# Saudi court upholds child rapist crucifixion ruling **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 3, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190 "2009-11-03T19:05:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/41 "2009-11-04T05:50:14Z")
Am I the only one who initially thought this thread would be about someone punished by being raped with a crucifix? (Ala _The Exorcist_?) ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/42 "2009-11-04T06:05:25Z")
Skip the beheading; death by crucifixion. Wikipedia says it could take days: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion) ---
**Author:** ![Cesario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Cesario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cesario)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/43 "2009-11-04T07:43:21Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Any person who has those urges is just going to move on to safer pastures, or be even more ruthless when it comes to leaving witnesses. Or both. In my experience, at least half the goal with these sorts of things is to get such people to “move on to safer pastures”. It isn’t so much about stopping them, as it is getting them out of your neighborhood, even if it makes them even more dangerous (since they have less to lose and fewer incentives to moderate their behavior), it’s not you who has to deal with the consequences. Also, what the hell do “those urges” have to do with anything? The guy rapes five children, and you’re _still_ hung up on his **thoughts** (which may or may not conform to your wild ass guess about what they might have been)? As to my view, it seems to me that once you’re decapitating them, detterance has run its course. If their cost/benefit analysis has already determined the benefits to outweigh the risks of getting caught and beheaded, it’s hard to see what meaningful effect that would have on the analysis if you go on to desecrate the corpse. As for skipping the beheading and just crucifying him as the OP initially assumed, is there really no desire to hold the moral high ground in these situations? Torturing someone to death, no matter who it is, tends to lose you the moral high ground in a way that even “mere” executions do not. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/44 "2009-11-04T09:57:24Z")
> [@ToeJam](#): > > I get the first two, but not the third. How is a firing squad morally superior to a guillotine? I was just sort of wondering that myself. Though I can object to the crucifiction portion if they are going to leave the body hanging there for a while from the sanitary concerns … draws flies and stinks while rotting…no real dog in this fight, however if the crimes were as described, I have no problem with the punishment. Hell, Id make a pile of rocks and let them do a good old fashioned stoning. Now _that_ is a barbaric execution. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/45 "2009-11-04T10:07:53Z")
> [@villa](#): > > [Maybe the kid was just asking for it, hey, **ivan**?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11730921&postcount=42) Not even remotely similar circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/46 "2009-11-04T12:31:32Z")
> [@Cesario](#): > > As to my view, it seems to me that once you’re decapitating them, detterance has run its course. If their cost/benefit analysis has already determined the benefits to outweigh the risks of getting caught and beheaded, it’s hard to see what meaningful effect that would have on the analysis if you go on to desecrate the corpse. I think you underestimate some peoples fear of what happens in the afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/47 "2009-11-04T16:32:33Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Not even remotely similar circumstances. Well you do seem to know when a girl is lying and when she isn’t, so I thought I would use your psychic powers to determine if this girl was a slut too. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/48 "2009-11-04T16:43:07Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Dishonoring a corpse is a non-issue to me; it is an empty shell now. As for denying the perp a proper Muslim burial – well, presumably proper Muslims (i.e. the people who are entitled to proper Muslim burials) don’t commit such crimes. This. He can forget about paradise, or heaven, or whatever he may have believed in, he ain’t going there anyway. His crimes already made sure of that. Wrap him in pigskin, stuff his mouth with bacon, bury him in a hog wallow, call it a day. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/49 "2009-11-04T16:44:16Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > "Good news, Achmed! We got your sentence reduced! > > No beheading!" > > Regards, > Shodan Hahahaha Sort of a “good news bad news” thing 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/50 "2009-11-04T17:15:55Z")
Maybe they should just turn the guy over to a posse of the dead kids fathers, uncles, brothers or whomever for a little bit of long lasting honor killing? As it is, if they crucify the guy after beheading him, will the head be displayed on a spike? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/51 "2009-11-04T19:22:30Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > He’s a rapist. Unless there is a significant risk they got the wrong man, I’m all for it. Significant? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/52 "2009-11-04T23:35:01Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Well you do seem to know when a girl is lying and when she isn’t, so I thought I would use your psychic powers to determine if this girl was a slut too. You must be the psychic one - there is no reference in that article as to whether it was 5 girls or boys. ---
**Author:** ![Cesario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Cesario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cesario)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/53 "2009-11-05T00:57:11Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I think you underestimate some peoples fear of what happens in the afterlife. I think after raping five children, he’s pretty much made peace with any potential negatives he’s likely to face in the afterlife. His corpse being mutilated or not won’t meaningfully impact that. I’d say his afterlife’s already as bad as it’s going to get, so there’s no additional threat with the mutilation. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/54 "2009-11-05T01:14:03Z")
> [@Cesario](#): > > I think after raping five children, he’s pretty much made peace with any potential negatives he’s likely to face in the afterlife. His corpse being mutilated or not won’t meaningfully impact that. > > I’d say his afterlife’s already as bad as it’s going to get, so there’s no additional threat with the mutilation. YOUR applying the logic of what kinda God YOU THINK would let someone like that “in”, wrapped in bacon burial or not. Which I agree with. BUTTTT, there are plenty of people that have some strange ass notions of what is or isnt important when it comes to divine judgement. Hell, some christians believe that no matter what you do in and with your life you are screwed if someone didnt sprinkle some water on you in the right way with the right words at some point before you die. Tell you what. Lets start a new procedure in Iraq. Any terrorist we catch and kill will be feed to pigs. There would be a massive uproar IMO. Why ? Because, IMO many people are irrational as shit when it comes to afterlife stuff. I say use that to our advantage. ---
**Author:** ![Cesario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Cesario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cesario)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/55 "2009-11-05T01:49:19Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > YOUR applying the logic of what kinda God YOU THINK would let someone like that “in”, wrapped in bacon burial or not. Which I agree with. > > BUTTTT, there are plenty of people that have some strange ass notions of what is or isnt important when it comes to divine judgement. > > Hell, some christians believe that no matter what you do in and with your life you are screwed if someone didnt sprinkle some water on you in the right way with the right words at some point before you die. > > Tell you what. Lets start a new procedure in Iraq. Any terrorist we catch and kill will be feed to pigs. There would be a massive uproar IMO. Why ? Because, IMO many people are irrational as shit when it comes to afterlife stuff. > > I say use that to our advantage. I honestly just question whether it’s going to take a significantly greater ammount of self-delusion for someone to believe that he can still get into heaven if his corpse is desecrated versus the ammount of self-delusion he’s already managed to pull off of believing he’ll get there after raping five kids. He’s either come to terms with any potential negatives in his afterlife and resigned himself to them already, convinced himself that he’s getting to heaven dispite his actions (in which case he’s perfectly capable of convince himself further that if raping kids doesn’t matter, maybe having his corpse crucified won’t matter so much either), or he’s given up on the religeous prospective on the afterlife altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/56 "2009-11-05T12:33:19Z")
The Saudis got the punishments backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/57 "2009-11-05T16:06:33Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I think you underestimate some peoples fear of what happens in the afterlife. First let me state that I am not a believer in an afterlife, but for someone who is surely the threat of eternal damnation would exist whether or not they were caught and convicted by a human court? So the method of execution becomes a moot point really. The way I see it this person, if guilty, just didn’t care at all or had no control over their urges. In the UK we no longer have a death penalty, but I can see the logic in using one as long as guilt is 100% confirmed (or as near as possible) and the method is relatively humane. By humane I don’t necessarily mean bloodless, for example the guillotine was supposed to be quick and unlike a sword or axe rarely (if ever) failed to do the job on the first go. I’d rather go like this than lethal injection or gas chamber or electric chair. If I recall correctly executions in SA are done with a sword, which is more reliable than an axe if done correctly. I think one of Henry VIIIs wives requested a sword rather than an axe for that reason. Dismembering corpses is something we haven’t done for a long time now, it seems barbaric to our modern day sensibilities. I think the thing to remember here is that the dismembering was done as a deterent to others, not the criminal. Since it’s the 5th November, Guy Fawkes was hung drawn and quartered, the quarters of his body were taken to various locations around London and possibly beyond and his head was displayed on a pike in the Tower of London, not to punish him but to say, “this is what happens to traitors” or in the SA case child killers and rapists. Sorry if this is a bit rambling, hope it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/58 "2009-11-05T17:30:54Z")
No. Capital punishment is wrong, always and everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/59 "2009-11-05T17:40:10Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > You must be the psychic one - there is no reference in that article as to whether it was 5 girls or boys. You are right. It didn’t. So use your psychic powers to determine if the kids in this case were asking for it. Or is it only young teen girls who are whores who deserve to be raped? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190/60 "2009-11-06T03:16:14Z")
> [@ToeJam](#): > > I get the first two, but not the third. How is a firing squad morally superior to a guillotine? Because it’s not cruel and unusual punishment. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > No. Capital punishment is wrong, always and everywhere. What about Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin? BTW, you live in the same city I live in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-court-upholds-child-rapist-crucifixion-ruling/516190.md?page=4)