Quote:
Originally Posted by Tex
Did you read the definition of aggravated rape according to the Louisiana statute, Indy? There are 5 other states with child-rape-death-penalty laws, have you read any of those? Putting on my amateur legislator's hat, I'm truthfully not sure how I would legislate this, but I find the Louisiana statute to be reasonable.
I also find this specific case to be worthy of such a penalty. Are you suggesting that in order for my position to be sound, the phrase "the entire perineum was torn from the posterior fourchette to the anus" needs to be in the statute?
As I said before, the second point here is whether or not the Court's reasoning is sound. You're making an argument they did not make. They based their decision on their assessment that a "national consensus" exists opposing this practice, nor in line with "evolving standards of decency." Are you comfortable with them being the judge of what constitutes a national consensus or standards of decency, or do you simply like their ruling because you agree with it, for your own reasons?
I'm not advocating that. But we've already got hypotheticals expressed in this thread when no one is dealing with what actually happened. Forget policy for a moment ... read what happened to this girl. If the option were available to you as a juror, would that enough for you?
|
The language of the Eighth Amendment is "cruel and unusual punishment." What are the justices to do in interpreting that language if not deciding what society views as being cruel and in determining the extent to which the punishment is unusual? Is there some sort of fixed meaning to the terms "cruel" and "unusual?"