Re: US Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for child rapists
Frankly the essence of the ruling is correct - elevating rape - even child rape to a capital offense is not portional to the crime.
Frankly the criminal justice system - ie the prisoners themselves do a better job of eaking out the punishment for child rapists
O well, seems like 'some' people decide to ruin a perfectly valid threat. Nice going guys... doc bean
Re: US Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for child rapists
Proportionality is not for the SCOTUS to decide. A punishment is either cruel and unusual, or it is not- there's no sliding scale. Proportionality is completely subjective and is best left to the state legislatures and their criminal courts.Originally Posted by Redleg
As I've said, using fuzzy standards like this, they could allow or disallow literally any punishment dependent only on their whim. Sure, flaying someone alive is cruel and unusual unless the crime is heinous enough- then it's fine.
"Don't believe everything you read online."
-Abraham Lincoln
Re: US Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for child rapists
Right. The reality is that it is for the electorate to decide, whether on a state or federal level. I'm not saying that it is right, but who are 4 people to say it is wrong? Let the electorate say it is wrong if they are so inclined - make the case to them.
"That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."
-Eric "George Orwell" Blair
"If the policy of the government, upon vital questions affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court...the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned the government into the hands of that eminent tribunal."
(Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, 1861).
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Re: US Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for child rapists
I'm actually inclined to agree with Tuff and Xiahou on this one.
I say, let the legislature/people decide. I, personally, am very for capital punishment. I think that the death penalty is no where near cruel and unusual in its current incarnation. You get decades to appeal and your death is now painless and relatively quick. The only form of punishment that seems cruel and unusual for me would be anything involving torture or extending punishment to those related to the criminal, but not participants of the crime
"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." - Issac Newton
Re: US Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for child rapists
"The Supreme Court is composed of seven elderly men, who remember the past, and forget about the future."
~FDR
Last edited by Samurai Waki; 06-26-2008 at 21:14. Reason: Misquote
Re: US Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for child rapists
Amendment VIII to the US Constitution:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitut...#amendmentviiiExcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted
The constitution, like usual, is very vague on the subject.
I'm going to have the agree with SOTUS on this such case: Something can be cruel and unusual on one crime, but not on another.
It would be cruel and unusual to execute someone for a parking ticket.
However, it would not be cruel and unusual to execute someone for giving sensitive data to the enemy in wartime resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Americans.
Re: US Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for child rapists
So if they allowed the death penalty for child rape would that mean that the fundmentalist mormons would be facing the chair as surely their practices would amount to them being classed as repeat offenders
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