No Death Penalty for Child Rape...

In a 5-4 vote on Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down a law that allows execution for raping a child, ruling that it would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

From the article:

Not since 1964 has anyone been executed in the United States for a crime other than murder, and of about 3,300 inmates now on death row, only two are facing execution for an offense that did not involve a killing — and both of those inmates are in Louisiana. Patrick Kennedy, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter and the other is Richard Davis, who was condemned for assaulting a 5-year-old girl.

Whether you are for or against the death penalty, cases like this are ones you need to watch. The Supreme Court has the power to make some of the most important decisions in our lives and it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months with many more rulings to be rendered.

Personally, I see no wrong with executing a child rapist. At the very least, they need to be locked away from the public with no access to children or society for that matter. We are currently spending too much time and tax payer money locking up drug users and other petty criminals while over populated prisons are releasing murderers and other violent criminals. Does this make sense?

Here is an interesting quote from the 2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University:

"We need diversion, like drug courts. Non-violent offenders should not be serving hard time in our prisons. They need to be diverted from our prison system. Ultimately we need an attorney general and a system of justice that truly does treat people equally, and that has not happened under this administration."
-Hillary Clinton

While I may not always agree with Senator Clinton, she does raise an interesting point. Thoughts?