Should child malesters be given the death penalty?

Question

I personally think they should. They are cruel and disgusting beings. Just imagine it was your daughter/son or sibling. You would want justice.

Answer 1

This is exactly why we have a representative republic, not a democracy. If everyone were simply to vote on every issue, emotive topics like this would create a savage and inhumane justice system. We'd be back to public hangings for child molestation, rape, and probably robbery. Slavery would be back, black and white couples would not be allowed to marry...

The fact is, we elect politicians to study the issues, and then vote for laws that best protect society. Do I like child molesters? No. Should they be permanently kept away from children? Yes - they can't be cured. Do I want to kill people because they have sick minds? No.

Answer 2

Long answer, important subject.

I think that before people make up their minds about this they should have the facts about the death penalty. Here are a few, verifiable and sourced.

Re: Possibility of executing an innocent person
Over 120 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence, many having already served over 2 decades on death row. If we speed up the process we are bound to execute an innocent person. Once someone is executed the case is closed. If we execute an innocent person the real criminal is still out there and will have successfully avoided being charged.

Re: DNA
DNA is available in less than 10% of murder cases. It’s not a miracle cure for sentencing innocent people to death. It’s human nature to make mistakes.

Re: Mis-identification in rape cases
It may surprise you to know that misidentification, even in cases of rapes of adults, has led to wrongful convictions. (Two cases immediately come to mind: Alan Newton, New York, and Vincent Moto, Pennsylvania, both convicted of rape on mistaken identification by the victims, exonerated via DNA). Surely you have heard of the cases where children, sometimes manipulated by prosecutors, have accused adults of sexual crimes that were never even committed.

Re: Deterrence
The death penalty isn’t a deterrent. Murder rates are actually higher in states with the death penalty than in states without it. Moreover, people who kill or commit other serious crimes do not think about the consequences or even that they will be caught (if they think at all.)

Re: cost
The death penalty costs far more than life in prison. The huge extra costs start to mount up even before the trial. There are more cost effective ways to prevent and control crime.

Re: Alternatives
48 states have life without parole on the books. It means what it says, is swift and sure and is rarely appealed. Being locked in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day, forever, is certainly no picnic. Life without parole incapacitates a killer (keeps him from re-offending) and costs considerably less than the death penalty.

Re: Who gets the death penalty
The death penalty isn’t reserved for the “worst of the worst,” but rather for defendants with the worst lawyers. When is the last time a wealthy person was sentenced to death, let alone executed??

Re: Victims families
The death penalty is very hard on victims’ families. They must relive their ordeal in the courts and the media. Life without parole is sure, swift and rarely appealed. Some victims families who support the death penalty in principal prefer life without parole because of how the death penalty affects families like theirs.

Opposing the death penalty doesn’t mean you condone brutal crimes or excuse people who commit them. According to a Gallup Poll, in 2006, 47% of all Americans prefer capital punishment while 48% prefer life without parole. Americans are learning the facts and making up their minds using common sense.

Answer 3

Great idea there Tamerlane, just put anyone to death that is convicted of child molestation, no matter what the circumstances are, one penalty for every situation.
But who make the determination as to what is child molestation and what is not?
These days even taking a picture of your infant son or daughter taking a bath is in some places considered child molestation.
Are you going to give those people the death penalty too?
And what about people that are convicted and later found to have been convicted on false testimony?
Oops! Got that one wrong, Well we can't get them all right, but we do our best.
That is nothing less than a lynch mob mentality.
Use some common sense, each case is different and needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis just as it is done now.
One penalty does not fit every situation.

Answer 4

Yes they should. They take up valuable space and use the air we breath. I personally do not want to support them when they are in prison for doing something so disgusting. They cannot be rehabilated, as the repeated offending is proof. Or forced to live in a community with all sexual predators behind a very tall fence with razor wire at the top, to never be allowed into society again

Answer 5

Justice would be to put them into a tough, high security prison, and NOT in the segregated unit. Put them in the general prison population for life without the possibility of parole.

And then make sure that the other prisoners know what they're there for. Other prisoners would settle things!

Answer 6

Actually in prison they get it pretty bad.

All the inmates take it out on the child molesters because they either have children, or their friends do, they have no respect for them for what they did to get in there. They beat them, rape them, and abuse them WAY more than society could. They deserve that rather than the death penalty.

But, if anyone ever did that to my little girl they wouldn't even get the chance at prison. They would die by my hand.

Answer 7

They should be given the death penalty. What type of person could do that to or child or anyone.

Answer 8

I would much rather them sit in prison and be beaten and abused themselves for the rest of their natural lives. Giving them the death penalty is doing them a favor.

Answer 9

No because sometimes innocent people get convicted. How would you feel if you were somehow wrongfully proven guilty of child molestation? Take the case of Michael Jackson. I don't know if he did it or not, but he is a rich guy and there are certainly motives to exploit him. You see my point?

Answer 10

i think they should be kept in prison until the child is 18 then put in a room with the child and weapons of the childs choice then let them kill the molester starting from the feet up. that would be a justice system.xxx