Supreme Court: Child-Rape Does Not Warrant Death Sentence

The Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, that sentencing someone to death for raping a child is unconstitutional, assuming that the victim is not killed. The case decided by the Supreme Court, Kennedy v. Louisiana, No. 07-343, does not overturn the defendant’s conviction. Rather, it returns the case to the Louisiana courts for resentencing.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, stated - “The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child.”

Justice Alito wrote a dissent lamenting that the majority had ruled out executing someone for raping a child “no matter how young the child, no matter how many times the child is raped, no matter how many children the perpetrator rapes, no matter how sadistic the crime, no matter how much physical or psychological trauma is inflicted, and no matter how heinous the perpetrator’s prior criminal record may be.”

It is hard to separate the emotional from the rational when it pertains to crimes committed against children. However, Alito is right, and Kennedy's opinion does not take into account all the factors that might justify this law. In the mind of the Supreme Court, would there every be a time where applying this law might be justified? Is the Supreme Could saying that the death penalty should only be applied to crimes involving death?

Update:

Obama Sided With Conservative Members Of The Supreme Court