BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — The Louisiana Attorney General has joined a group of 20 other attorneys general to overturn the United States Supreme Court decision, which bans the death penalty in child rape cases.

In 2008, a Louisiana man, Patrick Kennedy, was charged with aggravated rape of an 8-year-old girl. He was convicted and sentenced to death. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the sentencing and ruled that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments. They argued that the death penalty was unjust for crimes against individuals where the victim does not die.

Liz Murrill and other attorneys general sent a letter to the Department of Justice arguing that Kennedy v. Louisiana was wrongly decided and that the Constitution allows capital punishment for horrific crimes against children.

"As I've stated many times before, child rapists deserve the death penalty. The United States Supreme Court needs to reverse this egregiously wrong ruling," said Murrill.

The letter emphasized that the Court's decision stopped states from deterring predators who commit extreme sexual assaults against children. It argued that the decision disregards the harm inflicted on the children and undermines states' ability to protect their young citizens.

Attorneys general from Florida, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia signed off on the letter.

Read the full letter below.

According to the National Children Alliance (NCA), in 2023, about 4,105 were victims of reported sexual abuse.

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