Supreme Court Needs To Keep Patrick Kennedy Alive

Listen, I have a variety of reasons for being against the death penalty: it's racist, it's about nothing more than revenge, it's morally unjust, it hasn't proven at all to be a deterrent to crime. And in the light of former inmates once on death row, continually having their sentences reversed thanks to DNA evidence showing that they didn't commit the crime they were convicted of, it'd take a perfect criminal justice to fairly impose the death penalty as there is no coming back from capital punishment. But the idea that Patrick Kennedy could be put to death for rape is literally insane because it serves to fortify the agenda of radical feminists who in their hatred of men and "rape is about violence" creeds, want rape to be treated on the same level as murder:

He is not a killer, but the state of Louisiana is determined to execute Patrick Kennedy for his crime.

The New Orleans native faces that reality as he sits on death row at Louisiana's maximum security prison, the largest prison in the nation. The Louisiana State Penitentiary, or Angola Prison, is the size of Manhattan and surrounded on three sides by the Mississippi River.

Unlike the 3,300 inmates awaiting execution nationwide -- including the 94 other men at Angola -- Kennedy, 43, is a convicted rapist. The victim was his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

For the first time in 44 years, a state is preparing to execute a man for a felony other than murder. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday on whether Louisiana can use capital punishment in child rape cases.

If the Supreme Court sides with Louisiana (and considering recent death penalty decisions by this court as well as the fact that the Supreme Court banned executions for rape in 1977, I don't think they will), their decision could have serious consequences that the "we-hate-men" crowd fail to consider or even care about. For starters, since most rapists don't kill, what's to stop a child rapist from not wanting to leave any witnesses behind, thus deciding to murder the child, knowing that if he's caught, he'll be executed? Then too, the door also opens for legislators, to take a look at other crimes, in addition to child rape, that may be repulsive enough to society to warrant capital punishment. Finally, with adult victims of rape already having a hard time proving their cases in court, the emphasis on proving a rape occurred is more difficult for a youngster--can you imagine the added pressure with the burden of proof resting on an emotionally wrecked child shoulders? Indeed Patrick Kennedy committed a heinous act, but he didn't kill anyone. Lock him up for the rest of his without the possibility of parole, but don't give him the chair.