meets that standard.
personally I think the entire system is both cruel and unusual. all of it. both to the criminal and to society at large.
we dont fix bad people we just stack them like cordwood until we get tired of it then we let them back out in the general population to continue thier bad behavior. there is nothing about our system that seems to deal with the impact of crime, nor prevent future crime.
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
Held: The Eighth Amendment bars Louisiana from imposing the deathpenalty for the rape of a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim’s death. Pp. 8–36.
1. The Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause “draw[s] its meaning from the evolving standards of decency thatmark the progress of a maturing society.” Trop v. Dulles, 356 U. S. 86, 101. The standard for extreme cruelty “itself remains the same,
but its applicability must change as the basic mores of society change.” Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 382. Under the precept of justice that punishment is to be graduated and proportioned to the crime, informed by evolving standards, capital punishment must “be limited to those offenders who commit ‘a narrow category of the mostserious crimes’ and whose extreme culpability makes them ‘the mostdeserving of execution.’
2. A review of the authorities informed by contemporary norms, including
the history of the death penalty for this and other nonhomicide
crimes, current state statutes and new enactments, and the number of executions since 1964, demonstrates a national consensus against capital punishment for the crime of child rape. Pp. 11–23.
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"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." ~Aesop
Baron, when the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional in 1972... how many states had laws authorizing death for rape on their books is a pertinent question for this discussion ... I believe.
Held: The Eighth Amendment bars Louisiana from imposing the deathpenalty for the rape of a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim’s death. Pp. 8–36. 1. The Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause “draw[s] its meaning from the evolving standards of decency thatmark the progress of a maturing society.” Trop v. Dulles, 356 U. S. 86, 101. The standard for extreme cruelty “itself remains the same,
but its applicability must change as the basic mores of society change.” Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 382. Under the precept of justice that punishment is to be graduated and proportioned to the crime, informed by evolving standards, capital punishment must “be limited to those offenders who commit ‘a narrow category of the mostserious crimes’ and whose extreme culpability makes them ‘the mostdeserving of execution.’
2. A review of the authorities informed by contemporary norms, including
the history of the death penalty for this and other nonhomicide
crimes, current state statutes and new enactments, and the number of executions since 1964, demonstrates a national consensus against capital punishment for the crime of child rape. Pp. 11–23.
Thank you ... I believe their first reason suffices.
I think we need to remember the word "and" in Cruel and Unusual punishment. There is no way that the death penalty of today can be considered cruel but they might view is as unusual in cases of rape because it, the punishment, is unusual.
I haven't read this whole thread but I really don't see the point in the death penalty anyway. Very few people are ever executed so it can't be a deterrent to commit crime.
From what I am hearing from Bill O'Reilly there are some judges out there that don't believe in punishing these guys. You will have a guy who molest children and doesn't even serve time in some places.
Baron, when the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional in 1972... how many states had laws for rape on their books is a pertinent question for this discussion ... I believe.
I don't have that information at my fingertips, But let's not forget there was a federal law that they could have been charged under in any state.
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"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." ~Aesop
Thank you ... I believe there first reason suffices.
Well Daniel five Justices agree with you and only four with me so that settles it. But the 5 that agree with you are still wrong in how they misused the Constitution to overturn a law they didn't like.
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"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." ~Aesop
Well Daniel five Justices agree with you and only four with me so that settles it. But the 5 that agree with you are still wrong in how they misused the Constitution to overturn a law they didn't like.
Then who will decide what cruel and unusual punishment means ... as part of their job to see if a law is Constitutional or not ....isn't this their job to try to also interpret what phrases like "cruel and unusual" means?
I think a guiding principle in this capital punishment debate is
Then who will decide what cruel and unusual punishment means ... as part of their job to see if a law is Constitutional or not ....isn't this their job to try to also interpret what phrases like "cruel and unusual" means?
I think a guiding principle in this capital punishment debate is
are we seeking justice ... a life for a life ....
or
in the case of non-homicidal reasons ...
VENGEANCE.
The guiding principle should be the Constitution not the every evolving nonsense. The Court came to its decision not on what the Constitution said but on what they wanted it to say.
But let me say this, if a grown man raped my 10 year old, he wouldn’t have to worry about what state he was in.
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"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." ~Aesop
The guiding principle should be the Constitution not the every evolving nonsense. The Court came to its decision not on what the Constitution said but on what they wanted it to say.
But let me say this, if a grown man raped my 10 year old, he wouldn’t have to worry about what state he was in.
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