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1 1 (March 21, 2008)

handle is hein.crs/crsuntaahuy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22844 March 21, 2008 ~ CRS Report for Congress Capital Punishment: Constitutionality for Non-Homicide Crimes Such as Child Rape Alison M. Smith Legislative Attorney American Law Division Summary The United States has not executed any individual for committing a non-homicide crime since the United States reinstated the death penalty in 1976. However, this may change as several federal and state statutes authorize capital punishment for certain non- homicide offenses such as treason, espionage, aircraft piracy, aggravated kidnapping, and drug trafficking in large quantities. More recently, some states have authorized the death penalty for some instances of child rape. The constitutionality of these statutes has been called into question in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's capital penalty jurisprudence. Earlier Supreme Court cases appear to stand for the proposition that the death penalty in the United States is largely restricted to crimes in which the defendant caused the death of another human being. During the present term, the Court may determine whether states may constitutionally impose the death penalty for any crime other than murder in particular, whether a death sentence is a disproportionate penalty, under the Eighth Amendment, for raping a child. The Court will address these issues in its review of a Louisiana Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana. Legal Background. The Eighth Amendment, applicable to the federal government and to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, bars the use of excessive sanctions in the criminal justice system. It states specifically that [e]xcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.' Underlying this provision is the fundamental precept of justice that punishment for [a] crime should be graduated and proportioned to [the] offense.''2 The U.S. Supreme Court has stated that only the worst of the worst may be executed for their crimes.' However, the Court has provided minimal guidance for the worst of 1 U.S. Const. Amend. VIII. 2 Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349,367 (1910) (holding that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Clause requires that punishment for a crime be proportional to its severity). 3See, Kansas v. March, 126 S. Ct. 2516, 2542 (2006) (Souter, J., dissenting) (stating that within (continued...) Congressional Research Service The Library of Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress