The Washington Post reports that the Supreme Court will be evaluating if child rapists can recieve the death penalty. Criminals convicted of raping an adult are not eligable for the death penalty.
…on Wednesday, the cout will consider wether a person who rapes a child is different.
Convicted child rapists are often times isolated from the rest of the prison population because they are at risk of being killed by other inmates. Has that ever bothered you? What are your thoughts on the death penalty? What types of crimes, if any, are punishable by death – and do you think this is one of them? As stated in the article…
…some child advocacy experts say the unintended consequences of the death penalty miht be a decline in the reporting of sexual assualts by family members, or even an incentive for the rapists to kill the victim.
Does this prediction seem accurate in your opinion? Who is being spared if the court decides against such a penalty? Comments are open, but remember – be respectful.
11:09 am on April 18th, 2008 1
I understand that a majority of child rapes involve an immediate or close relative, this will be the crux of the issue. Many families already do not report child rape out of the desire to protect both parties involved. Imagine the fear of sending Uncle Charlie to the electric chair, or cousin Tim?
My suggestion would not be to enact the death penalty, even with provisions. There will be many side affects in behavior if they do.
10:04 pm on April 18th, 2008 2
I’m actually death penalty completely, but probably not for the ‘typical’ reasons. I believe the system is so broken that it’s far too easy for someone innocent to be murdered by the state.
And one wrongful death is more than I’m willing to put up with. I’d rather just pay to keep them incarcerated. If the system could be fix, I would probably support the death penalty.
10:05 pm on April 18th, 2008 3
Crud. That first line of the comment I just left should read:
‘I’m actually against the death penalty completely, but probably not for the ‘typical’ reasons.’
Darn typos…