Death Penalty for Child Rape Unconstitutional?
Lawyers for Patrick Kennedy, a Louisiana man who received a death sentence for raping a child has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to have his case heard before the justices. Kennedy’s legal team wants the court to declare Louisiana’s law allowing the death penalty for child rape unconstitutional. The petition asks the court to consider whether the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause permits a state to impose the death penalty for child rape – a punishment usually reserved for those…