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#1
10-07-2006, 02:06 PM
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Death for child rape
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's Tuesday announcement of a proposal to add the death penalty as a sentencing option for repeat child sex offenders no doubt appeals to many Texans on an emotional level. The very idea of an adult preying on a child should evoke not only righteous anger but legislation that will attempt to prevent it from happening and will severely penalize those who are caught after the fact.
But Dewhurst's timing smacks of outright political pandering, and his proposal is troubling on several levels. It is, quite possibly, unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court historically has weighed the proportionality of the sentence when it comes to the use of the death penalty. The punishment must fit the crime. Justice Byron White, writing the court's opinion in Coker vs. Georgia, which rejected the death penalty for the rape of an adult woman, articulated the concern about the disproportionate use of capital punishment. "Rape is without doubt deserving of serious punishment; but in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public, it does not compare with murder, which does involve the unjustified taking of human life," White wrote in the 1977 decision. "Although it may be accompanied by another crime, rape by definition does not include the death of or even the serious injury to another person. The murderer kills; the rapist, if no more than that, does not. Life is over for the victim of the murderer; for the rape victim, life may not be nearly so happy as it was, but it is not over and normally is not beyond repair. We have the abiding conviction that the death penalty, which 'is unique in its severity and irrevocability,' is an excessive penalty for the rapist who, as such, does not take human life." Granted, state legislatures and even Congress have established harsher penalties for some crimes against children. That doesn't remove the question of whether that should be done with this category of crime. Is the rape of a child depraved enough in society's mind to warrant the death penalty? If you're that child's parents, probably so. But as a general proposition, do Americans want to expand the use of capital punishment? As a society, do we believe that the problem of sex offenders can be eliminated by killing them off? What about crimes against the elderly? Should the sexual offense of someone equally as vulnerable as a child also be subject to the death penalty? It is difficult to dismiss the concerns of those who say that this proposal, if enacted into law, takes away the disincentive for the offender not to kill the victim and eliminate the main witness to the crime. And would this proposal deter witnesses from stepping forward to report a family member who may be a repeat offender? It's hard enough to get relatives to report these crimes now, no matter how awful. Should the Legislature commit more funds to prosecute those involved in crimes against children? Sure. Should the Texas attorney general's office aggressively go after cyberspace prowlers who contact potential underage victims over the Internet? Absolutely. What Texas doesn't need is an expansion of capital punishment to cases that do not involve the death of another human being. The nation's highest court also considers evolving standards of decency when it comes to determining whether a particular use of capital punishment is constitutional. The justices look to how many states have gone one way or the other on the use of capital punishment. Witness Atkins vs. Virginia, which exempted the execution of the mentally retarded, and Roper vs. Simmons, which removed the death penalty from cases in which a juvenile committed the murder. Evolving standards of decency are not the only consideration in deciding such cases for the Supreme Court, but they do constitute one criterion. Thus far, only a few states have extended the death penalty to those who rape children. Dewhurst apparently wants to start changing that balance. Even if it were to turn out to be constitutional, that doesn't make it good policy.
__________________
look at yourself - you're a f*cking mess, and yet you're saying nothing happened? - nothing happened??? yes, i know so much is so ordinary, so coarse, and so vulgar. but survival is simply not enough. nowhere near. what's the point of surviving? survive what? don't you realize you're going to die? f*ck your missions, your crusade. i demand and expect quality. right now, once and for all. quality time. 
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#2
10-09-2006, 05:24 AM
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Ahh hell, just kill the fuckers. those who rape adults, too. How many people are emotionally destroyed by rape? they can "get better", but it NEVER goes away! And when it happens to k8ids, it keeps the cycle going. A lot of children raped and molested end up doing the same thing themselves, or sit by when it happens to their kids.
"it doesnt prevent other people from doing it." Actually, im sure the death penalty alone has prevented many murders from happneing. The thought of dying for your actions is usually enough to make anyone think twice about it. The other thing, "let the punishment fit the crime". if thats the case, if you arent going to kill them, then they need to be brutally violated in such a way that they sit in the back of their cell and cry about it every time they think about it. Destroy them emotionally, take anything that may have been innocent in them, and make anything that might make them happy hurt. THAT is a fitting punishment.
__________________
Some misguided people decided I was funny enough to pay. See if they're right: http://www.cracked.com/members/Vodstok/ (I tweet pretty hardcore, too)
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#3
10-09-2006, 05:43 AM
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I think not only should they be emotionally hurt, but after a year of being tormented or so, come up with a type of brutal death for them. Like say, being stabbed fifty times while they are raped in the ass!
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#4
10-09-2006, 06:15 AM
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__________________
"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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#5
10-09-2006, 06:22 AM
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__________________
Some misguided people decided I was funny enough to pay. See if they're right: http://www.cracked.com/members/Vodstok/ (I tweet pretty hardcore, too)
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#6
10-09-2006, 06:48 AM
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I wouldn't oppose the death penatly for child rapists, especially repeat offenders but if they are so stuck on this "punishment must fit the crime" crap, then I would suggest going back to the days when we castrated rapists. Pretty much solves the problem of repeat offenders right there.
__________________
Click for bwind22's 1 Minute Movie Reviews!
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#7
10-09-2006, 07:20 AM
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All child molesters would start being referred to as "Ken Dolls":)
__________________
Some misguided people decided I was funny enough to pay. See if they're right: http://www.cracked.com/members/Vodstok/ (I tweet pretty hardcore, too)
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#8
10-09-2006, 08:02 AM
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Quote:
__________________
look at yourself - you're a f*cking mess, and yet you're saying nothing happened? - nothing happened??? yes, i know so much is so ordinary, so coarse, and so vulgar. but survival is simply not enough. nowhere near. what's the point of surviving? survive what? don't you realize you're going to die? f*ck your missions, your crusade. i demand and expect quality. right now, once and for all. quality time.
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#9
10-09-2006, 09:04 AM
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it would be like eating chocolate on a double dose of prozac, you would KNOW you should enjoy it, and you would be conciously aware that it was somehting you liked and craved, but would be unable to physically feel the pleasant effects, which is actually even worse torture than outright denial.
__________________
Some misguided people decided I was funny enough to pay. See if they're right: http://www.cracked.com/members/Vodstok/ (I tweet pretty hardcore, too)
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#10
10-09-2006, 09:37 AM
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Lets compromise, we strap them in the chair, cut their willy off, then throw the switch.
__________________
look at yourself - you're a f*cking mess, and yet you're saying nothing happened? - nothing happened??? yes, i know so much is so ordinary, so coarse, and so vulgar. but survival is simply not enough. nowhere near. what's the point of surviving? survive what? don't you realize you're going to die? f*ck your missions, your crusade. i demand and expect quality. right now, once and for all. quality time.
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