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Child Rape, the Death Penalty, and the Military

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

Louisiana's rehearing petition in the Supreme Court case continues to prompt much discussion. Our post on the original decision is here. SCOTUSblog has the petition for rehearing here. Doug Berman's latest SL&P post, with a link to the prior one, is here. The main point of the rehearing petition is that the parties failed to brief, and therefore the Court was unaware, that Congress has provided for the death penalty for rape of a child in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The "consensus" analysis of the opinion is therefore not entirely accurate. I do not believe this will make a difference. The military is unique, and the fact that Congress thought this penalty is necessary in a military context says little about its appropriateness for the general population...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on July 23, 2008 (boomark / email).