## Facts

- Patrick O. Kennedy was charged in Louisiana with aggravated rape of his eight-year-old stepdaughter.
- A Louisiana statute authorized the death penalty for aggravated rape of a child under 12.
- A jury convicted Kennedy and imposed a death sentence.
- The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed, concluding the Eighth Amendment permitted capital punishment for child rape based on its severity and its assessment of national consensus and proportionality.
- The U.S. Supreme Court granted review to decide whether the Eighth Amendment permits the death penalty for child rape when the victim did not die and death was not intended.

## Issues

1. Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits imposing the death penalty for rape of a child when the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim’s death.
2. Whether objective evidence of legislation and actual sentencing and execution practices shows a national consensus against capital punishment for this non-homicide offense.
3. Whether, under independent proportionality review, retribution and deterrence justify capital punishment for child rape as a category of crime.

## Decision

- The Court reversed the judgment upholding the death sentence.
- The Court held that the Eighth Amendment bars Louisiana from imposing the death penalty for the rape of a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim’s death.
- The Court treated the rule as applying to non-homicide crimes against individuals where no death occurs and none is intended.
- The Court relied on objective indicia (limited authorization among jurisdictions and the long absence of executions for rape or other non-homicide crimes) and its independent proportionality judgment.
- The Court issued a later technical modification to address an omission about certain federal statutes, without changing the constitutional holding.

## Legal Principles

- The Eighth Amendment’s meaning is informed by “evolving standards of decency,” assessed through objective indicia of legislative enactments and actual state practice, followed by the Court’s independent judgment.
- Capital punishment must be confined to a narrow set of the most serious crimes and the most culpable offenders.
- As a categorical matter, the death penalty is disproportionate for non-homicide crimes against individuals where the victim did not die and death was not intended, including child rape.
- In proportionality analysis, retribution and deterrence are relevant but do not justify capital punishment for child rape when no life is taken; the Court also considered risks of arbitrary application and effects on reporting and the victim’s burden.

## Conclusion

The Supreme Court held that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause categorically prohibits the death penalty for the rape of a child when the victim does not die and the defendant did not intend the victim’s death, concluding that objective evidence and proportionality review place this non-homicide offense outside the class of crimes for which execution is constitutionally permissible.


Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008)