Should child rapist be put to death?

[halfback20]

This guy is in the Little Sandy Correctional Complex, a medium security prison.

 

1st degree rape - 20 years

Sexual abuse in the first degree - 5 years

Tampering with physical evidence - 5 years

Murder - 999 years (eligible for parole under old Ky law in 25 years)

Attempted Murder - 20 years

 

Sentences served concurrently.

 

Who, specifically, did he rape? Was it a child?

 

I've talked to a few people in corrections that have said that child molesters generally can't be put in normal population because their life would be in danger.

[BoondockSaint]

It is actually cheaper to keep someone in prison for life than it is to execute them.

That's not true all of the time I don't believe.

[cch5432]

Good info on the cost of the death penalty for anyone interested

[HT721]

I'm not sure how you can have multiple witnesses for a child rape. It's usually done in the privacy of a home where no one ever sees or hears it. The only way to catch a child rapist is usually if the child speaks.

 

I should of clarified I guess I mean more of a repeat offender that has multiple people testifying as to what he did to them.

[halfback20]

That's not true all of the time I don't believe.

 

I'm pretty sure in most cases it is. I could be wrong though.

[BoondockSaint]

I'm pretty sure in most cases it is. I could be wrong though.

You're probably right, I'm just saying it's not true 100% of the time. Although half of the people who get the death penalty spend most of their lives in jail anyways.

[AcesFull]

Yes, under some conditions. Serial child rapists who leave a trail of DNA should be put to death.

 

Children do lie and the testimony of children and circumstantial evidence may be enough for a first conviction, which should not make the first time convicted perpetrator eligible for the death penalty.

 

Juries should be able to consider previous convictions of child rape and in cases where the evidence is overwhelming in subsequent convictions involving independent sets of circumstances, the child rapist should be eligible for the death penalty, IMO.

[cch5432]

You're probably right, I'm just saying it's not true 100% of the time. Although half of the people who get the death penalty spend most of their lives in jail anyways.

:thumb:From the link I cited earlier:

 

 

A study at Columbia University Law School demonstrated how few capital cases actually result in an execution: the study found that 68% of death penalty sentences or convictions are overturned on appeal.5 The serious errors that are discovered require that at least the sentencing phase be done over. When these death penalty cases are re-tried, approximately 82% result in a life sentence. Thus, the typical death penalty case has all the expenses of its early stages and appeal; it is then overturned, and a life sentence is imposed, resulting in all the costs of a lifetime of incarceration. Nationally, only about 12% of people who have been sentenced to death have been executed.

So the legal system has to deal with all of the costs, and then they wind up simply spending life in prison (or I guess possibly dying in prison or escaping) anyways.

[duck1220]

If it were my child, I wouldn't want the 12 people to have to decide on the death penalty. Can we still say Charles Bronson???

[Jumper_Dad]

I understand the moral arguments with the death penalty, I too have some moral dilemmas with it. However I think I could support the DP for a child rapist (under very limited conditions) quicker than I could for a guy that shoots someone in a robbery. While both victims are completely innocent of any fault, children look up to adults as people they can trust that will do the right thing. To kill the "Soul" of a child by raping them is the most despicable crime I can think of.

[rockmom]

I understand the moral arguments with the death penalty, I too have some moral dilemmas with it. However I think I could support the DP for a child rapist (under very limited conditions) quicker than I could for a guy that shoots someone in a robbery. While both victims are completely innocent of any fault, children look up to adults as people they can trust that will do the right thing. To kill the "Soul" of a child by raping them is the most despicable crime I can think of.

 

 

I can understand completely what you're saying, but JD, seriously, years of physical and verbal abuse can do just as much to steal a child's soul as rape. Not trying to trivialize rape here, but I deeply believe it to be true.

[RockPride]

I am not God, and I don't feel that we as a people or "jury" should act as God. It is not our place to put ourselves into a "God-like" position...my opinions on Capital punishment have really changed in the last 2-3 years.....I would not be the one to ask for them to be put to death. I will add a caveat, if it were my child, I would find it greatly difficult to not take matters into my own hands.

[Mr.Network]

On a personal note, if someone raped one of my boys, he would be dead, and I would be on trial for homicide.

 

 

Agreed. As a parent, nothing would stop me from vengence.

[Musketeer_alum97]

Agreed. As a parent, nothing would stop me from vengence.

 

I agree 100%. And trust me, I could get really creative with the retaliation.

[HHSDad]

Who, specifically, did he rape? Was it a child?

Yes.