Several states want laws to execute child molesters — what do you think?
Several states, including where I live, Missouri, are passing or considering laws that would make raping a child under the age of X a capital crime and call for the death penalty to those convicted of such child rapes.
How do you feel about this? We’ve had two extremely gruesome, awful such cases in our city and in a nearby town within the last year. My personal, heart-felt feeling is that anyone who would rape a young child shouldn’t be sharing the air I breathe.
My better senses about the whole issue say that these people should be put away for life, not executed.
Proponents of executing child rapists make the case for such violence and such barbarian behavior must be dealt with harshly, no excuses. I certainly understand and appreciate that. If I thought executing such people would 1) deter the rape of children, or, 2) somehow restore the innocent child to wholeness, I would be in favor of such measures.
In one of the cases I know of here in Missouri, a 9-year-old girl’s own stepfather, who swears to this day that he loved her like a daughter, and the stepfather’s friend, have been charged (and I believe made some confessions) with raping and murdering the girl, then hiding her body in a cave in the woods. Searchers from throughout the area looked for the body for several days before locating it.
If indeed that stepfather and his friend are convicted, it’s hard NOT to want them put to death rather than allowing them to continue living. Absolutely horrendous crime, no question.
BUT — there are so many problems with capital punishment for child rapists:
1. The whole death penalty system in America is so messed up that year after year people awaiting death are exonerated by such methods as DNA research. Do we really want to risk putting truly innocent people to death in error any more than we do currently?
2. Setting up a hard and fast capital punishment penalty for those who rape children put the children in a tough spot, with the necessity of repeated court appearances and trauma.
3. If child rapists know they’ll get the death penalty if convicted, it would seem they would be more likely to rape then kill a child, rather than risking having the child as a living witness to the crime.
I would rather have states get serious about “life sentences,” which in some states are set up “without the possibility of parole,” and in some states allow parole after X number of years even for a “life” sentence. Making a life sentence a true life sentence would get these people out of society without the problems associated with a required death penalty for child rape.
I don’t have the answers to such tough questions. How do you feel about the issue? What are your thoughts?
Technorati Tags: child molesters, capital punishment, life sentencing, just a guy who reads the papers
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