Court Opinion

ID: 9716511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:42:34.029478+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:46.288108
License: Public Domain

Tauro, C.J.
(concurring). This case is before us again after further briefing and argument by the parties and amici on the question whether the mandatory death sentence for murder committed in the course of rape or attempted rape is constitutional. A majority of the court hold that it is not.
The facts are set out in our earlier opinion. Commonwealth v. O’Neal, 367 Mass. 440, 441-442 (1975) (O’Neal I.). Briefly, the defendant was convicted of murder committed in the course of rape and was sentenced to death. In his appeal, he challenged both his conviction and his sentence. We affirmed the judgment of conviction in O’Neal I, and I limit my discussion here to the validity of the sentence imposed.
1. In determining whether the mandatory death penalty is constitutional in this context, I divide my analysis into two mutually supportive and interlocking parts: one relying on due process concepts derived from arts. 1, 10 and 12 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, the other on the “cruel or unusual punishments” clause of art. 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.1 This dual analysis is possible here where these two concepts are “so close as to merge” because the “due process argument reiterates what is essentially the primary purpose of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause *245... — i.e., punishment may not be more severe than is necessary to serve the legitimate interests of the State.” Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 359-360, fn.141 (1972) (Marshall, J., concurring).
A. Due Process.
In order to be sustained against a due process challenge, a statute affecting fundamental rights must be shown to serve a compelling governmental interest. Commonwealth v. Henry’s Drywall Co. Inc. 366 Mass. 539, 541-542 (1974). Selectmen of Framingham v. Civil Serv. Commn. 366 Mass. 547, 555 (1974). Cf. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 155 (1973). “The key words [necessary to promote a compelling governmental interest] emphasize a matter of degree: that a heavy burden of justification is on the State, and that the statute will be closely scrutinized in light of its asserted purposes.” Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 342-343 (1972). See Opinion of the Justices, 363 Mass. 909, 916-917 (1973). Additionally, it must be shown that the statutory scheme is the least onerous means of reaching the compelling goal. Roe v. Wade, supra. “Thus, if there is an alternative means by which the State can fulfil its purpose, having less adverse effects on fundamental constitutional rights, the State is required to use the less restrictive, more precisely adapted means.” Commonwealth v. O’Neal, 367 Mass. 440, 448 (1975), citing Fiorentino v. Probate Court, 365 Mass. 13, 19-20 (1974).
There is little doubt that life is a fundamental right “explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution.” San Antonio Independent Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 33-34 (1973). I stated in Commonwealth v. O’Neal, supra at 449, that the . . right to live ... is the natural right of every man’” (quoting from Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine, in Resistance, Rebellion and Death, 131, 221 [1969]), encompassing as it does “the right to have rights.” Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 102 (1958). See Comment, the Death Penalty Cases, 56 *246Cal. L. Rev. 1268, 1354 (1968). Life is “the greatest of all goods,” Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments, 45 (Trans, ed. 1963), and I believe that capital punishment, which involves the extinction of life, the most fundamental of all rights, “triggers strict scrutiny under the compelling State interest and least restrictive means test.2 Thus, in order for the State to allow the taking of life by legislative mandate it must demonstrate that such action is the least restrictive means toward furtherance of a compelling governmental end” (footnote added). Commonwealth v. O’Neal, supra at 449-450.
B. Cruel or Unusual Punishment.3
The compelling State interest analysis noted above is equally relevant under art. 26. The words “cruel or *247unusual” are words of art, and, as such, they do not have the same significance they would have in everyday parlance. Their meaning in a constitutional sense must be determined by this court.* **4
Of necessity, every punishment contains an element of cruelty. The convicted defendant who is deprived of freedom or property will feel that society’s exactions bind him cruelly. However, society tolerates a degree of cruelty when such cruelty is necessary to serve its legitimate needs.5 It is only where the level of cruelty is disproportionate to the magnitude of the crime, and as a *248consequence does not serve the needs of society, that a court will find the punishment to be too cruel and, thus, “cruel” within the meaning of art. 26.6 See McDonald v. Commonwealth, 173 Mass. 322, 328 (1899); Commonwealth v. Moore, 359 Mass. 509, 515 (1971); Commonwealth v. Morrow, 363 Mass. 601, 610-611 (1973). See also Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349, 368, 381 (1910);7 Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660, 666-667 (1962).
In ordinary circumstances, the Legislature is given broad discretion to determine what the appropriate punishment is for a given offense. Harding v. Commonwealth, 283 Mass. 369, 374-375 (1933). Commonwealth v. Morrow, supra. See Robinson v. California, supra, at 665. Where restraints on liberty or fines are involved, a heavy burden is on the sentenced defendant to establish that the punishment is disproportionate to the offense for which he was convicted. If he fails to demonstrate such disproportion, the punishment will not be characterized as cruel in a constitutional sense.
*249Capital punishment, involving as it does the taking of life, is qualitatively different from other punishments. See Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 287 (1972) (Brennan, J., concurring). “The penalty of death differs from all other forms of criminal punishment, not in degree but in kind.” Furman v. Georgia, supra at 306 (Stewart, J., concurring). “[I]n assessing the cruelty of capital punishment ... we are not concerned only with the ‘mere ex-tinguishment of life’ ... (In re Kemmler (1890) 136 U.S. 436, 447) . . . but with the total impact of capital punishment, from the pronouncement of the judgment of death through the execution itself, both on the individual and on the society which sanctions its use.”8 People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628, 646, cert. den. sub nom. California v. Anderson, 406 U.S. 958 (1972).
While the actual physical and psychological pain of execution itself is, of course, immeasurable, there is a sharp conflict of expert opinion regarding whether electrocution produces instantaneous loss of consciousness. At least one observer, a French scientist, concluded: “I do not believe that anyone killed by electrocution dies instantly, no matter how weak the subject may be.” Comment, The Death Penalty Cases, 56 Cal. L. Rev. 1268, 1339 (1968), quoting Prof. L. G. V. Rota in Scott, The History of Capital Punishment 219 (1950). “Although our information is. not conclusive, it appears that there is no method available that guarantees an immediate and painless death.” Furman v. Georgia, supra at 287 (Brennan, J., concurring).
The convicted felon suffers extreme anguish in anticipation of the extinction of his existence.9 “The tremen*250dous mental strain in inexorably approaching a foreordained death is unique to the condemned man.” Note, Mental Suffering under Sentence of Death: A Cruel and Unusual Punishment, 57 Iowa L. Rev. 814, 830 (1972). Studies describe confinement under sentence of death as exquisite psychological torture, wherein many inmates suffer obvious deterioration and severe personality distortions, including denial of reality. See Gottlieb, Is the Death Penalty Unconstitutional? in Bedau, The Death Penalty in America 194, 201 (rev. ed. 1967); Chessman, Trial by Ordeal 185-194 (1955). See also Bluestone and McGahee, Reaction to Extreme Stress: Impending Death by Execution 119 Am. J. of Psychiatry 393 (1962); Solesbee v. Balkcom, 339 U.S. 9, 14 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting).
In order to uphold the constitutionality of punishment which inflicts such suffering and absolutely extinguishes all rights, the State must advance a substantial justification to demonstrate that the penalty of death is not disproportionate or unnecessary and is not, thus, cruel in a constitutional sense. See People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628, cert. den. sub nom. California v. Anderson, 406 U.S. 958 (1972). See also Rudolph v. Alabama, 375 U.S. 889, 891 (1963) (Goldberg, J., dissenting); Furman v. Georgia, supra at 331-332 (Marshall, J., concurring). I believe that the required showing is that of a compelling State interest.10
*251Thus, pursuant to either chain of analysis, it is incumbent upon us to determine whether imposition of the mandatory death penalty for rape-murder serves a compelling State interest and whether its use is the least restrictive means toward furtherance of a permissible goal.
2. I turn now to examine the interests advanced by the Commonwealth in order to determine whether the mandatory death penalty for rape-murder is constitutional.
I recognize at the outset that the Commonwealth has a vital interest in protecting society from rape-murderers and in deterring rape-murder. My inquiry must look beyond these vital interests, however, to determine whether the means chosen, use of the death penalty as punishment for convicted rape-murderers, is compelled as the least restrictive means available to further these ends. In order to achieve the proper balance, I must determine whether these interests can be effectively served by means which do not impair fundamental constitutional rights, here the right to life, to the extent that the death penalty does.
It is not difficult to identify the discrete interests thought to be served by our penal policy. The Commonwealth identifies three areas of vital interest: (1) saving lives, (2) protecting citizens from crimes of violence, and (3) ensuring justice and diminishing recourse to vigilantism. Translated into the more familiar jargon of penology and corrections, these interests are, respectively, (1) deterrence, (2) isolation/incapacitation, and (3) retribution/moral reinforcement.11 See Packer, The Limits of the Criminal Sanction 35-38 (1968). I examine these interests seriatim, keeping in mind that a proper balance *252requires that the inquiry be “not whether death serves these supposed purposes of punishment, but whether death serves them more effectively than [life] imprisonment.” Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 303 (1972) (Brennan, J., concurring).
A. Deterrence.
“ [T]he question to be considered is not simply whether capital punishment is a deterrent, but whether it is a better deterrent than life imprisonment.” Furman v. Georgia, supra at 346-347 (Marshall, J., concurring). See Bedau, Deterrence and the Death Penalty: A Reconsideration, 61 J. of Crim. L., Criminology and Police Science 539, 542 (1971); Morris & Zimring, Deterrence and Corrections, 381 The Annals 137 (1969). Despite the most exhaustive research by noted experts in the field, there is simply no convincing evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent superior to lesser punishments. In fact, the most convincing studies point in the opposite direction.
By Res. of 1967, c. 150, the Massachusetts Legislature established a special commission to investigate and study the effectiveness of capital punishment as a deterrent to crime. The commission was composed of legislators, educators, attorneys and others prominent in the criminal justice field. In its interim report issued in October, 1968, the commission stated: “It is the opinion of the majority . . . that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. No evidence presented to this Commission substantiated the proposition that capital punishment is a more effective deterrent to murder than imprisonment.” Report, p. 5. The commission went on to say that “[t]he evidence clearly establishes that at the very least the *253death penalty is no more of a deterrent than life imprisonment.” Id. at 12.
These findings are consistent with those of the special commission to investigate and study the abolition of the death penalty in capital cases established in 1957 (Res. of 1957, c. 141). That commission concluded that “[capital punishment is not a better protection against murder than a sentence of life imprisonment.” 1959 House Doc. No. 2575, p. 44.
The conclusions of these legislative commissions are in accord with the results reached by virtually all contemporary criminologists who have studied deterrence and the death penalty in the United States. Examples of their conclusions are as follows: “The preponderance of the evidence indicates that capital punishment does not act as a deterrent to murder.” Chambliss, Types of Deviance and the Effectiveness of Legal Sanctions, 1967 Wis. L. Rev. 703, 704. “It now seems established and accepted that the existence or nonexistence of capital punishment . . . makes no difference to the homicide rate or to the attempted-homicide rate.” Morris and Zimring, Deterrence and Corrections, 381 The Annals 137, 143 (1969). “[Statistical findings and case studies converge to disprove the claim that the death penalty has any special deterrent value.” Schuessler, The Deterrent Influence of the Death Penalty, 284 The Annals 54, 62 (1952). “The conclusion is inevitable that the presence of the death penalty — in law or practice — does not influence homicide death rates.” Sellin, Capital Punishment 138 (1967).
These conclusions are based on numerous studies utilizing various techniques. Several studies have compared the homicide rates in States that have abolished capital punishment with carefully matched similar and/or contiguous States that have retained it.12 These *254studies uniformly conclude that homicide rates “are conditioned by other factors than the death penalty.” Sellin, The Death Penalty, Appendix to Am. Law Inst., Model Penal Code (Tent. Draft No. 9, 1959) at 24. See Schues-sler, The Deterrent Influence of the Death Penalty, supra at 57-58. Thomas, This Life We Take 14-15 (4th rev. 1970).
Additionally, studies have been conducted where the homicide rates of States that have abolished capital punishment have been compared before and after abolition. These studies also indicate that there is no increase in the homicide rate after abolition. Reckless, The Use of the Death Penalty, 15 Crime and Delinquency 43, 54 (1969). Sellin, The Death Penalty, supra at 34-38. The same result is obtained by comparing the experience in other countries before and after abolition. See Bowers, Executions in America 123-126 (1974). Similarly, the increase in homicide rates experienced after the “judicial moratorium” on executions in 1967 by States which had retained capital punishment was no greater than in those States that had abolished it, and, in fact, the over-all increase in homicide rates from 1969-1970 was lower than that from 1964-1967. Id. at 139-147.
Finally, comparisons of the homicide rates in selected jurisdictions for periods immediately prior to and after publicized executions or sentences of death indicate no significant differences, suggesting that the execution or sentence did not effectively deter others. Reckless, The Use of the Death Penalty, supra at 54-55. Savitz, A Study in Capital Punishment, 49 J. of Crim. L.* Criminology and Police Science 338 (1959). While these two particular studies are of limited validity and reliability because of restricted sampling, they present some indica*255tian that neither the availability nor the actual use of the death penalty acts as an effective deterrent.13
The studies previously cited make no distinctions between mandatory and discretionary use of capital punishment. In fact, however, most were conducted in situations involving the discretionary use of the death penalty, and thus their relevance to the mandatory death penalty at issue here could be questioned. However, a recent study conducted by Professor William J. Bowers, a noted sociologist, concludes that there is “no indication that the mandatory death penalty . . . [is] a more effective deterrent of homicide than discretionary capital punishment.” Bowers, Executions in America, supra at 160.
Professor Bowers examined the homicide rates in States that changed from mandatory to discretionary capital punishment. Additionally, he compared these rates with contiguous States that were consistent in maintaining either fully mandatory or discretionary capital sentencing. He found no statistically significant changes in homicide rates as a result of these changes in practice. Among those States studied were Massachusetts and Connecticut, both of which changed from mandatory to discretionary use of the death penalty in 1951. Professor Bowers found that “Massachusetts experienced remarkable stability of homicide rates after the change, and Connecticut actually had a decline in homicide rate .... Clearly, the statutory changes in Connecticut and Massachusetts did not result in increasing homicide rates, nor even an increase relative to their contiguous states.” Id. at 149-150. *256Based on considerable data, both before and after World War II, Bowers concluded: “ [W]e must unequivocally reject the claim that mandatory death sentencing has any deterrent advantage over the discretionary use of capital punishment.” Id. at 157.14
There is correspondingly no statistical support for the proposition that law enforcement officials are safer in jurisdictions that retain capital punishment as opposed to those in which it has been abolished. Claims that more police are killed in abolition States are simply not supported by available data. “On the whole, the abolition states . . . seem to have fewer killings, but the differences are small.” Sellin, The Death Penalty and Police Safety, in Sellin, Capital Punishment 138, 152 (1967). “[T]he data available . . . after a survey of half the state police forces of the United States do not lend empirical support to the claim that the existence of the death penalty in the statutes of a state provides a greater protection to the *257police than exists in states where that penalty has been abolished.” Campion, Does the Death Penalty Protect State Police? in Bedau, The Death Penalty in America 301, 314-315 (rev. ed. 1967).
While the overwhelming majority of serious studies in this area have concluded that capital punishment has no special deterrent effect, one recent study and several subjective reports have indicated a contrary result.
The single scientific study which gives any indication that the death penalty may have a deterrent effect is Ehrlich, The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: A Question of Life and Death, Am. Economic Rev. 397 (June, 1975). Ehrlich utilizes regression analysis to demonstrate that capital punishment has deterred several homicides in the past. However, serious flaws have been revealed both in Ehrlich’s approach and in his results.15 We are not persuaded that this study adds much, if anything, to our analysis.
The other studies cited by the Commonwealth for the proposition that the threat of capital punishment acts as a deterrent are collections of the subjective statements of apprehended felons and police to the effect that many perpetrators of crime carried phony or unloaded weapons because they were afraid of the death penalty. Los An-geles Police Department Study (1971), cited in 52 Congressional Digest 21 (1973). (See Bedau, The Death Penalty in America, 267 [rev. ed. 1967], for an earlier version of this study.) These reports are particularly unreliable because the statements were made under apparently coercive circumstances where the subjects *258might be expected to have said whatever they believed the police wanted to hear. This expectation is corroborated by former San Quentin Warden Clinton Duffy who acknowledged the statements allegedly made to police, but added, “[W]hen . . . everything is resolved legally, ... I believe that they give you a little bit more of the regular story than they do when they are in jail trying to curry a little bit of favor.” To Abolish The Death Penalty, Hearings on Senate Bill 1760 before the Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures, Committee on the Judiciary, U. S. Senate, March 20, 21, and July 2, 1968, 23 (G. P. O. 1970). Warden Duffy interviewed many inmates confined at San Quentin and stated: “I have, to date, not had one person say that they had ever thought of the death penalty prior to the commission of their act.” Ibid. Thus, I conclude that these two sources of support for the proposition that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide in fact actually provide little support at all.
My review of the available studies and other material cited reveals no firm indication that capital punishment acts as a superior deterrent to homicide than other available punishments.16 At best the evidence is equivocal. I am thus unable to find that the Commonwealth has a compelling interest in deterrence which cannot adequately be served by other less restrictive means of punishment.
B. Isolation /Incapacitation.
While isolating convicted murderers from society in order to prevent their commission of similar crimes in the future is a legitimate objective of punishment, it seems *259clear that this goal can. be effectively served by means less restrictive than death. “The sufficient answer [to the claim that the infliction of death is necessary to stop those convicted of murder from committing further crimes] ... is that if a criminal convicted of a capital crime poses a danger to society, effective administration of the State’s pardon and parole laws can delay or deny his release from prison, and techniques of isolation can eliminate or minimize the danger while he remains confined.” Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 300-301 (1972) (Brennan, J., concurring).
Additionally, it should be stressed that “murderers in general have been shown to be among the least recidi-vistic of offenders.” Packer, The Limits of the Criminal Sanction 52 (1968). This is true with regard both to incidents while on parole, Giardini and Farrow, The Paroling of Capital Offenders, 284 The Annals 85 (1952); Stanton, Murderers on Parole, 15 Crime and Delinquency 149 (1969); Bedau, Parole of Capital Offenders, Recidivism, and Life Imprisonment, in Bedau, The Death Penalty in America 395 (rev. ed. 1967); Miller, Some Notes on Death Row and the Death Penalty in Massachusetts (1971), and to incidents of violence while in prison. Sellin, The Death Penalty, Appendix to Am. Law Inst., Model Penal Code (Tent. Draft No. 9, 1959) 70-71. “Once released from prison . . . [convicted murderers] have a very low rate of reconviction for any criminal offenses, let alone for murder.” Packer, supra, at 52-53.
It is true that in the Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries, before creation of an effective prison system, the death penalty was considered necessary for the protection of society. See Bedau, The Courts, the Constitution, and Capital Punishment 1968 Utah L. Rev. 201, *260232. However, “ [nationally, there is substantial information now available to show that murderers can be incarcerated and paroled with safety, and that there is no discernible difference in this regard between those who are found guilty of one rather than another kind of criminal homicide.” Bedau, Death Sentences in New Jersey, 1907-1960, 19 Rutgers L. Rev. 1, 47 (1964). While this may be somewhat less true of convicted rape-murderers, who are more likely to act as a result of uncontrolled or uncontrollable desires,17 measures are available to ensure the safe care and custody of such persons where a real danger to society is indicated. See, for example, the statute providing for care and treatment of “sexually dangerous persons,” G. L. c. 123A.
Accordingly, I am not convinced that the death penalty is necessary as the best means of protecting society from the convicted rape-murderer, and I believe that the Commonwealth’s interest in isolation/incapacitation, while vital, can be adequately served by less onerous means.18
C. Retribution/Moral Reinforcement.
The Commonwealth contends that it has a compelling *261interest in ensuring justice and maintaining the social compact, and that utilization of proportional punishment is necessary to achieve that goal. It further contends that under this scheme the death penalty is the appropriate punishment for rape-murder. However, while I agree that the interests advanced are valid and that moral reinforcement or reprobation requires that the most serious crimes be punished most seriously, I believe that “ [gjrading punishments according to the severity of the crime does not require that the upper limit of severity be the death penalty.” Bedau, The Death Penalty in America 268 (rev. ed. 1967). This is true in part because no assessment of the degree of punishment necessary to effect retribution is possible.19 The demand for punishment does not define the nature of the punishment necessary for retributive purposes, and it cannot be shown that any particular penalty is more supportable in light of these purposes than any other.20 Furthermore, I believe that “it is incompatible with the dignity of an *262enlightened society to attempt to justify the taking of life [merely] for purposes of vengeance.” People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628, 651 (1972), cert. den. sub nom. California v. Anderson, 406 U. S. 958 (1972). While retribution may be a permissible aspect of punishment, it “is no longer the dominant objective of the criminal law,” Williams v. New York, 337 U. S. 241, 248 (1949), and it cannot act as the sole justification for a particular penalty. See 1959 House Doc. No. 2575, at 43.
The Commonwealth also suggests that capital punishment is necessary to prevent recourse to vigilantism. However, “[tjhere is no evidence whatever that utilization of imprisonment rather than death encourages private blood feuds and other disorders.” Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 303 (1972) (Brennan, J., concurring). To the contrary, “[rjeliable statistics now pretty definitely show that the states that have had the most homicides and the most legal executions have also had the most illegal executions, in the form of lynchings.” Bedau, The Death Penalty in America, supra at 335. See Caldwell, Why is the Death Penalty Retained? 284 The Annals 45, 46-47 (1952). See also 1959 House Doc. No. 2575, at 24.21 There is simply no basis for the claim that the death penalty is necessary “to prevent an outraged community from taking the law into its own hands.” Sellin, The Death Penalty, Appendix to Am. Law Inst., Model Penal Code (Tent. Draft No. 9, 1959) 79.
*263I am compelled to the conclusion that the Commonwealth has not sustained its burden of establishing that the death penalty is a necessary and least restrictive means for accomplishment of whatever valid interests it may have in ensuring justice and maintaining the social compact. Whatever marginal benefit use of capital punishment might have in serving the interests of retribution or moral reinforcement is not sufficient to withstand the strict constitutional scrutiny required here.
On the basis of the foregoing analysis, I conclude, as I must, that the Commonwealth has not offered an adequate justification for retention of the mandatory death penalty for rape-murder.22 The Commonwealth has not met its heavy burden of demonstrating that, in pursuing its legitimate objectives, it has chosen means which do not unnecessarily impinge on the fundamental constitutional right to life. Accordingly, I believe that the mandatory death penalty for murder committed in the course of rape or attempted rape violates both the “due process” clauses of the Massachusetts Constitution, arts. 1, 10 and 12, and the cruel or unusual punishments clause of art. 26,23 and I concur in the judgment of the court.
*2643. This opinion, and the concurring and dissenting opinions of Justices Braucher and Reardon which follow, reflect three different and distinct views as to the role of this court in the adjudication of constitutional issues. Each has a different perspective on the proper exercise of our constitutional responsibilities when dealing with pronouncements of the legislative branch of the government. In view of the important and complex issues before us and the manner in which the concurring and dissenting opinions were articulated, I find it necessary to comment briefly on them.
A. Justice Braucher concurs in the result of today’s decision, but reaches that result based on his interpretation of the statute, c. 265, § 2. I believe Justice Braucher seeks to avoid reaching the constitutional issues at the cost of distorting the clear language and history of the statute.
I believe it is inappropriate, if not improper, for this court to resort to doubtful statutory construction in order to evade important constitutional questions properly before us. See School Comm. of Springfield v. Board of Educ. 366 Mass. 315, 339-350 (1974). “Judicial self-restraint in reaching constitutional attacks on legislative amendments and judicial rules of statutory construction are both predicated on our desire to respect the Legislature’s special prerogative in enacting legislation. I feel that the purposes underlying both these doctrines will be ill served by a ruling which avoids reaching a constitutional question by giving a strained and unreasonable construction of the statute which negates its clear intent.” First Natl. Bank v. Attorney Gen. 362 Mass. 570, 579-581 (1972) (Tauro, C.J.)
*265The use of strained statutory interpretations invades the legislative province and disturbs the proper balance between legislative and judicial function. It transforms what the Legislature said into something the Legislature never intended.24 In doing so, such strained interpretations do more to violate the spirit of art. 30 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights than does facing a constitutional issue which is properly presented. “The canon of avoidance of constitutional doubts must, like the ‘plain meaning’ rule, give way where its application would produce a futile result, or an unreasonable result plainly at ‘variance with the policy of the legislation as a whole.’” Shapiro v. United States, 335 U.S. 1, 31 (1948), and cases cited. Accord, United States v. Sullivan, 332 U.S. 689, 693 (1948); Scales v. United States, 367 U.S. 203, 211 (1961); Welsh v. United States, 398 U.S. 333, 345, 354-356 (1970) (Harlan, J., concurring). See, generally, note, Supreme Court Interpretation of Statutes to Avoid Constitutional Decisions, 53 Col. L. Rev. 633 (1953).
With this in mind, I turn to Justice Braucher’s concurring opinion. Relying on Commonwealth v. Harrington, 367 Mass. 13 (1975), he believes that his construction of the statute avoids the constitutional issues and would be “not only fairly possible but plainly right.” He assails my opinion in O’Neal H as an attempt to create a constitutional issue and resolve it by ignoring “the clear statutory direction that rape murder cases be treated like other cases in which no jury recommendation is made” (281) (emphasis added). With all due respect, it is my *266view that no such “clear statutory direction” is available from either the words or the history of c. 265, § 2. I think Justice Braucher is plainly wrong.
The language of c. 265, § 2, as amended by St. 1951, c. 203, is clear. It provides that no recommendation of clemency “shall be made ... if the murder was committed in connection with the commission of rape or an attempt to commit rape.” This provision was added as an amendment to a statute which would have made the death penalty discretionary in all cases. See 1951 House Doc. No. 2148. At the time this provision was approved, three other provisions, which would have retained mandatory capital sentencing in three other circumstances, 25 were defeated. Mandatory capital sentencing appeared in no other murder offense. See 1951 Senate Journal at 608-612. Thus, the Legislature manifested a clear intention that rape-murder be treated differently from all other types of murder.
The history of the 1951 amendment since its enactment indicates that in a great majority of non-rape-murder cases juries have recommended that the death penalty not be imposed.26 Jury clemency is precisely what the Legislature intended to avoid in rape-murder cases; accordingly, it was put beyond the power of the jury in such cases to eliminate the death penalty. There is something seriously amiss in the logic and reasoning of Justice Braucher’s conclusion that there is a “clear statutory direction that rape murder cases be treated like other cases in which no jury recommendation is made.” The *267significant and important difference is that in rape-murder cases, the Legislature mandates the death penalty; in other murder cases, the question is left to the jury. Justice Braucher ignores this obvious distinction, which is supported by both the language and the history of the amendment, merely to avoid reaching a most difficult but important constitutional issue. In doing so, the entire analysis of his concurring opinion is rendered suspect. I cannot agree with his interpretation of the statute, nor can I subscribe to such an avoidance of our constitutional duty.
B. I strongly disagree with Justice Reardon’s novel suggestion that we refrain from construction and application of our State Constitution while we await decision of the Federal constitutional issues in North Carolina v. Fowler, 285 N.C. 90 (1974), cert. granted, 419 U.S. 963 (1974). The point is utterly without merit. This court — not the Federal courts — bears ultimate responsibility for construction of our State Constitution. Our interpretation of the State Constitution is final and cannot be challenged in the Federal courts. A Federal court decision cannot dispose of State constitutional issues confronting us. See Minnesota v. National Tea Co., 309 U.S. 551, 552-555, 558-559 (1940) (opinion of the court and of Hughes, C.J., dissenting).
Justice Reardon’s allusion to preserving a vague “symmetry of the law” cannot warrant delay. See Commissioner of Corps. & Taxn. v. Bullard, 313 Mass. 72, 93-94 (1943). It serves only to cloud the issue. Justice Reardon’s objective of '“symmetry” is, in reality, a suggestion of uniformity of State and Federal constitutional direction with a resulting subservience to Federal precedent. Such “symmetry” would sweep aside the Declaration of Rights and deprive the Commonwealth’s citizens of the Declaration’s protection against arbitrary and intrusive government.
The fact that analysis under our State Constitution may parallel analysis under the Federal Constitution or that *268the analysis under the State Constitution may call for comparative construction of similar Federal provisions is no basis for evading our responsibility to declare the constitutional law which may be dispositive of the case. Although the United States Supreme Court must ultimately determine the scope and meaning of the Federal Constitution and establish uniformity of construction, State courts such as ours have the power and the obligation, when necessary, to state our own construction of the Federal Constitution in its application to a given case. That power, which has sanction in the Federal Constitution,27 is essential if the State courts are to comply with their overriding obligation to decide cases as they are presented without contravening the supreme Federal law. Martin v. Hunters Lessee, 14 U.S. (1 Wheat.) 304, 340-342 (1816). Cases constantly raise constitutional issues of first impression which have not been addressed by previous decisions of the United States Supreme Court. State courts cannot withhold decision in the perhaps vain hope that a future28 Supreme Court judgment will decide the precise point at issue and “take them off the hook.” They must fill the interstices among the Supreme Court’s constitutional holdings with their own constructions and accept the risk that a future Supreme Court will find those constructions discordant with its own.29
*269In urging that we defer consideration of this case, Justice Reardon would follow the safe course — he would avoid the risk of a discordant Supreme Court result. In the process, he would deny the defendant his undoubted right to a speedy determination (and effectuation) of essential constitutional rights and would implicitly deny our responsibility to decide cases before us. I believe the exercise of our duties and the interest in speedy, orderly disposition of cases must take precedence over the avoidance of such risk.
C. Justice Reardon’s concern with the due process argument has been dealt with elsewhere and requires only a brief comment here.
Justice Reardon indicates the depth of his problem in applying due process concepts to capital punishment with the following statement: “If ‘life’ is a fundamental interest under the Constitution, why is not ‘liberty’ also a fundamental interest?” In another context he asks the same rhetorical question as to the right of privacy. However, Justice Reardon has answered his own questions logically and rationally, with his statement: “It may be argued of course that nothing is so fundamental as the right to life, that it is an interest on another plane altogether.” But not being content with his own answer he then reverts to his old problem by saying, in effect, that in the application of due process he cannot distinguish between taking a life and sending a man to jail or invading his privacy I Thus, he concludes, there is no fundamental right to life guaranteed by the Constitution.
*270D. Justice Reardon also warns against allowing personal philosophical views on capital punishment to impel a decision which may be at odds with the popular will. I assume that Justice Reardon has very much in mind the California experience after People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628 (1972), cert. den. 406 U.S. 958 (1972). A constitutional amendment, in effect, negated a ruling of the California Supreme Court that capital punishment is unconstitutional.
I agree that personal philosophies should form no part of constitutional decision-making. We sit as appellate judges in cases raising constitutional issues not to enshrine our personal views in the Constitution, but to construe that document with its occasionally complex and uncertain language and apply it to the facts before us. Construction is necessary because a Constitution, by its nature, cannot contain explicit solutions for all problems. As Mr. Chief Justice Marshall wrote: “A constitution, to contain an accurate detail of all the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit, and of all the means by which they may be carried into execution, would partake of the prolixity of a legal code, and could scarcely be embraced by the human mind.” M’Culloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 407 (1819). But the detail supplied by case-by-case construction and application must not have its foundation in the judge’s personal views. These views must be subordinated to the principles underlying the document to be construed.30 “[T]he ultimate *271touchstone of constitutionality is the Constitution itself . . ..” Graves v. New York ex rel. O’Keefe, 306 U.S. 466, 491 (1939) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). Construction takes the outline of principle established by the words of the document and fills it with substance. The judge exercises his judgment to determine, in the light of prior cases, the reasoning expressed therein, his experience and his training, what substance is required by the principle.
However, judges cannot look to public opinion polls or election results for constitutional meaning as has been suggested. It is our duty to interpret the Constitution to the best of our personal abilities and judgment. Our Constitution requires that we be “as free, impartial and independent as the lot of humanity will admit.” Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, art. 29. If we succumb to contemporary public opinion we lose that requisite independence and impartiality demanded of us and fail totally in our purpose. The words of Attorney General Rufus Choate in his address before the Constitutional Convention of 1853 are particularly apposite here: “If a law is passed by a unanimous legislature, clamored for by the general voice of the public, and a cause is before . . . [a judge] on it, in which the whole community is on one side and an individual nameless or odious on the other, and he believes it to be against the Constitution, he must so declare it, — or there is no judge.” 2 Brown, The Works of Rufus Choate with a Memoir of his Life 287 (1862).
Oppressed, disfavored or unpopular minorities would be the victims of any loss of judicial independence. The minorities rely on the independence of the courts to secure their constitutional rights against incursions of the majority, operating through the political branches of government. Dependent or subservient courts render nugatory the fundamental constitutional protections which are the heart of our liberties.31 “The complete inde*272pendence of the Courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution. . . . Limitations of this kind can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of the Courts of justice; whose duty it must be to declare all Acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing.” The Federalist Papers No. 78 (1788).
Passing public passions and emotions (understandable as they may be at times such as these) have little to do with the meaning of the Constitution, as it is written. Referendums, although they serve some purpose, do not pretend to construe the Constitution. They express only ephemeral sentiments, sentiments which are highly variable over time and which may reflect public attitudes shaped by collateral problems and events of the day. Public sentiment becomes relevant to constitutional adjudication only if it results in a constitutional amendment. This is a result which occurs only when the public sentiment is sufficiently high and sustained so that it is not dissipated with the passing of time and further reflection. When the Constitution is thus amended, the popular will has been properly exercised; the fundamental document’s principles have been altered in accordance with the procedures set forth in the compact. Only through an amendment can mass passions affect constitutional meaning and, absent an amendment, the Constitution stands as an unbreachable bulwark for the individual against those mass passions and the political power of the majority.
Thus, the fact that the people of California amended their Constitution after the highest court of that State declared the death penalty unconstitutional does not indicate to me that we should not reach and decide a properly presented constitutional issue in accordance with *273our considered views of the statute and Constitution. It merely indicates the possibility that an amendment to our Constitution may be the popular response to our decision. If this eventuates, so be it. The amendment, and not a judicial anticipation of such a response, is the proper constitutional procedure.
In conclusion, I add a few words: It is strange for Justice Reardon to imply that some members of this court or other courts who seek in good faith to exercise their judgment on difficult constitutional issues do so by improperly substituting personal views for the constitutional document. One wonders then what the basis of his opinion is and how he would respond to identical ad hominem charges. One might well infer that he draws his views from the public views he emphasizes. But is this the proper exercise of judicial independence mandated by the Constitution?32
The answer to this rhetorical question has been amply stated above. It can be summarized, briefly and simply. The great responsibility of a judge is to exercise his best judgment in applying his interpretation of the law to the facts. No judge should ever be concerned with whether his decision will be popular or unpopular. He does his job always with complete awareness that political considerations of the day, contemporary public emotions (no matter what their motivation), and personal philosophies are completely foreign and irrelevant to the exercise of his judicial power. This is the very essence of judicial duty — no less should be given and no more should be required.

 Although I base my decision here on the Constitution of the Commonwealth, I have relied to some extent on cases construing the United States Constitution. I believe that analysis of the issues raised in this case under our State Constitution bears strong resemblance to the analysis under the Federal Constitution. See Pugliese v. Commonwealth, 335 Mass. 471, 475 (1957). However, I need not reach the Federal constitutional questions in light of the result I reach under arts. 1, 10, 12 and 26.

 I do not share the concern of Mr. Chief Justice Burger that placing the burden on the State to justify the death penalty would open the floodgates to constitutional attacks on any punishment that might be imposed. Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 395-396 (1972). The selection of death as a punishment is a choice entirely different in kind from any other. A person less severely sentenced retains a substantial set of basic rights, see, e.g., Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396 (1974); Barnett v. Rodgers, 410 F.2d 995 (D.C. Cir. 1968); Runnels v. Rosendale, 499 F.2d 733 (9th Cir. 1974); one who dies at the hands of the State retains nothing. Courts have consistently allowed a closer and more careful scrutiny where absolute deprivations are involved. See Son Antonio Independent Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973). Compare Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371 (1971), with Soma v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 410 (1975). Thus, the compelling State interest and least restrictive means analysis is particularly congruent with the absolute and irreversible deprivation resulting from a mandatory death penalty, whereas the less absolute features of routine punishments do not demand, and will not be given, such exacting scrutiny.

 Notwithstanding the fact that, in O’Neal I, I deemed the vast literature concerning cruel and unusual punishment to be a morass which I preferred not to enter, other considerations persuade me that I should address the question of the constitutional validity of the death penalty for rape-murder under art. 26. If this case were to be decided solely on due process grounds, it would resolve no question as to the constitutionality of capital punishment under the cruel or unusual test. In the future, if this course is not followed, a defendant *247who has unsuccessfully challenged a capital punishment statute under the due process analysis proposed in O’Neal I could still seek to avail himself of the benefits of art. 26. I consider it advantageous to clarify the relationship between these two lines of analysis so as to provide guidance for prospective appeals, and, in view of the similarity of these analyses, I deem it most expedient to do so while this case is before us. It should also be noted that a majority of the court are of opinion that we should address this issue.

 I examine the punishment in question here to determine its constitutionality “without regard to any subtleties of meaning that might be latent in the word ‘unusual.’” Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 100, fn. 32 (1958). I do not believe that the word “unusual” has any qualitative meaning different from the word “cruel” in the context of this case. See The Death Penalty Cases, 56 Cal. L. Rev. 1268, 1345 (1968). This is particularly true under our State Constitution, where the words are used disjunctively. While we have never expressly decided whether the words were meant to be read in the disjunctive, see Storti v. Commonwealth, 178 Mass. 549, 553 (1901), and, while we have used the conjunctive and disjunctive form of the phrase interchangeably on occasion, Commonwealth v. Moore, 359 Mass. 509, 515 (1971); Commonwealth v. Morrow, 363 Mass. 601, 610-611 (1973), I believe that for purposes of this case “any nice argument upon the words of the article” is unnecessary. Storti v. Commonwealth, supra at 553.

 It is noteworthy that one commentator has stated: “Cruelty is properly definable as ‘the infliction of pain or loss without necessity’” (emphasis added). Gottlieb, Is the Death Penalty Unconstitutional? in Bedau, The Death Penalty in America 194, 201-202 (rev. ed. 1967), quoting from Webster’s New Inti. Dictionary 636 (unabridged 2d ed. 1954). Accord, Gottlieb, Capital Punishment, 15 Crime and Delinquency 1, 11 (1969).

 Certain punishments such as crucifixion, torture and burning at the stake were among the exactions which constitutional amendments regarding cruel and unusual punishment were meant to abolish. They are unconstitutionally cruel in and of themselves, apart from considerations in relation to the nature of the offense. See In re Kemmler, 136 U.S. 436, 446 (1890); Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 264-265 (1972) (Brennan, J., concurring). The death penalty itself has not been considered among these, as evidenced by specific mention of capital crimes in the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, art. 12. See Furman, supra at 283 (Brennan, J., concurring).

 Although it could be argued with some logic that, given the history of capital punishment and the barbarous means sometimes employed in England and elsewhere, the cruel and unusual clause concerned the manner of the execution and not the punishment of death per se, recent cases under the cruel and unusual punishment clause reflect a departure from that view. Former Supreme Court Justice Goldberg viewed the Weems case as the “turning point in the interpretation and application of the . . . clause” because it “clearly recognized that not only the mode of inflicting punishment but also the extent or severity of punishment is subject to scrutiny under the eighth amendment.” Goldberg, The Death Penalty and The Supreme Court, 15 Ariz. L. Rev. 355, 359 (1973).

 Capital punishment is “[a]n anachronism too discordant to be suffered, mocking with grim reproach to all our clamorous professions of the sanctity of life.” Benjamin Gardozo, quoted in Dictionary of Quotable Definitions 65 (Brussel ed. 1970).

 In the instant case, the defendant has been incarcerated under sentence of death since February 28, 1973.

 This analysis is not foreclosed by previous decisions of this court interpreting art. 26. While Storti v. Commonwealth, 178 Mass. 549 (1901), assumed that the death penalty was constitutional, “[p]ast assumptions . . . are not sufficient to limit the scope of our examination of this punishment today.” Furman v. Georgia, supra at 285 (Brennan, J., concurring). Furthermore, we are not constrained by that decision because art. 26, like the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, must be interpreted progressively, Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349, 378 (1910), and in light of “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101 (1958).

There is, of course, one additional objective of punishment which has not been urged by the Commonwealth to justify use of capital punishment. “The reformation of the individual offender is usually regarded as an important function of punishment. But it can have no application where the death penalty is exacted.” Report of the *252Royal Commn. on Capital Punishment, 1949-1953, 18 (HMSO 1953). Killing convicted criminals is utterly inconsistent with rehabilitation, and the death penalty obviously negates and utterly frustrates any interest the Commonwealth has in that ultimate goal.

 Homicide rates are a fairly accurate predictor of capital murder rates as the proportion of capital homicide to the crude homicide rate *254remains fairly constant from year to year and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Sellin, The Death Penalty, Appendix to Am. Law Inst., Model Penal Code (Tent. Draft No. 9, 1959) 23-24.

 There is some question as to whether executions carried out in private, with limited publicity and no public access, can ever be an effective deterrent. Perhaps deterrence could be more effectively achieved by making executions public, but no one has seriously advocated this position for many decades. See Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine, in Resistance, Rebellion and Death 173, 180-182 (1969). Today we reject public executions as debasing and brutalizing to us all. Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 297 (1972) (Brennan, J., concurring).

 The fact that a mandatory death penalty has not been shown to act as a greater deterrent to homicide is not surprising when consideration is given to the fact that mandatory death sentences lead to low conviction rates. In a study conducted in Massachusetts during a period of mandatory capital punishment for murder in the first degree, statistics reveal that only 8 % of those indicted for murder were convicted of murder in the first degree and less than 7 % were actually executed. Ehrmann, The Death Penalty and the Administration of Justice, 284 The Annals 73, 74-79 (1952). See Bowers, Executions in America, supra at 161-162. This refusal by juries to convict in capital cases where there is a mandatory death sentence has been documented on many occasions. See, e.g, McGautha v. California, 402 U.S. 183, 199 (1971); Shipley, Does Capital Punishment Prevent Convictions? 43 Am. L. Rev. 321 (1909); Knowlton, Problems of Jury Discretion in Capital Cases, 101 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1099 (1953). See also Kalven & Zeisel, The American Jury 310-312 (1966). The relationship between mandatory capital punishment and deterrence is best exemplified by the following quote: “Antebellum Americans, . . . whose experience with mandatory capital punishment was extensive, tended to account it a dangerous failure. They were satisfied that mandatory capital punishment did indeed have a deterrent effect; it deterred jurors from convicting palpably guilty men.” Mackey, The Inutility of Mandatory Capital Punishment: An Historical Note, 54 B.U.L. Rev. 32, 35 (1974) (footnote omitted).

 The Ehrlich study has been severely attacked on many grounds. While much of the criticism is extremely technical, see, e.g., Passell and Taylor, The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: Another View (Col. U. Discussion Paper No. 74-7509, March, 1975), it essentially attacks the methodology, the use of arbitrary assumptions regarding the mathematical form of relationships among variables, the sensitivity of the model to minor statistical variation and the failure to take into consideration the interdependence of relevant variables.

 It is noteworthy in this regard that the report of the Massachusetts Special Commission stated, “It is the swiftness and certainty of punishment and not its severity that deters.” 1959 House Doc. No. 2575, p. 44. Cases where a mandatory death sentence is the ultimate sanction take longer to litigate and tend to involve more protracted appellate procedures. See Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 357-358 *259(1972) (Marshall, J., concurring). In this way, the availability of capital punishment tends to decrease, rather than increase, the deterrent effect of criminal sanctions.

 The recidivism rate for convicted rapists released on parole is almost three times greater than that for convicted murderers. Compare Callahan, Statistical Tables Describing the Characteristics and Recidivism Rates of Men Released During 1966 from M.C.I. Norfolk, M.C.I. Walpole, M.C.I. Concord, and the Massachusetts Forestry Camps (1971), with Miller, Some Notes on Death Row and the Death Penalty in Massachusetts (1971). To the extent that the statistics for rape may be more relevant in determining the appropriate recidivism rate for rape-murderers, it is possible that this class of murderers is more likely to become involved in subsequent criminal activity if released than murderers in general.

 Utilization of imprisonment to “incapacitate” the convicted rape-murderer serves the additional desirable function of keeping him available in the event error should subsequently be discovered and the adjudication of his guilt reversed. Such instances are not unknown in our criminal law. See Borchard, Convicting the Innocent (1970); Frank, Not Guilty (1957). See also Sellin, The Death Penalty, Ap*261pendix to Am. Law Inst., Model Penal Code (Tent. Draft No. 9, 1959) 63-65. The words of Thomas Jefferson are particularly appropriate here: “I shall ask for the abolition of the punishment of death until I have the infallibility of human judgment demonstrated to me.” Quoted by Senator Hart, Hearings on Senate Bill 1760, Committee on the Judiciary, U. S. Senate 14 (G. P. O. 1970).

 The notion that the public wants capital punishment is based more on abstract emotion than hard reality. When faced squarely with the choice and responsibility of putting someone to death, jurors overwhelmingly avoid the death sentence. Statistics obtained from Suffolk County indicate that, since 1963, juries recommended that the death penalty not be imposed in at least thirty-nine cases involving some fifty-five defendants. As one’s proximity to the actual sentence of death and responsibility therefor increases, the belief that capital punishment is appropriate appears to diminish in fervor. The rhetorical question has often been put: “How many advocating the death sentence would be willing to pull the switch?”

 If death is the most appropriate punishment for murder in a retributive sense, then burning to death would seem to be the most appropriate punishment for arson resulting in death or stabbing to death when the murder is committed by stabbing. However, few people *262today would contend that such a punishment is desirable, or, in fact, constitutionally permissible. The problems in allowing retribution in the “lex talionis” sense to govern the choice of criminal sanction are obvious.

 This positive correlation between legal executions and illegal executions may well be a by-product of the “brutalizing effect” of capital punishment. See Bowers, Executions in America 194 (1974). “The existence of capital punishment tends to cheapen human life. It tends to encourage both children and adults to believe that physical violence, the ultimate form of which is putting an individual to death, is a proper method of resolving social and personal conflict.” 1959 House Doc. No. 2575, at 45.

 A similar conclusion was reached by Sir Ernest Gowers who, as chairman of the British Royal Commission to study capital punishment, spent almost five years of intensive research and study on the issue. He stated: “Before serving on the Royal Commission I, like most other people, had given no great thought to this problem. If I had been asked for my opinion, I should probably have said that I was in favour of the death penalty, and disposed to regard abolitionists as people whose hearts were bigger than their heads. Four years of close study of the subject gradually dispelled that feeling. In the end I became convinced that the abolitionists were right in their conclusions — though I could not agree with all their arguments — and that so far from the sentimental approach leading into their camp and the rational one into that of the supporters, it was the other way about.” Sir Ernest Gowers, A Life for a Life? foreword (London 1956).

 In arriving at this conclusion I would not intend to foreclose the Commonwealth from enacting any statute authorizing the death *264penalty. However, if such a statute should be enacted, the burden would be on the Commonwealth to establish that such use of the death penalty is the least restrictive means for furtherance of a compelling State interest. My opinion is restricted solely to the pertinent statute which mandates the death penalty in rape-murder cases.

 “When a judge tries to find out what the government would have intended which it did not say, he puts into its mouth things which he thinks it ought to have said, and that is very close to Substituting what he himself thinks right. Let him beware, however, or he will usurp the office of government, even though in a small way he must do so in order to execute its real commands at all.” Hand, “How Far Is a Judge Free in Rendering a Decision?” in The Spirit of Liberty 79, 83 (I. Dillard ed. 1959).

 The four amendments proposed in the Senate would have prevented jury recommendations of clemency where (1) the murder was committed by a person previously convicted of murder, (2) the victim was a police officer, (3) the murder was committed in an escape attempt or by one under a life sentence or previous sentence of death, or (4) the murder was committed in the course of rape or attempted rape.

 See Cannon, First Degree Murder: The Post Conviction Experience in Massachusetts 4 (1974).

 “In the scheme of the Constitution, [the State courts] are the primary guarantors of constitutional rights.” Bator and others, Hart & Wechsler’s, The Federal Courts and the Federal System 359 (2d ed. 1973).

 A judge cannot predict when a case will be decided. The history of the Fowler case should amply document this proposition. The case, argued once before on April 21, 1975, has been scheduled for reargument by the Supreme Court (422 U.S. 1039 [1975]), but the date has not yet been set and there is no indication of when the argument will take place.

 A further consideration is relevant here. At times we have indicated that our rulings in cases were reached reluctantly under the compulsion of decisions of the United States Supreme Court. We did *269so recently in Commonwealth v. A Juvenile, 368 Mass. 580, 583 (1975). Other jurisdictions have followed the same path. It makes more sense, when we have the opportunity, to expound our views before Supreme Court decisions are rendered on the issue than to criticise that Court’s decisions after the fact when we have remained mute. Only the former approach gives any hope of providing the Supreme Court with fresh innovative thinking. On occasion the Supreme Court has explicitly adopted not only die holding of a State court but also the court’s reasoning in reaching its decision. See Reit-man v. Mulkey, 387 U.S. 369 (1967).

 “For judges, it is not merely a desirable capacity ‘to emancipate their purposes’ from their private desires; it is their duty. . . . Does . . . [a man] change his character by putting on a gown? No, he does not change his character. He brings his whole experience, his training, his outlook, his social, intellectual, and moral environment with him when he takes a seat on the supreme bench. But a judge worth his salt is in the grip of his function. The intellectual habits of self-discipline which govern his mind are as much a part of him as the influence of the interest he may have represented at the bar, often more so.” Frankfurter, Of Law and Men: Papers and Addresses of Felix Frankfurter, 1939-1956, 40-41 (Elman ed. 1965).

 Had the Justices of the United States Supreme Court considered public reaction at the time, how likely would they have been to hand *272down their landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Educ. of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)?

 “I wish POPULARITY: but, it is that popularity which follows; not that which is run after. It is that popularity which, sooner or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends, by noble means. I will not do that which my conscience tells me is wrong, upon this occasion; to gain the huzzas of thousands, or the daily praise of all the papers which come from the press: I will not avoid doing what I think is right; though it should draw on me the whole artillery of libels; all that falsehood and malice can invent, or the credulity of a deluded populace can swallow,” quoted by Lord Mansfield in Rex v. Wilkes, 4 Burrows Reports 2527, 2562 (1770).