I just saw this article on Yahoo.com and need to post it to my blog. I've got very strong feelings on this and because it is my blog, I'm going to share them.
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments regarding the Constitutionality of sentencing a criminal to death because of the crime of raping a child.
First off, I never knew that raping a child was punishable by death. It seems that currently five states have the ability to sentence a person to death for this crime and one additional state (Missouri) is considering making it legal.
I am a person that values human life as much as others, but I also feel that just like Animal Care and Control, it is sometimes necessary to euthanize an uncontrollable animal. Those men who choose to rape a child are nothing more than animals and regardless of what they have to contribute to society as a whole, that one act should be enough to forfeit their lives.
I have a beautiful little girl at home who is the world to me. If anything like this was to ever happen to her, not only could I never forgive the individual, I would be hard pressed not to take matters into my own hands. Anybody, and I mean anybody, who could do something like that to a small child should be destroyed, just like any other animal. It makes me shake whenever I imagine anything happening to Gracie. Pray to God that nothing ever does, she is such a special little girl.
I am sick of lawyers leaning on the Constitutional definition of cruel and unusual punishment. While I do believe that there is a line that needs to be drawn when it comes to the enacting of punishment, I also believe that the same line fluctuates based on the circumstances of your crime. There is nothing more horrifying than the violation of a small child. I would even argue that the act is worse than even murder. With rape it is a crime that you not only endure, but continue to endure for the duration of your life. Doesn't that make it even more cruel?
I hope the courts uphold this law. I also hope that more states seek to make it legal in their jurisdiction. Pedophials and rapists should be subjected to punishment that befits the damage they have done to the small child they attacked. No one will ever convince me otherwise.
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2 comments:
The problem with this is...once you start naming additional crimes that are punishable by death, the line gets very vague. Who is it to say what crimes are "serious" enough to warrant the death penalty?
How about the crooks that dupe hundreds or thousands of innocent citizens out of large sums of money? How many lives does that ruin, and they get a slap on the wrist?
And why just limit it to the rape of children? Are adults no less important, or affected, by this crime? You can say that a child has much more life to live than an adult, or an adult may be better able to deal with it, but once again, it's a judgement call.
Making grand changes to the judicial system like what you described can have long-term effects, and is all about the word "precedent".
I don't disagree with you at all that child rapists should be harshly punished. But I also think that the punishment should fit the crime. I'm sure we have enough imaginative people out there that could come up with a good punishment..except for all the human rights people who would cry "unfair".
Convicted people are hardly ever punished enough for the crime they've done.
I'm not suggesting you open up the books and make a determination on what crime other than murder makes someone eligible for the death penalty. I'm simply saying that I strongly support the death penalty for criminals who rape children.
I do believe that criminals who "dupe hundreds or thousands of citizens out of large sums of money" should be punished harshly (even more harshly than they are now). A total reform of the criminal justice system wouldn't hurt my feelings.
I don't think that precedent is really and issue, nor would clearly defining the law be that difficult. Those people who have forced sexual intercourse with a child below a particular age (10 years?) would be elligible for the death penalty. There will always be leeway in sentencing and I'm sure any jury/judge would take circumstances into consideration. That is how our system currently works. A violent criminal, with a past history of sexual crimes should be held mortally responsible for those acts.
Don't take my comments wrong. I think that anyone who rapes another individual should be harshly punished, certainly more so than we do now. I also believe that there is a huge difference between the rape of a fully grown individual and that of a child. This itself isn't without precedent, as the judicial system looks at the murder of a police officer in an immensely different light. Everyone seems to be cool with that.
We both agree that it is a bad crime. We both agree that our punishment should befit the crime. I think we are too soft on all rapists, particularly those who pray on children. Our society has allowed leaned on the Constitution and now we are getting Supreme Court rulings that are saying lethal injections are cruel and unusual. In California a bill is in their house which would ban spanking. Parents who are caught paddling their child could be separated from their child for an extended period of time and also face multiple years of probation and significant prison time.
Recidivism is a huge problem in our country. When will we start to understand that this is a clear indicator that our form of punishment is not effective.
Just my thoughts, as always, I thank you for yours.
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