Comments on: Supreme Court Rejects Death for Child Rapists

By: Andrea

Andrea — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:48:29 +0000

I think that men who rape women or children should be put a away for life. Research has proven that men who rape once, rape again and often murder. We as a country need to put these people away. I do not think there is any hope for someone who has already made a conscious decision to rape a women or child once will not do it again. A stronger penalty is needed.

By: Neo

Neo — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:10:42 +0000

This begs the question .. What do Al Gore and raped children have in common ? Answer

By: Trish

Trish — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:54:02 +0000

In one sense you can’t ever find an appropriate punishment for a crime committed against a child, because the perpetrator can never experience suffering in the same way a child does.
What we really need to be able to do is to figure out the way we can best protect ourselves against these atrocities.

By: tehag

tehag — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:19:56 +0000

Of course the death penalty is a proportional response to child rape. By 150% at my calculation (yours may differ). I don’t think a proportional punishment become cruel and unusual until the proportion is 20 to 1.

tehag

By: Deborah M.

Deborah M. — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:11:56 +0000

Dan:

I was saying no such thing. In the Supreme Court case at hand, the child was a girl. I just wrote “her”; I could have easily written “his”. There is no question that both boys and girls are victimized by these foul predators.

By: Tish

Tish — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:47:41 +0000

As one poster stated, the rapist should themselves be raped. But in a manner that was defiling to that individual. Sometimes I ride the fence with the death penalty, I would want life in prison, but with a very strict stay (23hrs in cell). But how often does that happen. I disagree with this judgment, it’s like the victims never get justice and the criminals have so many rights.

By: Gabe

Gabe — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:36:06 +0000

Trish, you make a very important point. The Biblical idea being put forth in the “eye-for-an-eye” passage is very much a call to restraint and, as you said, mercy. “Proportional” punishment is a slippery concept in that on the one hand, it is a call to fairness, and on the other, it is coupled with the “evolving standard of decency” to create situations like the decision in question. While we castigate the latter usage, we should be careful not to forget the important lesson of the former.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:49:00 +0000

Deborah M.

You state: “A child who is raped, or even molested, has her soul murdered. ”

Her soul…are you saying male children aren’t raped?

In general *ANY* child who is raped, molested or murdered deserves to have that avenged. I do agree that the Death Penalty is the fitting punishment to the crime.

Don’t, however, assume that male children are immune to the same heinous acts that female children are.

By: arabellafigg

arabellafigg — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:18:28 +0000

I am outraged. If you want to read the Louisiana Supreme Court Opinion it is here: http://www.lasc.org/opinions/2007/05KA1981.opn.pdf

By: Chris G

Chris G — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:11:24 +0000

Some people say executing child rapists would be a slippery slope… Well that is one slope I would glady push a child rapist down with ease.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:29:59 +0000

I can’t understand how there are any people posting threads in support of the supreme court. This is an embarassment to the United States. This shouldn’t even be a question. I can swear this before God…I have a 7 month old daughter at home, and if anyone ever lays a hand on her, I’d set that pervert on fire and hang his ass from a tree. All of this talk about the punishment needing to fit the crime is disgusting. There is no crime worse than harming an innocent child. I long for the next news story where I get the priviledge of hearing about a child predator being beaten to death when he lands in prison. If we can’t count on the courts to protect our children, I guess that means we need to hope and pray that the murderers and gang members in prison will take care of the execution of perverts for us…..

By: Trish

Trish — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:53:20 +0000

May I point out something here? The so-called “eye-for-an-eye mentality” was actually a mandate for MERCY. Not death or torture, or both, for an eye, but an equal measure.

By: Deborah M.

Deborah M. — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:00:57 +0000

Although I would classify myself as a “liberal”, I am stunned by the court’s ruling. If there is ever a situation that justifies the death penalty, child rape is it. In fact, I support the death penalty for any type of aggravated child molestation. (I would want there to be added safeguards – maybe a heightened evidentiary standard, for example (i.e. something even stronger than beyond a reasonable doubt…) – or maybe required DNA evidence – but these animals MUST be killed.) We MUST rid our society of this evil. They cannot be cured and even if they are not taking the child’s life in a literal sense, they are most certainly taking it in every other sense. A child who is raped, or even molested, has her soul murdered. This child will most likely never recover. How can we allow the perpetrators of such crimes to continue breathing our air? I hope these animals are at least killed in prison by other inmates.

By: Michele

Michele — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:46:51 +0000

I’ve no problem with death penalty for this kind of heinous crime. When libs say “it’s for the children,” don’t believe it.

By: Gabe

Gabe — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:19:36 +0000

I’m pretty sure the talk about raping the rapist was both hyperbole and a verbal jab at the idea of “proportional” punishment. As others have said, we don’t want to get into “eye for an eye” judgments based on some extreme view of proportionality.

All personal feelings about the death penalty aside, the main issue is whether the Constitution places an impediment to the Legislature disallowing the death penalty for child rapists. More succinctly, is the death penalty “cruel and unusual” punishment for raping a child? THAT is the only standard by which the law can and should be judged. The problem arises, however, that the bench has for decades been applying a sliding scale related to this issue such that what is considered “cruel and unusual” has continued to expand and expand until there is no actual punishment left.

As for those that have argued that adding the death penalty increases the risk to the victim, that is just as specious a conclusion as asserting some sort of deterrent effect. Neither argument can reliably be applied because it ascribes a certain level of rationality to child rapists that has rarely, if ever, been shown.

I reiterate, the point of court-ordered sentences is to exact a price that the people, through the government, have placed on that which the criminal has damaged or destroyed. The Constitutional requirement was only intended to add ensure some measure of reasonable limitations. I think it unreasonable to disallow the government to put someone to death for raping a child.