# Does your gut say that violent rapists should be executed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 27, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487 "2009-07-27T22:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/41 "2009-07-28T12:47:59Z")
No ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/42 "2009-07-28T14:23:30Z")
Yes, if convicted by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt after a fair trial in which he was represented by competent counsel. That’s not the law of the land, though: [Coker v. Georgia - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coker_v._Georgia) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/43 "2009-07-28T16:13:17Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > My gut is with **black rabbit** , and with **Malacandra**. Which is odd, because I usally don’t agree with Malacandra. 🙂 But yes, I also don’t buy that being raped is suffering a fate worse then death. It is terrible, make no mistake, but it isn’t murder. For the sake of your integrity, I’m happy for you to restrict agreeing with me to those occasions when I am right. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/44 "2009-07-28T16:26:06Z")
I don’t think you have to see it as special to acknowledge that it’s still bad. Maybe not as bad as being clawed to death with a hammer, but still traumatic. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/45 "2009-07-28T16:26:35Z")
My gut says yes, and it’s more than my gut. Murderers and rapists deserve death, IMHO (at least today). If we had a perfect justice system, I’d be all for the death penalty for rapists and murderers. The one and only reason I’m against the death penalty is because our system is flawed. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/46 "2009-07-28T16:29:35Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Date rape deserves punishment of at least the same severity as stranger rape. A date is someone that a person is supposed to be able to trust. So if stranger rape deserves the death penalty, so does date rape. Just because he asked her out first doesn’t lessen the severity or brutality of the crime. Yeah, I’ve never gotten the “date rape sucks but…” mentality. I get the sense that people just think it’s annoying or inconvenient but not THAT bad. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/47 "2009-07-28T16:40:15Z")
My gut says that those who have proven themselves incapable of behaving like men should be put down. My brain says that this is why people’s guts shouldn’t be in charge of such decisions. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/48 "2009-07-28T16:41:51Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Well, part of my gut says to go with the civilized\* approach—impalement, and lining the streets with the pikes. “Special circumstances” means they get a _blunted_ pike. > > The other part of my gut wants to go with a reasonable, scientific approach…stripping the condemned of all salvageable organs and tissues, and then rendering whats left of the corpse down into synthetic gasoline. This, essentially, is what my gut says too, except my gut wonders where the trebuchet comes in. No good punishment can be exacted without the use of a trebuchet. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/49 "2009-07-28T16:44:04Z")
No to execution, for the same reasons that I oppose execution in general. Yes to long-term imprisonment (I’m thinking natural life) with no access to resources that could be used to exploit or victimize others. No internet. No letters or phone calls to someone who’s not a family member or lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/50 "2009-07-28T17:40:09Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > If it is a crack whore, then that is just part of the job description and just needs a simple police report plus some minor assault charges. Violent rape is part of the job description? So the perpetrator would have to be the john at the time? Or it’s OK if anyone beats and rapes a crack whore? What if it’s a classier whore, since they have gotten their rapists convicted when they went outside the business deal? My gut says fuck up the perpetrator (don’t kill him/her) but I don’t want policy ruled by my gut. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/51 "2009-07-28T17:45:44Z")
I think ALL violent criminals should be executed, and fairly quickly. Then start on the white collar ones. Once the population starts to thin out, people will get the hint. I’m not talking about torture or any eye for an eye. Just a quick, no frills execution. I’m aware that some innocents will get the axe as well as a disproportionate number of minorities, but this nonsense we have now is not working. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/52 "2009-07-28T17:58:01Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > My gut only says “feed me”. Your gut is a giant mutant Venus flytrap? [QUOTE=Shagnasty] As a gut reaction, I think it depends on who the person being raped is. If it is a child, especially one of my daughters, then I suggest not only torturing and killing them but also their extended family and everyone in their ancestral homeland. If it is a crack whore, then that is just part of the job description and just needs a simple police report plus some minor assault charges. Date rape probably sucks but I don’t think it deserves the death penalty. A swift hammer blow to the dick would do. [/QUOTE] Wow. Every single response I can think of to this is pit-worthy. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/53 "2009-07-28T17:58:53Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > As a gut reaction, I think it depends on who the person being raped is. If it is a child, especially one of my daughters, then I suggest not only torturing and killing them but also their extended family and everyone in their ancestral homeland. If it is a crack whore, then that is just part of the job description and just needs a simple police report plus some minor assault charges. Wow. And here I thought that people who had that whole madonna/whore complex knew enough to keep that opinion to themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/54 "2009-07-28T19:25:09Z")
Hmmm. **Shagnasty**. An interesting username-post combination, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/55 "2009-07-28T19:34:24Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Another vote for “Yes, execute please. Now!” > > Losing just a testicle won’t stop them raping again in the future. Better just take the whole package to be sure. If execution is out of the question of course. Second offence they lose the other testicle. Third offense- is it physically possible to get it up with no testes? If that’s the case, than third offense is to lose the whole package. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/56 "2009-07-28T19:36:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Hmmm. **Shagnasty**. An interesting username-post combination, to say the least. I keep trying to reread that post to see if I’ve been whooshed in some way because it just seems like it should be a send up of some uber stereotypical chauvinist patriarchal attitude. Maybe my whoosh-o-meter is broken. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/57 "2009-07-28T19:36:34Z")
> [@villa](#): > > [What, the flogging of the victim?](http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/11/15/saudi-arabia-rape-victim-punished-speaking-out) :o \<– stupid smiley doesn’t look anything like a blush I meant “Saudi style” as an extension of cutting off a thief’s hand. I guess I wasn’t thinking. It was a very unfortunate comparison. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/58 "2009-07-28T19:47:22Z")
I know what you mean. I didn’t intend to accuse you of supporting that sort of thing. Just while Saudi may be a sexually very conservative country (or perhaps because it is so sexually conservative) rape isn’t punished very hard there. Well it can be, when the male (husband, father etc) is seen as the victim. When it is just a woman getting violated, who gives a shit after all. Very much how rape law developed in the Anglo-American legal system too, in fact. Even to this day, some people eseentially cannot be raped in the eyes of much of law enforcement - from crack whores as mentioned above, up to and including women with the temerity to have a drink with or make out with a man. ---
**Author:** ![Spurious\_George](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Spurious\_George](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spurious_George)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/59 "2009-07-28T19:48:18Z")
Absolutely not. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487/60 "2009-07-28T19:50:17Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Wow. And here I thought that people who had that whole madonna/whore complex knew enough to keep that opinion to themselves. But that’s his gut reaction, not his “careful reasoned thought” reaction. Be honest, a small tragedy that affects a loved one hits you far harder than a massive tragedy that affects strangers. It doesn’t make it right (and I don’t think Shagnasty was attempting to justify his gut) but that’s just the way we’re wired. It’s why we render justice as a panel of impartial strangers, as opposed to letting the family members of the victim decide the punishment. Gut reactions, while natural, can have no place in a modern system of justice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-gut-say-that-violent-rapists-should-be-executed/504487.md?page=4)