In a loathsome repeat of the Supreme Court’s twisted logic of a few weeks ago granting constitutional rights to terrorists, the same Gang of Five has declared capital punishment for child rapists transgresses “the constitutional commitment to decency and restraint.” Now, monsters contemplating the sexual destruction of girls of any age need not fear the ultimate sanction. Never mind that the victim in the case before the court had to be surgically repaired following her ordeal. Never mind that her family says “she has been scarred forever.” Our evolving sensibilities, expressed most elegantly by the Gang of Five, require us to feed, clothe, and house child rapists for life ”no matter how devastating the crime to children,” according to the Associated Press. If this is progress, God help our progeny.
In high moral tones, Justice Anthony Kennedy declared “When the law punishes by death, it risks its own sudden descent into brutality.” Only trouble with that is, the brutality has already occurred. The following is from Kennedy’s own opinion:
“L. H. [the 8-year-old child victim in the case at hand] was transported to the Children’s Hospital. An expert in pediatric forensic medicine testified that L. H.’s injuries were the most severe he had seen from a sexual assault in his four years of practice. A laceration to the left wall of the vagina had separated her cervix from the back of her vagina, causing her rectum to protrude into the vaginal structure. Her entire perineum was torn from the posterior fourchette to the anus. The injuries required emergency surgery.”
Ah, but we are in tune with our better angels and refuse to give in to primitive urges for revenge, or even justice. As Kennedy had it, “the death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child.” Easy for him to say. Personally, I think death by lethal injection is too lenient for child rapists. I vote for a return to “death by a thousand cuts” [see Murder With a Hammer, Die By a Hammer] or some similarly hideous punishment that truly fits the crime.
Interestingly, both Barack Obama and John McCain took issue with the court’s ruling, each candidate no doubt mindful that average Americans recoil at the notion of coddling child rapists. Rape victims will tell you there are things worse than death, and the brutal rape of a prepubescent child must be one of them. Nevertheless, yesterday’s ruling by the Gang of Five is merely the latest in a long line of decisions strengthening the rights of society’s most vile members. George Bush’s two nominees, Alito and Roberts, have brought the court to the brink of judicial sanity. The next president will tip the balance, left or right, for the next 30 years.
Only John McCain has pledged to nominate justices in the mold of Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Cultural Insanity, Death Penalty, Video