Until recently, the death penalty for child rape was legal in five states. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, overturned those laws last year. The case at hand involved a stepfather sentenced to death in Louisiana for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. The girl was so badly injured that she needed emergency surgery.
Only Louisiana had people on death row for child rape. Georgia, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas required a previous conviction or other aggravating factor to make this a capital crime.
Writing for the court majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said that while child rape was a "devastating" crime, it did not rise to the level of homicide. It could not be likened to intentional first-degree murder.
A sickening crime, to be sure, but Kennedy is right. It is not my intention here to call for any expansion of the death penalty. On the contrary. Executing prisoners exposes society to the excruciating risk of killing someone who was wrongly convicted. That hazard grows stronger in the cases of child rape, where young witnesses may not be reliable.
But we who oppose the death penalty must also take on grave responsibilities. We must ensure that justice is served and dangerous predators are prevented from harming others. Both ends can be met by keeping bad people behind bars.
And:
And so where does that leave those who oppose capital punishment? It should leave them demanding a justice system that doesn't get sloppy about releasing perpetrators of heinous crimes. Sometimes, you have to be tough to be humane.
Harrop's home paper is the Providence Journal of Rhode Island, where she is a member of the editorial board.
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