Kennedy v. Louisiana

Background

A Louisiana man was convicted of raping his then‑8‑year‑old stepdaughter and sentenced to death under a state law that made rape of a child under 12 punishable by death. The State Supreme Court affirmed, and the case reached the United States Supreme Court to decide whether the Eighth Amendment allows execution when the victim was not killed and death was not intended.

Reasoning

The Justices examined what legislatures and courts authorize around the country, how rarely executions have occurred for nonhomicide crimes, and prior decisions such as Coker, Enmund, Roper, and Atkins. The majority found a national consensus against executing people for child rape and, in its independent judgment, concluded that the death penalty is a disproportionate punishment for nonhomicide child rape. The opinion stressed the moral distinction between murder and nonhomicide crimes, the difficulty of drafting narrowing rules that avoid arbitrary results, and systemic concerns like unreliable child testimony and effects on reporting and deterrence.

Real world impact

The ruling invalidates Louisiana’s death penalty for the rape‑of‑a‑child offense and prevents states from carrying out death sentences when the crime did not, and was not intended to, cause the victim’s death. It affects defendants, prosecutors, and victim‑witness procedures in states that had or considered similar laws. The Court reversed the state court’s death sentence and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this constitutional rule.

Dissents or concurrances

A dissent argued the Court misread legislative practice and that Coker’s language discouraged states from enacting laws, so the small number of capital statutes does not prove a true national consensus; that view would have left the Louisiana sentence intact.