CJ 2241 Case Comparison 2-3 pages CopyScape rules Please read as it must be exact!

Case Comparisons

Tommy K. Bush Sr.

Troy University

CJ 2241

January 15th, 2014

Introduction

Criminal law generally refers to State and Federal laws which make certain that make certain behavior illegal and therefore punishable by either fines and/or imprisonment (Schopp, Weiner, Bornstein & Willborn, 2010). Criminal cases therefore, are charges which are followed by prosecutors for violations of criminal statutes. It is paramount that the law is always upheld in order not to compromise the legal system and also not to violate the rights of the perpetrator (Carmen, Ritter & Witt, 2008). In this particular instance, we are going to compare two cases which may have possibly infringed the 8th Amendment which awards every person to free from cruel and unusual punishment (Bourke & Loeb, 2008).

Discussion

Comparing the Hudson v. McMillian (90-6531) case and the Kennedy v. Louisiana (07-343) case, it is quite obvious that in both, the rights of the inmate Mr. Keith Hudson and defendant, Mr. Patrick Kennedy’s 8th Amendment rights were violated (Schopp, et al, 2010). Mr. Hudson claimed that he was beaten by two Prison Guards namely, Marvin Woods and Jack McMillian as their supervisor, Mr. Arthur Mezo watched (Carmen, et al, 2008). On the other hand, a Louisiana Jury established that Mr. Patrick Kennedy was guilty of aggravated rape of his 8 year old step-daughter under the Louisiana aggravated rape statute (Bourke & Loeb, 2008).

Facts

In the Hudson and McMillian case, the District Court ruled that the Prison guards had definitely applied excessive force when there was no actual need to do so, therefore violating the 8th Amendment (Schopp, et al, 2010). This subsequently entitled Hudson to damages. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals however reversed the ruling citing that an inmate ought to lay bare ‘significant injury’ while claiming that his 8th Amendment rights have in one way or the other been violated due to the use of excessive force (Carmen, et al, 2008).

On the other hand, the Kennedy v. Louisiana case, in a 2003 jury, the District Court established that Mr. Patrick Kennedy was guilty of the 1998 rape of his step-daughter who was 8 years old then; in line with the recommendation of the jury, Mr. Kennedy was sentenced to death by the court (Bourke & Loeb, 2008). Mr. Kennedy was charged with aggravated rape of a child by the State, this was according to the Louisiana capital rape statute ‘R.S. 14:42 D. (2)’ (Schopp, et al, 2010). This statute made availed the death penalty for the defendants who raped minors under the age of twelve, moreover, it was at the time of Kennedy’s trial (Carmen, et al, 2008).

Kennedy appealed his sentence and conviction to the Louisiana Supreme Court among his other 69 allegations of error in which he claimed that his death sentence had violated the 8th Amendment’s proscription against cruel and unusual punishment (Bourke & Loeb, 2008). This was due to the fact that it was a disproportionate penalty for a crime which did not necessarily upshot in the loss of life. It should be noted that in its 1977 verdict, Cocker vs. Georgia, the US Supreme Court struck down a death sentence for the rape of a 16 year old minor due to the 8th Amendment grounds (Schopp, et al, 2010).

Issue

The issue in the first case was that is it a mandatory that an who alleges that his 8th Amendment right has been violated to show ‘significant injury’ in order to prevail his claim and subsequently be free from cruel and unusual punishment? (Carmen, et al, 2008). Whereas, the second case beckons to clarify whether it is cruel and unusual punishment to sentence someone to death exclusively for the rape of a child and whether the Louisiana capital rape law violates the 8th Amendment by falling short to provide sufficient narrowing guidance to juries in regard to who among those found guilty of this particular crime should be entitled for the death penalty (Bourke & Loeb, 2008).

Holding

In the first case, the Supreme Court held that the extent of injury suffered any inmate is one of several aspects in an 8th Amendment claim, but that the dearth of significant injury does not necessarily mean that his rights have not been violated (Schopp, et al, 2010). The court should therefore consider of the inflicted punishment was sadistic and malicious (Carmen, et al, 2008). In the second case, Louisiana held that as the court’s prior jurisprudence was rather silent on capital rape, its sovereign judgment in this particular case would have legitimately led to a finding that capital rape was unconstitutional (Bourke & Loeb, 2008). The court also highlighted the fact that two in five capital rape cases returned death sentences.

Reasoning

The reasoning behind the first case was that if and when prison officials sadistically and maliciously use excessive force to cause harm, modern standards of decency are often violated, one way or the other (Schopp, et al, 2010). Finally, in the second case, the court also emphasized the lifetime impact of sexual abuse, furthermore, citing that psychological and physical disorder rates among victims with a link between severe abuse and significant long term harm (Carmen, et al, 2008).

Case Significance

The 8th Amendment is significant in both cases in the sense that cruel and unusual punishment should not be subjected upon any individual be it innocent or guilty, and as we have clearly seen, even convicted inmates are protected under this.

Conclusion

As we have discussed above, the 8th Amendment which prohibits the use of cruel and unusual punishment to anybody in custody is very paramount, and thus should be respected by any individual in the United States of America.

References