Apr 16 2008
8 year old girl raped… should child rapists be executed?
Two little girls… both 8 years old. Two brutal rapes.
In Louisiana…
Patrick Kennedy, 43, is on death row in Louisiana for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
In addition to severe emotional trauma, “the attack caused internal injuries and bleeding to the child, requiring extensive surgery,” Louisiana prosecutors said.
In 2003, he was sentenced to die. If he is executed, he will be the first convicted rapist in 44 years to be executed in a case in which the victim was not killed. In the 70s, the US Supreme court banned capital punishment for rape and any other crime except murder. But, Louisiana later passed a law allowing execution for sexual violation of a child under 12.
So, the battle in court is… should he die? Or shouldn’t he?
In Yemeni…
… parents can arrange marriages for children under 15. The only stipulation of the law is that the husband must wait until the girl starts puberty before he is allowed to consummate the marriage.
Little Nojud’s father and mother forced her to sign a marriage contract to a 30 year old man. She was told that she would live with her parents until she was 18, so she signed. One week later, they sent her to live with her husband.
Her father said he “married her off” because he was afraid she would be kidnapped, like her two older sisters were.
For two months, the 8 year old’s child’s 30-year-old husband beat and raped her.
“I used to run from room to room to escape from him. But he would catch up with me, beat me and then would use me,” the girl said, her tiny frame swallowed in an oversized robe and headscarf…
In early April, little Nojud sought out a judge on her own and asked for a divorce. The judge, Mohammed al-Qady, sympathized with the little girl and terminated the marriage because she had not yet reached puberty.
The girl’s family was ordered to pay $US250 as “compensation” to her ex-husband. Her ex-husband will not be charged because Yemeni law does not recognize rape as a crime in marriage. It also doesn’t provide for punishment if a marriage is consummated before a child-wife reaches puberty.
The little girl’s lawyer said she would make sure Nojud got an education. And the little girl? She has no desire to see her father and will live with a maternal uncle.
“I am happy that I am divorced now. I will be able to go back to school,”
More reading if you’re interested….
[should Louisiana child rapist be executed? story here.]
[8 year old files for divorce afer rape. and more here ]
Where does one even start?
… Should child rapists be executed?
… Should the man in Louisiana be executed for raping his 8 year old stepdaughter?
… What about the ex-husband in Yemen who walked away with US $250 in his pocket for the same crime?
… Is it right for one man to die while another profits for the same crime?
… Are they the same crime? Why or why not?
Popularity: 55% [?]
yes. yes. yes. yes. yes. yes.
this child required extensive surgery for internal injuries as a result of this rape.
but regardless — the child will suffer all her days. even those of us (and i include me as a child victim of rape) who remain survive do NOT survive unscathed.
there is no reason for this to happen.
to allow any man to live who commits such an act is to give dispensation for him to do it again sometime in the future.
the answer is yes.
The child lived. Eye for an eye, not life for an eye. Put him in jail until the end of time, sure, but this was not a capital crime.
The comparison between the American criminal system and the Yemeni marraige system is, of course, apples and oranges. Actually more like apples and rocks. They just aren’t the same, and while both can be discussed on the basis of their flaws and merits alone, they aren’t comparable.
lol, Ryan. Yes, the legal systems in America vs Yemeni are apples and rocks. That’s a good one.
And yet… the act is the same. An 8 year old girl was raped against her will in both cases. That’s kind of what I was getting at… does having different “laws” make the act any less horrible?
Thanks for posting your thoughts! I do love a good discussion and to hear what other people think. It’s the best way to stretch one’s own mind.
No-one should ever be executed.
The fact that someone makes a bad decitions and commits a horrible crime does not give others the right to take their life.
I understand you would want to put someone like that behind bars for the rest of his life. As to protect society against their actions, but execution is never the answer.
There have been many cases of executed people that were proven innocent afterwards. That is just horrible. If these people had been locked up, in stead of executed, you could have released them and payed them a compensation for the time spent in prison. Execution is never the answer, this is not the middle ages!
Yes, exucute him.
Ryan - Unless you’ve had this happen to you and know the lifelong consequenses victims live with, you can’t say it isn’t a capital crime. Louisiana, to thier credit, has made the crime a capital one. You are quoting from the same Bible that under the laws of Moses called for such people who commit such crimes to be stoned to death. So taking a Bible quote out of context isn’t helpful to the discussion.
Putting them behind bars does not work. There will always be the chance of some so-called do-gooder ‘pardoning’ them or releasing them for whatever reason. Anyone capable of such a crime needs to be executed for the safety of the rest of society. There are many cases of convicts escaping or being released only to commit another such atrocious crime.
And just because one barbaric, 3rd-world country allows such barbarism to go unpunished or even rewarded has no bearing on what a civilized country decides to do.
I wish I could have personally executed the man who raped me as a young child.
Laura, no child should have to go through that and I’m so sorry someone did that to you.
Ofcourse this man should be executed, and not by lethal injection but a bullet to the head . This man has been proven guilty by dna. DNA can not be argued with. A gun, some bullets and cleaning staff would be much cheaper than housing, feeding, and proving medical care and guards to ensure they do not escape or are hurt for a man who will contribute anything to society but heartache and sevre trauma to the children he comes in contact with.
Also why are we as larger more powerful countries forcing these small third world countries to stop these inhumane laws that promote pedophilia. Why do we not cut off aid to these countries until these laws are abolished.
Also I beleive anyone who does not beleive these people should die should be forced to watch those horrid videos that these perverts make and then make their desicion.
These children should be entiled to a free eductaion, cunsling, a home with suitable parents. It is pethtic that in my province Ontario the attacker seems to have more rights than victim. It seems the province does more to protect the criminal rather than the victim or in many cases victims.
defintaly be forced*
ha sorry about the error
Yumpin Yemeni!
Actually, I like to pick the guy up by the ankles and beat that 30 year old Yemeni “husband” to death with him. That way, they’d both be dead and there would be no murder weapon.
[…] That??s kind of what I was getting at?? does having different ???laws??? make the act any less …http://atlindas.com/2008/04/8-year-old-girl-raped-should-child-rapists-be-executed/Life sucks…? I’m 13 and going to high school this year. I homeschool …… shouldn’t even be […]
I am on the “cleaner” side of this argument and choose not to have him executed. Execution is a violation of commandment #5. I love how all of the woman are chanting “execute that bastard!” while the men choose not to execute him. In my opinion woman have it hard, being looked at like eye candy is one thing, but being a child and looked at that way is just wrong.
If this guy really wanted some girl to have sex with he should have went clubbing or something. There are lots of eager drunk girls willing to have sex at clubs, he should try this sometime instead of just raping young girls. Life in jail ought to serve him right.
I found this website while looking for a rape I heard about in Louisiana, and it isn’t the rape by Kennedy. I was sexually abused by a door to door salesman when I was 12, and he also assaulted a neighbor up the street who was 14. We called the police, and that was the end of the story… they took him away. Now, 15 years later a prosecutor from Louisiana is calling me and asking me my story because the same man has raped a SIX year old girl in Louisiana. When I read you could get death in that state, well, I felt really glad. It didn’t have to get to this point. He should have been locked up for life already, especially because his track record was bigger than my incident. Execution is a violation of commandment # 5? What about the total violation of these small girls? PEDOPHILIA DOESN’T GO AWAY, people that seek out children don’t just stop because they go to jail for 20 years. Our system will not keep half these type of men in jail for as long as they “ought” to be there. So, in cases where the brutality is so severe, I say good riddens. I don’t really want my tax money sustaining his life in jail.
As far as yemen, you can’t compare the two. They are both awful, but again, apples and rocks.
Why would people want him executed? That is just too easy for a person convicted of such a heinous crime. He should be placed in maximum security prison with hardened criminals, and make his crim public to all the other inmates. That way people will rape him and probably kill him, because even inmates have a sense of moral duty when it comes to children.
Sure, we can have him sit comfotably in solitary confinement waiting death…or
He could be publicly abused and possible killed while living with the other prisoners.
Which fits best?
I think the man in Yemen needs his family jewels cut off however, it is common in male dominated religious nations to reward men for such crimes. Well at least the judge did the right thing and let the poor girl go. Now in america we do not need to compare with other countries. So yes kill all child rapists as they are not worth the air they breath.
He should have been happy with the death sentence. I dunno what they’re going to do with him now, but I’m pushing for his entry into the general population (at which point, the general population will enter him). Would that be enough of an eye-for an eye should he require reconstructive surgery afterwards?
diz is sick what kinda country is diz shes just 8 n she gets married? n da guy raped n beat her diz is a pedofiles dream diz a sick ass countrry
Seeing as I know victims of rape, and seeing as personally, if I EVER found the person that raped any one of them, I’d gladly go to jail for murdering them. They kill the person they rape, not physically, but mentally and emotionally. There’s no use for people like this in society, no need to give them 3 meals a day, air conditioning, heating, and cable TV in prison.
well, the question that comes to my mind is, ‘will the rapists stop if a law says that they will be sentenced to death?’ Let us put on the shoes of the 8 yr old yemeni girl, how would we feel, being married off to a 30 yr old man? Both the husband and parents of that poor child are sick in their minds to do such a thing, in the US and most other countries, if not all would not accept such.
It’s hard not to get our emotions involved, I am an ex cop, and it hurt me so much attending to scenes where women and children were raped, by their husbands, fathers, step fathers, drug addicted brothers, uncles, family friends, it’s amaizing how people trusted are the ones most committing these horrible crimes. God only knows how much I’ve wanted to shoot these men that rape. But we don’t have the death penalty from the island that i come from, but if we did, alot of these rapists would stop.
How a man can look at a young girl and get sexually aroused and acts on his feelings and rapes the child should be put to death just as if he has committed murder. To prove murder, you need to prove two things, actus rea and mens rea, ie intention and action, therefore, in rape the same applies, so the sentencing should be the same too.
Clearly, it is time for the weak and modern spineless men to just shut up and step aside. As a woman, I say mandatory hanging for this horrific act. Too costly to others who await his barbaric behavior, too costly in permanent psychologic injury to this innocent little 8 -year-old girl, and too costly for those who do obey the laws and have good manners. The best way to end this kind of intolerable behavior is to be strong enough to impose the sentence of mandatory hanging in public. Watch and witness whether or not this is a deterrent.