# The death penalty for child rape! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 27, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975 "2003-08-27T14:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/21 "2003-08-27T19:18:12Z")
The thing is **quietman 1920** part of the way the abuser keeps ahold of his prey is by telling her that if anything happens to the family it is her fault. If you killed him you would go to jail and she would believe it was her fault. I believe that jury has condemed countless abused children to hell on earth. So few have the courage to tell. I didn’t ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/22 "2003-08-27T19:47:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bad News Baboon \* > \*\*So, is the girl 8 now and was three when the attack occured? Or was she 8 when the attack occured and she is now13? \*\* I’m pretty sure it’s the latter, not that it really makes much difference to the case. ---
**Author:** ![Crispy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Crispy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crispy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/23 "2003-08-27T19:49:52Z")
**furlibusea** , I don’t quite understand what you’re trying to say. What do you think should happen to the rapist? He committed a heinous crime, but he shouldn’t be punished because it would make his victim feel bad? I agree that the little girl is the most important factor in this case, and that every effort should be made to help her realize that it is, in fact, _very much not her fault_.Counseling, therapy, public service announcements, classes in schools, whatever proves helpful. But while that is how the child should be treated, I think the step-father should fry. He raped a defenseless child, possibly repeatedly. That is as low as one can ever stoop. While I’m glad he was sentenced to death, I hope his fellow prisoners get to him before the state does. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/24 "2003-08-27T20:01:50Z")
I think, perhaps (not to put words into someone else’s mouth), that the point is that giving a child responsibility over the death of someone is _not_ necessarially in the best interests of the child. Just because killing the perpetrator satisfies your need for justice/vengance, does not mean that a kid should have to sentence people to die for you. Yes, I know that the kid is not _actually_ doing this. But, I also think expecting a child not to feel extreme guilt about sending a person, let alone a relative, to die is unrealistic, unthoughtful, and unfair. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/25 "2003-08-27T20:02:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crispy \* > \*\*While I’m glad he was sentenced to death, I hope his fellow prisoners get to him before the state does. \*\* He we go. Another moron advocating prison rape and/or beating. Isn’t it enough for some people that we have outrageously overcrowded and often inhumanely-run prisons to send these guys to? And that, in cases like this, the perpetrator is also going to pay with his life? I’m not going to shed too many tears, whatever happens to this guy, but it just seems that revelling in the idea of torture brings us down to his level. The reason that the state no longer sanctions torture of suspects and prisoners is that it is deemed to be inimical to the idea of due process, and in violation of the constitutional guarantee against “cruel and unusual punishment.” Simply advocating that other prisoners, rather than the state, carry out such punishment does not make it an acceptable part of the justice system. Just MHO. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/26 "2003-08-27T20:28:42Z")
\*\* furlibusea\*\*, I can only answer that with a quote from one of my favorite classic movies: ‘The Thief of Bagdad’: “Little Master, when you think with your Stomach, you forget your Head. When you think with your Head, you forget your Heart. And when you think with your Heart, you forget Everything!” ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/27 "2003-08-27T20:30:36Z")
I don’t think much prison rape goes on in death row anyway. I read a good book about Angola, and, IIRC, the death row inmates don’t really have a chance to mingle with the rest of the population. Still, prison rape is fucked up. I wonder why so many people identify with a legal code that’s almost 4,000 years old. From Hammurabi’s code: > [@](#): > > 1. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. I wonder if the prison rape advocates also agree with other parts of the code? > [@](#): > > 1. If he put out the eye of a man’s slave, or break the bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay one-half of its value. > > 2. If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off. > > 3. If a physician make a large incision in the slave of a freed man, and kill him, he shall replace the slave with another slave. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/28 "2003-08-27T20:36:51Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by quietman1920 \* > \*\*\*\* furlibusea_\*, I can only answer that with a quote from one of my favorite classic movies: ‘The Thief of Bagdad’: > > “Little Master, when you think with your Stomach, you forget your Head. When you think with your Head, you forget your Heart. > And when you think with your Heart, you forget Everything!” \*\* I don’t think it’s quite that simple, **quietman1920**. I knew a girl who had been raped from the age of three to the age of 13 by her father. Even when I knew her, as a very intelligent 18-year old, it was impossible to convince her that it wasn’t her fault. She said things like “I led him on” and “It was my fault that he couldn’t resist me.” In some of her clearer moments, she acknowledged that in her mind she really did know it was his fault, but her emotions were so overpowering that she couldn’t help having the opposite feeling. As people who haven’t been victimized, I don’t think we can really appreciate the overwhelming nature of this mindset. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/29 "2003-08-27T20:48:22Z")
This will undoubtedly be struck down on appeal. The Supreme Court ruled in COKER v. GEORGIA, 433 U.S. 584 (1977) that the Death Penalty is unconstitutional as a punishment for rape, as it is a disproportionate punishment. ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/30 "2003-08-27T20:53:17Z")
**Crispy** I am not suggesting he should get away with it. There is no way to punish this guy sufficiently. Death is too easy. Anything that might be close is pretty well covered by the constitution. The best I can figure is solitary confinement with no books no TV and with the exception of his lawyer no visitors for the rest of his natural life, with all medical interventions possible to make sure that is as long as possible. In the long run it doesn’t matter as long as he never has access to another child. After that I don’t want the state spending three times the amount it costs to keep someone in jail for life in order to get him dead. Those resources are better off spent helping the child. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/31 "2003-08-27T20:53:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mhendo \* > \*\*I’m pretty sure it’s the latter, not that it really makes much difference to the case. \*\* I agree with you there. The man is a complete slimeball irregardless. I was just confused at the wording, is all. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/32 "2003-08-27T20:59:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*I don’t think much prison rape goes on in death row anyway. \*\* You’re right. I was just taking aim at the “thinking” that inspired **Crispy** ’s comment. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/33 "2003-08-27T21:41:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blalron \* > \*\*This will undoubtedly be struck down on appeal. The Supreme Court ruled in COKER v. GEORGIA, 433 U.S. 584 (1977) that the Death Penalty is unconstitutional as a punishment for rape, as it is a disproportionate punishment. \*\* I don’t understand how a court could say that death is disproportionate punishment for rape. It isn’t, IMHO. Especially if the victim was a child. ---
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/34 "2003-08-27T21:50:47Z")
I’m sorry, but if you rape a child, you do not deserve to live. Not only have they traumatised the person beyond repair, they have robbed the kid of their childhood. They will never be the same because a certain irrevocably sick person has given in to his urges. Pedophiles cannot be rehabilitated, so keeping them in a situation where they may at some point be released back into the general public is completely wrong-headed, and our national financial situation does not IMO, warrant keeping these animals alive. Say what you want about two wrongs not making a right (what would be wrong about it?), or that it costs more to put them to death than keeping them alive (it doesn’t), It is certainly the lesser of two evils, I have wondered what is to be done with a person who finds at an early age that he has these urges? If he can’t be talked out of it, and it seems that talk therapy is particularly ineffective in these cases, what can be done? anything? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/35 "2003-08-27T22:05:17Z")
having just gone through this whole thing recently, let me just ask **N. W. W.** to prove her assertion that “pedophiles cannot be rehabilitated”. as for the OP. I’m against the death penalty on general terms, so would be against it in this case as well. but furthermore, let me repeat what a prior poster pointed out - allowing for the death penalty for such a crime would create the situation that a child rapist would face better odds against being caught and convicted if they killed the child vs. let them live. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/36 "2003-08-27T22:17:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wring \* > \*\*having just gone through this whole thing recently, let me just ask **N. W. W.** to prove her assertion that “pedophiles cannot be rehabilitated”. \*\* My question exactly. This seems to be one of those assertions that, because of the awful nature of the crime, people feel they can just throw about with no evidence, as if they actually knew what the fuck they were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/37 "2003-08-27T22:21:45Z")
It does cost more to put them to [death](http://208.55.30.156/facts/other/costly.shtml). The costs are not frivolous suits but federaly mandated appeals. I know how much they steal from the child. I was there. Its been 30 years now since it started. I still deal with it on some level every day. I still don’t know why he did it, but I am beginning to believe it wasn’t about being attracted and more about control and an arrogance to believe he could get away with what he wanted. Some days I still think I was a coward for not telling, but then again never thought it would solve anything. My father drowned in a boating accident 27 years ago tomorrow, and I am now older than he was then. I think he got off too easy. ---
**Author:** ![birdgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/51bf81/32.png) [@birdgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/birdgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/38 "2003-08-27T22:27:14Z")
I think child rape is actually more serious than some murders. I would rather put a child rapist to death before some gang-banger who shot someone over a drug deal or something. But better yet, I think the punishment should be **castration!** And while I certainly don’t advocate prision rape, I think every rapist should get a taste of their own medicine. I think rape is a crime on par with murder, especially child rape. In conclusion, yes I think it’s great that the jury had the courage to sentence him to death. A child rapist deserves no less. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/39 "2003-08-27T22:35:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by birdgirl \* > \*\*And while I certainly don’t advocate prision rape, I think every rapist should get a taste of their own medicine. \*\* and exactly how would this occur?? you’ve stated you’re not advocating prison rape, but yet, somehow they should get raped. Should the guards??? who? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975/40 "2003-08-27T22:38:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baker \* > \*\*I don’t understand how a court could say that death is disproportionate punishment for rape. It isn’t, IMHO. Especially if the victim was a child. \*\* If you’re raped, you can still go on to live life. If you are killed, you can’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-penalty-for-child-rape/197975.md?page=3)