Louisiana Supreme Court upholds death penalty for rape of an 8-year-old girl

[Sam Spade]

I agree and expect reversal by a 5-4 margin with Kennedy holding the deciding vote.

He's been leaning slightly more to the left on death penalty issues for the last few years.

[Sam Spade]

Attempted escape is not even illegal in sane countries.

Really?  What's the logic behind that?

The logic is that a prisoner has every right to do that.

Of course, he'll lose all chance of an early release. And of course, it's illegal to help spring others from jail, which in practice means it's also illegal to attempt escape in groups.

Punishments for attempted crimes find their genesis in early English and American common law and exist in no other legal systems.

Early English and American common law regarded these crimes as misdemeanors, only later American criminal statutes (post-1900) regarded these crimes as felonies.  That is how it stands nowadays - England still regards attempted crimes as misdemeanors.

[Sam Spade]

Attempted escape is not even illegal in sane countries.

Really?  What's the logic behind that?

The logic is that a prisoner has every right to do that.

Of course, he'll lose all chance of an early release. And of course, it's illegal to help spring others from jail, which in practice means it's also illegal to attempt escape in groups.

Punishments for attempted crimes find their genesis in early English and American common law and exist in no other legal systems.

Early English and American common law regarded these crimes as misdemeanors, only later American criminal statutes (post-1900) regarded these crimes as felonies.  That is how it stands nowadays - England still regards attempted crimes as misdemeanors.

Not true. Attempted murder is a crime under Portuguese (civil) law.

Interesting, I didn't know that (though I don't swear to be an expert in Portuguese law). 

[Sam Spade]

Kennedy's logic on this one is particularly amusing, by just skimming through the opinion.

[Sam Spade]

Best line from the dissent, as posted on another site, through what I've read so far:

"A major theme of the Court’s opinion is that permitting the death penalty in child-rape cases is not in the best interests of the victims of these crimes and society at large. In this vein, the Court suggests that it is more painful for child-rape victims to testify when the prosecution is seeking the death penalty. Ante, at 32. The Court also argues that “a State that punishes child rape by death may remove a strong incentive for the rapist not to kill the victim,” ante, at 35, and may discourage the reporting of child rape, ante, at 34–35.

These policy arguments, whatever their merits, are simply not pertinent to the question whether the death penalty is “cruel and unusual” punishment. The Eighth Amendment protects the right of an accused. It does not authorize this Court to strike down federal or state criminal laws on the ground that they are not in the best interests of crime victims or the broader society. The Court’s policy arguments concern matters that legislators should—and presumably do—take into account in deciding whether to enact a capital child-rape statute, but these arguments are irrelevant to the question that is before us in this case. Our cases have cautioned against using “ ‘the aegis of the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause’ to cut off the normal democratic processes,” Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U. S. 304, 323 (2002) (Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting), in turn quoting Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 176 (1976), (joint opinion of Stewart, Powell, and STEVENS, JJ.), but the Court forgets that warning here."

[Sam Spade]

Larry Tribe supports reviewing USSC screw-up on this case (which has been filed) - Suspect he has an ulterior motive actually, but I agree:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121746018426398797.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries