Talk:Coker v. Georgia

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Other proportionality arguments.

I've deleted the following text from a recent revision of the article:

Like other arguments based on proportionality, the argument against execution for rape can be justified by an appeal to perverse incentive, in that a criminal who believes that he or she will be executed for a rape would have an incentive to murder their victim (which would not make the punishment any worse) rather than allow the victim to live, since the victim's testimony increases their chance of being arrested and convicted.

I don't disagree with this statement. However, I don't think it belongs in a discussion of the Court's decision. The Court's proportionality analysis has to have some relationship to what is "cruel and unusual." The Court does not make law based on philosophical argument; rather, it defines the outer boundaries of legislative power with reference to a written constitution, in this case the text of the Eighth Amendment. It cannot incorporate arguments, such as this philosophical argument, that have too attenuated a connection to that text.

I have added this text to the capital punishment debate article. ---Axios023 04:47, 10 November 2006 (UTC)