Death penalty for child rape struck down in US

Washington: The US Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled the death penalty cannot be imposed for child rape, its first decision in more than 30 years on whether a crime other than murder can be punished by execution.

The nation's highest court ruled by a 5-4 vote that the death penalty for the crime of raping a child violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Writing for the court majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the Constitution bars a state from imposing the death penalty for the rape of a child when the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim's death.

The ruling was a victory for Patrick Kennedy, 43, of Louisiana, who challenged his death sentence after being convicted for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter in 1998.

Of the more than 3,300 inmates on death row in America, Kennedy and another man convicted of child rape in Louisiana are the only ones who did not commit murder.