Capital Punishment For Rape?

The US Supreme Court ruled in 1977 in the case of Coker v. Georgia that capital punishment is to harsh/cruel for the rape of an adult. How about the rape of a child?

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I had to think about it for awile. But the punishment doesn't fit the crime. They let murders live, I would say give them life.

 

I believe it is completely acceptable to use the death penalty on people who commit certain crimes against children. I also believe that when children go through torture, extreme abuse and rape their lives really are over. Do these children live normal lives? A child's life is long, and they have to live with this forever. I think the lives of (and crimes against) children should be treated differently than the lives of adults. Quite honestly too often crimes against children (especially those committed by their family members) don't get the same penalties as crimes against adults. In my opinion, this is completely backwards!

I think the rape of men should not be considered for the death penalty any more than that of a rape of a woman.

I know I am a moderate liberal, but. . . I do not oppose the death penalty in certain cases. I have two young children, if I found out one of them was being sexually abused I would want the perpetrator on death row.

 

Anyone who can rape a child has absolutely no morals, no conscience, they are sick, and they will not get better. I say death row is what they should get for the rape of a child/or life imprisonment with NO possibility for parole.

 

I believe in punishment, and in addition, the certainty, that certain offenders can never reoffend.

Life does not mean life in England. It can mean as short a time as 5 years. Meanwhile the bleeding heart liberals will be doing everything possible to get the guy out even sooner !

This vile piece of **** must never reoffend. There is just this one thing to do in my opinion.

String this animal up.

 

I think the death penalty should be used in alot more cases than it is now.

I think that regular rapists, if the case is bad enough, should be put to death.

So i vote yes, kill child rapers.

 

I had to give this one quite a bit of thought. A child victim of rape or any victim of rape for that matter may have to deal with the effects of the rape for the rest of their lives. This could be like a life sentence of suffering.

Now, my decision was made based on the words, "may" and "could" in the above paragraph. Even though this is a particularly heinous crime, the victim could recover, and therefore, even though my first instinct was to vote yes, I don't think that the capital punishment is a fair and just sentence for the crime of rape, to either an adult or child.

 

I think the added trauma of a person being put to death because of the crime would have a profound effect on the victim.

 

Some of these sick SOBs rape children too young to comprehend what has happened to the pervert.

 

Not right away but they will find out later in life. Then they will have to deal with the knowledge of a life taken. Victims already have a high guilt rate. They tend to believe that they might have done something to provoke the crime.

 

I would also think the victim would feel worse if someone that victimized them was let out of prision and reoffended and hurt another child. It is a known fact that pedophiles will continue what they do (they cannot help themselves), and isn't society sick of paying for them to be fed, kept warm in prison for a short spell, only to be let out again and receive welfare, and reoffend, Justice for the children seems to have taken a step backwards

 

I gotta say no.. not a fan of the death penalty. Humans are not capable of making these decisions, IMO. One innocent person being put to death is one too many. Could you imagine if it were you? And it's happened plenty..


What about angry parents who spend years physically and mentally abusing their own kids? No better than rape as far as I'm concerned, not to mention, these are the people that are suppose to love and protect them.... Should they be put to death too?

 

I think you gotta point there.

 

You know the death penalty might be the answer but we would be putting a lot of Billy Bob's to death.

 

You made some excellent points up there too snaf.. I think the child would suffer more from the perp being put to death.. How could they ever get closure? Killing the person will never take away what happened, or make things right..

Time for people to quit playing God and we'd all be better off I figure. Fat chance of that though.. And like I said, plenty of parents physically, mentally, and verbally rape their kids every day, all day for years on end.. Old sparky would be busy if we're really serious about protecting kids by killing people who hurt them..

 

This issue should be a state issue. IMO the 1977 decision was wrong.

From the dissenting opinion in Coker:

That SOB should have been executed. How else do you punish an individual already doing life?

 

16 hours of hard labor per day?


Killing him isn't punishing him.. it's killing him. What if they find out he committed another crime after he was executed? How do you punish an individual that's already dead?

 

Dead people do not escape and rape again.

 

TOTALLY agree!

 

Alexis de Tocqueville noted in Democracy in America:

"The legislators of the United States, who have made almost all the clauses of the penal code milder, punish rape with death, and there are no crimes that public opinion pursues with more inexorable ardor. That is understandable: since the Americans think nothing more precious than the honor of woman, and nothing more deserving of respect than her independence, they consider that there is no punishment too severe for those who take them away from her against her will."