I'm sure most of you who have a passing interest in American constitutional law are aware that the 1970s featured a quite a number of death penalty cases. This is one of them.
Coker v. Georgia (1977) (link to the Library of Congress' full text PDF) ruled that the death penalty would constitute "grossly disproportionate" and "excessive" punishment, so would violate the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishments.
In the plurality opinion, Justice Byron White wrote:
However, the Supreme Court would not outlaw the use of the death penalty in cases of child rape until Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008). Kennedy opined that in civilian courts, only premeditated murder and treason were severe enough to warrant the possibility of a death sentence.
Coker is an opinion which I admire for three reasons. First off, I'm an opponent of the death penalty in general. Second, because it was unpopular, and would probably be even more unpopular now; cases like these reaffirm that independent judicial review is sine qua non to the preservation of liberal and democratic political values. Last but not least, Coker was a well-needed opinion in an era where racial bias played an extremely prevalent role in criminal sentencing (and the criminal justice system overall); even though only a relatively small number of rape cases led to a death sentence, the vast majority of rapists in Georgia who received the death penalty were black men convicted of raping white women. Cases involving white men and/or black victims tended to result in comparatively lenient sentences.
Coker v. Georgia (1977) (link to the Library of Congress' full text PDF) ruled that the death penalty would constitute "grossly disproportionate" and "excessive" punishment, so would violate the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishments.
In the plurality opinion, Justice Byron White wrote:
However, the Supreme Court would not outlaw the use of the death penalty in cases of child rape until Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008). Kennedy opined that in civilian courts, only premeditated murder and treason were severe enough to warrant the possibility of a death sentence.
Coker is an opinion which I admire for three reasons. First off, I'm an opponent of the death penalty in general. Second, because it was unpopular, and would probably be even more unpopular now; cases like these reaffirm that independent judicial review is sine qua non to the preservation of liberal and democratic political values. Last but not least, Coker was a well-needed opinion in an era where racial bias played an extremely prevalent role in criminal sentencing (and the criminal justice system overall); even though only a relatively small number of rape cases led to a death sentence, the vast majority of rapists in Georgia who received the death penalty were black men convicted of raping white women. Cases involving white men and/or black victims tended to result in comparatively lenient sentences.
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