Should child sex offenders get the death penalty?

Question

Here's a story about it:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,280413,00.html

Personally, I say either give the death penalty, life in prison without the possibility of parole, or castration. Slice it off so it can't hurt anyone anymore.

Lots of opinions, I like this, much appreciated you guys. So far, I agree most with p37ry, but many here have good, solid points to make. Cool.

Answer 1

No. Just remove their pudendum and let them rot in prison.

Answer 2

Castration? Thank goodness we don't really live in a democracy. No, I'm against the death sentence and the term "sex offender" covers a very broad spectrum.

There was a recent news story in the UK about a man in his 20's who was sentenced to about 2 years in prison for raping a 10 year old girl - or so the headlines went.

The details of the story revealed that the girl appeared much older than her real age and the man claimed that he believed she was 16 (most likely he believed she was more like 15). The sentence of "rape" was actually statutory rape because he had had consensual sex with the girl, who has serious emotional problems and was well known for being promiscuous.

The Judge's apparently absurdly lenient sentence was right after all: the man HAD committed a serious sexual offense, but he was not a "child rapist".

And what about women? There is growing evidence that women commit sexual offenses on minors; I wouldn't call it rape -maybe not even abuse- if a woman is taking advantage
of a 12 or 13 year old boy, but if it turns out that women are committing sex offenses against young children (which seems to rare, at least so far) then that is another matter and I'm not sure how that would compare to sexual abuse perpetrated by a man.

I have little faith in the police or the courts, but I have even less trust in the common sense of the public, so I'll leave it to the judgment of the professionals and hope they know what they are doing.

Answer 3

I don't think a discussion about extending the death penalty should take place until we start applying it fairly and equally to the crimes it covers now. There are three times more minority offenders on death row than white offenders, while only 30% of murders are committed by minorities.

Answer 4

Some cases of statutory rape are unconscionable (17 year old with 16 year old gets 20 years GA) but for the most part child molesters should be locked away for life till we figure out a way to rehabilitate them. We can't reliably do it now. sorry for my earlier post I read the question wrong and I am not sure why.

Answer 5

I'd say no... I say just stick them in jail for life without parole. I don't think anyone deserves the death penalty... not even people who do things like that... though I know how much it could ruin a kids life......

Answer 6

Life in prison costs taxpayers far too much money to keep trash like that in a cell with 3 meals a day and cable tv.

Castration doesn't work unloess you cut off their hands and tear out their eyes. You don't need genetalia to molest someone.

Since it has pretty much been proven that sexual predators cannot be rehabilitated (particularily pedophiles), there is only one viable option left...

Answer 7

castration won't work in all cases, a lot of perverse things can be done without a d*** there minds are the sick organs.

some "sex offenders" are people that turn 18 when their girlfriend is still 17. death seems a little harsh there.

Answer 8

One side o me says yes since the offense can ruin a person for life.

Yet on the other hand I would not want to increase the likelihood that the offender would kill the victim

Answer 9

Yes, Public Hanging, To Hurt a Child in this way deserves this.

Answer 10

I think death or life, castration won't do it, they could find other things to use to harm children.

Also I think they need their own town, far, far away from anyone to live, NOT intermingled among normal everyday households with CHILDREN...