Court Mulls Death Penalty for Child Rape

This article will get me a lot of mail, but it needs to be discussed.

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether a state can execute someone convicted of raping a child, one of the few remaining crimes that does not require the death of the victim to result in capital punishment.

Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8- year-old stepdaughter in Louisiana. He is the only person on death row in the United States for a rape that was not also accompanied by a killing.

Now, let me give you a bit of my background:

I am the Godfather to many children.  I am an uncle by blood, an uncle to friend's children, and a father figure to others.

I used to be a teacher at an elementary school in Washington state.  Hard to believe, I know, but it's true.  That was my original career path.

I treat children with the utmost respect and love because of the good natured teachings I got from my Grandfather and the poor example by my father.

Now, if someone hurts a child, I'm the first one to want their head on a pike, however executing someone for rape, even if it's against a child, isn't the correct punishment.

Life in prison is.  Let me explain why.

Yes, they have harmed a child to a degree where they may be mentally or even physically scarred for life.  That is a bad thing and the perpetrator needs to be punished accordingly.  However, victims of assault have similar types of mental and physical scarring, but we don't punish the offender with death.

Yes, rape is a much more severe crime and rape is much more intimate.  It will rock you to your core and leave you feeling empty inside.  Victims of rape have been known to have high rates of suicide and other behavioral problems.

However, a lifetime of prison in a place where child rapists are basically walking targets, is a much more severe punishment then you can imagine.

Does the age of a victim matter when a crime is committed?  In some circles yes.  I argue no to a degree.  Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable members of our society, and when they are victimized, we can all agree that punishment should be swift and severe.

However, let's argue this point.

If someone rapes a 16 year old girl, should their punishment be the same as someone who rapes a 30 year old woman?

Where do you draw the line at an age limit?

Sure, you could argue that the person should get more time in prison, but when you execute someone, that's the utmost punishment, and I won't even begin to tell you about the problems with false accusations. 

There are literally thousands of cases of mistaken identity where a person has been sent to prison for a rape they did not commit.

Now if you execute someone for the same crime, and you are wrong, you have asked for revenge to the degree that you have let it overcome your sense of justice.

The Supreme Court banned executions for rape in 1977 in a case in which the victim was an adult woman.

So, I'll ask again, where do you draw the line for an age limit?

Now, I want to be perfectly clear here.  I am not saying that these people should not be punished.  They should be punished severely, including life without parole.  However, death penalty cases should only be for murder, espionage, and treason.  Three crimes in which there is loss of life or a great danger to a loss of life.

If you start executing for crimes other then that, then when do you stop asking for the death penalty for other crimes?

Other countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia execute for seemingly minor crimes like drug possession.  We admonish these countries for these executions, so why are we asking to go down the slippery slope that they have already gone down?

Now that I've said my piece, I fully expect a lot of hate mail.  So, fire up Outlook or Thunderbird (my personal favorite choice) and flame away!

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com