Should Child Rapists get the Death Penalty?

[Quixote1818]

I just saw a poll on AOL with 80% saying they should get the death penalty. Link: http://news.aol.com/?feature=20080625105209990001

I am not big on the government getting into the business of killing people, even when they commit murder, but killing people who didn't ever kill anyone? I just don't get that at all. Yes, it's a reprehensible act and deserves major punishment, but death? And to see a poll where 8 out of 10 people want them killed is really kind of stunning to me. Think how many Priests we would be putting to death!

[LynneSin]

1. No one should get the death penalty

However child rapists should get the lengthiest punishment available by law

[barbtries]

2. my theory is they should be raped

in the ass, with a telephone pole. some might not make it out of that experience alive. then again some tiny children die by rape. on a philosophical level i am opposed to the death penalty but my gut says yes - and not just kill them, make sure they suffer as they did to the child.

[Ian David]

5. Child rapists will be raped PLENTY in prison, from what I understand, n/t

[varkam]

15. Yes, because rape is wrong.

:eyes:

[JuniperLea]

27. They were probably already raped as children...

True suffering would be to keep them imprisoned for the rest of their lives, without so much as a photograph or mention of a child.

Two wrongs never, ever make a right. Fighting rape with rape is like fighting killing with more killing... just stupid.

[Ian David]

3. Not having the death penalty for child rapists MIGHT serve as an incentive to NOT murder the child.

That is, if you believe the death penalty is a deterrent.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

43. I don't see it as a deterrent.

If I was guilty and life w/o parole, I would be lining up for the needle.

I don't think I could do prison.

[yardwork]

4. The government has no business putting people to death.

Anyone convicted of child rape should get life in prison.

[Quixote1818]

8. I agree. Life in prison is probably the way to go. Especially since it's so hard to rehabilitate

them.

[applegrove]

40. I concur.

[PDJane]

6. I don't believe in the death penalty.

I'm sure there are people I would like to make an exception for, but I wouldn't...if that makes sense.

Killing someone for any reason is not something a state should do. Period. The state makes too many prosecutorial errors to trust that they've even got the right person half the time.

No. Period. Endit.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Yes, absolutely. By beheading.

Also, we should cut off the hands of people who steal things.

And stone adulterers.

We should probably also mercy kill those child rape victims. Because, getting raped as a child is worse than death, according to the person on my TV this morning.

Praise God.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

39. Regarding flaying alive, drawing and quartering...

And the ever-popular live disembowelment: How can we work those into the equation? After all, if you are gonna go with it, go large. ;-)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

45. That's for women who don't wear burkas.

D&Q is for Darwinists. And disembowelment is only for those pro-child rape bastards who argue in favor of due process.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. No.

However, I'd not object to life in prison w/o parole for cases where the DP would have been considered.

[Swamp Rat]

10. No, but if it was my child I'd likely want to cut their head off after skinning them alive.

[Clark2008]

13. Same here

I can't think rationally about this subject because I have children.

And, if anyone harmed them in this manner, there would be no jail time for the defendant... I'd kill them with my bare hands.

[OhioChick]

18. My thoughts exactly. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

22. I don't have children, but I can easily imagine how I might feel.

I get angry just reading about it here and in the news, maybe because I was almost kidnapped when I was 4.

Nevertheless, I am against the death penalty.

[OhioChick]

35. A little girl on my street was

picked up by some guy in his car when she was only 4 years old. (Her mother went in the house for a second to answer the phone....she was in a wheelchair...had polio) Hours after she went missing.....the police found her wandering around the city, half nude. She went through dozens of reconstructive surgeries.....one in particular involved a clamping device, as she was torn apart so badly.

Her parents had her in counseling forever and she never recovered.....mentally or physically. (I still talk to her on occasion) The police eventually found the guy... who spent less than 5 years in jail and was released......only to fuck up another kid's life.

So yes....I am in support of the death penalty for this horrific offense. Imagine if that was your child...or someone in your family.

[JerseygirlCT]

19. Absolutely

But that's why we've developed a system of law based on justice, not vengeance.

[SeattleGirl]

11. No. Not child rapists, not anyone.

The logic of the state saying, "Killing (or raping, in this case) is immoral and wrong, and to prove it, we're going to kill you" just escapes me.

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. Sounds just like George Carlin

:thumbsup:

[SeattleGirl]

23. George had a lot of wisdom, didn't he?

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Oeditpus Rex]

38. I'd call it 'insight'

Dude could really cut through the crap — from both sides.

[jus_the_facts]

12. If I had kids....the person would never even make it to trial. eom.

[tularetom]

14. Nah, just remove their twig and berries

[Clovis Sangrail]

16. too scary

everybody thinks about the adult pedophile who is raping small children... but how many times do we hear about 19 year olds being charged w/ statutory rape of a 16 year old?
How many of those cases are going to get caught up in this?


Some people most assuredly deserve to die.. but the govt has proven time and time again that it is far from competent at deciding who those people are.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. No matter how heinous the crime, the DP is wrong. Period. nt

[cbc5g]

21. Life imprisonment after castration

You know, castration eliminates sex drive -- would be useful for those who are child molesting addicts

[HEyHEY]

25. So, government kills people = bad. Government mutilates people = good?

[cbc5g]

28. Surgical procedures aren't mutilation

Unless you want to call surgeons across this nation mutilators.

[HEyHEY]

29. You're forcing a surgical procedure on someone - I call that mutilation

Just keep them locked up.

[cbc5g]

33. Yeah it might be worse for them anyways

Child sex addicts in jail with no children to attack.

[HEyHEY]

34. with no pillows.

[JuniperLea]

31. Sometimes they are...

Castration wouldn't stop sickos from using an object.

[varkam]

42. They are when you force it on people without consent. eom

[HEyHEY]

24. As much as I'd LIKE THEM to, no

Because I don't like the idea of the government having the power to kill.

[newmajority]

26. I don't have any sympathy for child rapists whatsoever

There are circumstances where you could kill someone which might at least be understandable, if not defensible. But you don't "accidentally" rape a child.

I have problems with the death penalty as a rule, especially in the way it's not evenly applied on racial grounds, and the fact that innocent people have been wrongly executed, and probably will continue to be in some states where a conviction is more important than actual justice.

But in this case, justice for the child rapist might best be delivered by the other inmates in the prison. And they'll be more than happy to do so. Just give the son of a bitch a special uniform that says "BABY RAPER" on the back, and let the convicts take care of the rest.

[Romulox]

30. I think if ANYONE is eligible for death, child rapists should be among them

This question of whether child-rape is a heinous enough crime to earn the ultimate penalty is of the "angels dancing on the head of a pin" variety.

However, I live in a state that has never had the death penalty for any crime, and I do not support the death penalty.

[Bettie]

32. No. The death penalty is wrong

State sanctioned killing is wrong in any case.

Justice is one thing revenge is another.

If someone raped my child, I'd want that person dead, but that wouldn't be justice, it would be my desire for revenge.

Yes, there are evil people in the world and they need to be put away where they can no longer do harm, life in prison with no parole accomplishes this.

[JuniperLea]

36. No one should be killed... that's getting off too easy

They should be imprisoned forever... without contact with, pictures of, or even the mention of children or sex of any kind... forever and ever... until they die. THAT is punishment that fits the crime.

[nomorenomore08]

37. If any crime other than murder should get the death penalty, this would be it.

But more generally, I'm torn between supporting the death penalty in theory, and mostly opposing it as it currently stands, due to our biased and often downright incompetent justice system.

[varkam]

41. No, for many, many reasons.

First off, I'm against the DP, regardless of what the crime is as I believe in universal human rights - but that is another story.

Utilizing DP for child rape, IMO, produces a number of negative outcomes. First and foremost, you're going to have a lot more dead kids on your hands. If a rapist is going to be put to death anyway, he might as well kill his victim to prevent them from offering information to the police or testifying since there is nothing left to lose.

In addition, child rape is already underreported. Instituting DP for it would just drive it further underground, as the vast majority of children who are raped are victimized by a family member or someone who is known to the family. It might give the mother pause if she realized that reporting her brother has been raping her child would mean that her brother gets a needle in the arm.

Finally, it sends the messages that rape is a fate worse than death - a message which numerous social work and psychological advocacy groups have noted is not at all helpful.

And to those of you saying that we should rape them with telephone polls or skin them alive and drink their blood: as I mentioned, most often the perpetrator is someone known to the child and usually a family member. Would you be willing to do such things over the objections of the victim?

[ismnotwasm]

44. No

The death penalty, while it may stop a particular individual for obvious reasons, does nothing to stop societal ills no matter how heinous.

[frickaline]

46. I'd say life imprisonment, option of castration/horomone therapy for sentence reduction

But I don't favor the death penalty for anyone. And I don't think its right to forcibly remove someone's genitalia. But as an option toward sentence reduction I'd find it quite reasonable (if the case was sexual in nature).

For the death penalty, well, I'm with Gandalf on this one, haha:

Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.

[aikoaiko]

47. it should be an option

Some sexual assaults are so brutal and heinous that the perpetrators don't deserve to live.

[SidDithers]

48. No death penalty...

never
no way
no how

Sid

[ileus]

49. All rapist should get the DP

Others (murder) I have questions about motive. But rapists (real no 18yo pokes his 17yo grilfriend) should get the chair/injection.