In 1977, the Supreme Court held that rape of an adult female and kidnapping, when the victim was not killed, do not warrant the death penalty; in 2008, the Court ruled that the rape of child, when the victim was not killed, also did not warrant the death penalty.

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In 1977, the Supreme Court in Coker v. Georgia ruled that the death penalty for rape of an adult woman was grossly disproportionate and violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In 2008, in Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Court extended this principle to cases of child rape, holding that the death penalty was not a permissible punishment for the rape of a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the death of the victim.

In 1977, the Supreme Court Held That Rape of an Adult