I support “age of consent” laws, if those laws are applied fairly. I think that Kansas laws leave too many loopholes for the unfair prosecution of gays or lesbians. (Not saying that Limon’s case was a worthy one.) I think it should be illegal to have sex with a person under the “age of consent”. I just don’t believe that the Kansas law, as it is written today, is balanced. It needs to be re-written.
I hope that poor little girl recovers from this, and that if she wants to have a baby someday, the abortion did not make her sterile.
There was a similar case on Montel Williams, where a guy impregnated a 10 year old child. Montel talked to him in prison, and he was saying “Well, she had a crush on me. She was always sitting on my lap. She dressed like Brittany Spears.” Montel pointed out that (a) nobody can make you unzip your pants, and (b) if that had been his child, Montel would be the one in prison for murder of the impregnator.
My husband is an administartor in a prison. He has worked at multiple levels including investigator, inspector, case manager, deputy warden etc…
There is no special places for sex offenders in his entire system. Most places do not have this. There is something called protective control, but that is for any individual who is threatened while in the system, regardless of their offense.
The falsehoods in the public about out of control prisons where people are gang raped everyday are amazing. Inmates snitch on each other for taking little debbie snack cakes. They snitch on each other for stinking up a cell by not taking showers. They cry about not getting popcorn when they win the dorm of the month. Therefore, serious incidents of violent assaultive rape are almost always reported. Then the inmates are protected from it. The inmates know this, so they use much more subtle methods of dominance and control
Administrators do not ‘ignore’ complaints. Every employee is actually over-sensitive to the issue anymore. All an inmate has to say is that he is afraid for his life, or that he is thinking of harming himself, and he is immediately placed in a secure area, sometimes under constant watch by a corrections officer.
There is violence in prison, but it is not like most people think. It is not like the movies and it is defintely not like OZ.
Sex offenders are indeed relegated to second class status in the prison inmate culture. If anything they are more prone to be “punked out”. In other words, they get invovled in homosexual relationships with more dominant males. Rarely is force or coercion used. Most sex offenders have such deep rooted emotional problems that they are dysfunctional in many other ways. This includes inter-personal realtionships. Sex is another form of tender in the prisons and sex offenders may use this more frequently.
My hsuband is a big advocate for closely monitoring “punking out” because it is his assessment that this is, in many cases, a form of sexual assault. His theory is that the effect of a total institution creates an environment where an individual may feel as if they have no choice but to submit to the sexual demands of another inmate who may be perceived as being in a more powerful position. Even if this individual does not use force or threats. Therefore, he has his staff practice proactive management, moving “lovers” (may be a punked out individual) away from each other as much as possible, using sanctions to punish any offender who engages in any sexual act with another (also important for controlling diseases) and identifying predators/prey and keeping them separated. He also embraces the notion of the unit concept where up to 7 staff members of various professions are in a unit at a time. With open door policies in his prisons, a snitch phone line and a private mail system, information from inmates is easily obtained. Independent confirmation can lead to the prevention of violence without the inmate even knowing who snitched them out.
However, what might surprise you is that many of the individuals who are more subject to “punking out” are the 19-24 year heterosexual, non sex offender, “tough guys” of all races and backgrounds who simply cannot cope with the conditions of a total institution.
Thus, although he would never say that there is not violence and rape in a prison, many people have a remarkable misunderstanding of exactly what goes on behind those walls. When he takes people on tours of his 2600 man facility, where rapists, muderers, drug offenders, property offenders of all types are housed together in giant dormitories of 240 men sleeping in bunk beds, they are amazed at the order, cleanliness and relative stability that exists.
It still sucks to be in prison, and it is horrible place filled with horrible people, but sex offenders do not really have it demonstrably worse than others for the most part. Furthermore, they are not given special protections or treatment simply because of their offense.
I’m not sure what you mean. Are you shocked that a parent would be advocating that level of violence against someone who raped his little girl? If so, then sit down, because I might actually kill the man who sexually assaulted either one of my kids.
It used to be easy for me to play mindgames about other people’s children being victimized- what was right and wrong, what punishment was light or excessive. But I have children and my entire job comes down to protecting them. Were they to be victimized in that way, my rage would know no earthly bounds. I might actually have to be restrained from killing the man up close & personal with my bare hands.
I know it’s wrong. But I know how deep my feelings go too.
Back to the OP- I think life without the possibility of parole would be appropriate, but in my dreams the rape of children under the age of 12 is a capital crime.
Shocked? No, not shocked. I don’t know if 20 years seems like the correct punishment, but surely death or “anything short of death” (our OP) is a little steep, if I may understate the case. I’m sorry someone would feel pain to the extent that only extreme retribution would satisfy them. I’m not sorry our justice system disagrees.
Morally, certainly this sort of thing combined with physical coercion, threats, and emotional abuse warrants 20 years. But not every case is as gothic as that. While I certainly do not wish for intercourse to be legalized for children of 8 years, I think that if anything 20 years is too harsh, except if the acts were forcible rape.
That said, if I caught someone committing forcible rape against a young relative of mine, he would not be living much longer. But just because that’s what I would do does not mean I condone a severe official punishment by a society that supposedly is based on a rule of law.
But 40, 60 or 100 years are as well. If I was the parent, this guy wouldn’t have a chance to get to jail. I wouldn’t just kill him though. I’d torture him first. The mind boggles at the possibilities.
I see no reason why he shouldn’t be mandated by the courts to be castrated. And I’m not talking chemically. I’m talking with a good ol’ scalpel. Or a rusty blade if that’s more convenient.
I think you are wrong here. The punishment is not for the perpetrators predilictions - that is not his fault. The punishment is for not withstanding his urges.
It’s not illegal to want to kill someone - it’s only illegal if you go about getting it actioned.
The 20 years is about right. Here’s two reasons why:
Firstly, on a documentary I saw recently, they were saying that the majority of pedophile killers are recidivists - they’ve been in for molestation without murder before, and they are so terrified that they kill their victim in the belief that they won’t be caught.
Secondly - if you increase the punishment for rape to life-without-parole (as it would be for murder) then the rapist will probably kill the victim. He’s fucked anyway if he’s caught, so he’ll do everything in his power to prevent that - including killing his victim. So, IMHO 20 years is about right for this case.
Anyone who has ever participated in a thread or discussion of this sort should rent and watch Capturing the Friedmans. Truly, a fascinating and disturbing movie.
