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HLR Publishes Kennedy Case Note

By Corey Rayburnyung

Harvard Law Review's latest issue is now available online. The issue includes a nice case note on Kennedy v. Louisiana.  From the summary:... Writing for the Court, Justice Kennedy held "that a death sentence for one who raped but did not kill a child, and who did not intend to assist another in killing the child, is unconstitutional under the Eighth" Amendment's proscription of cruel and unusual punishment, basing the ruling "both on consensus and the Court's own independent judgment." ... The Court also rejected Louisiana's broader argument that the few states that had capital rape statutes better represented the current standards of society because they represented "a consistent direction of change in support of the death penalty for child rape," saying that consistent change had not been proven and might not make a difference anyway...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sex Crimes on November 21, 2008 (boomark / email).