Kennedy v. Louisiana

Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court death-penalty decision concerning death penalty for non-homicide crimes against individuals.

Background

The case reached the Supreme Court through a capital prosecution and required the justices to define how constitutional protections apply when a state seeks or carries out a death sentence. It sits within the modern line of cases interpreting the Eighth Amendment and, where relevant, the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Supreme Court ruling

The death penalty is unconstitutional for rape of a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim’s death.

Why it matters

The decision became part of the operating constitutional framework for American capital punishment. Later courts, defense lawyers, prosecutors and corrections agencies have had to account for its rule when evaluating death eligibility, sentencing procedure or execution protocols.

Citation

554 U.S. 407 (2008) — decided 2008-06-25.

Sources

– U.S. Supreme Court — Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008) (opinion via Justia)