S.C. Considers Death For Child Rapists

[951-Riverside]

With this law If someone really has it out for you now they can just get their kids to lie and say you raped them. :puke:

(CBS/AP) The South Carolina state senate endorsed making repeat child rapists eligible for the death penalty, setting aside arguments the move might be unconstitutional.

"What we've got to do today is vote our conviction," said Republican Sen. Larry Martin on Tuesday.

The proposal allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty for sex offenders who are convicted twice of raping a child younger than 11.

Currently in South Carolina, murder is the only crime eligible for the death penalty.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/29/national/main1450543.shtml

[rodeodance]

1. not a good idea. Too many proposals now include the death penalty. We

are going backwards.

[tandot]

2. "sex offenders who are convicted twice of raping a child younger than 11"

Don't see a problem with that. However, I would prefer just putting them in jail until they die.

To be convicted twice it takes a little bit more than telling your kids to lie about being raped.

[China_cat]

3. What they will get with this

is what they had when the death penalty was applied for rape...juries were reluctant to convict and the animals walked the streets.

[ugarte]

4. I oppose the death penalty...period...

Not for treason, not for murder, etc.

[Charlie Brown]

5. There was a big discussion on this yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2194429&mesg_id=2194429

[twiterpatted]

6. its a set up!!!

This is typical straw man legislation from the republicans. They are manufacturing outrage. If you vote against this, you favor child rap. They do the same thing with abortion. I've got more conviction in my left nut then those republicans will ever have.

[ugarte]

11. You are correct. Republicans scream "soft on crime" and Democrats jump

Maybe we should outflank them and just call for full-fledged Sharia law. Chop off hands, heads, etc.

[napi21]

7. I'm having a tough time disagreeing with this one!

I don't agree with the death penalty, but there really is something WORSE about predators who prey on little kids!

I have a gand daughter who's age 10. I gotta tell ya, they'd have a hard time keeping ME from executing the death penalty on the guy who raped her! I'd be willing to spend the rest of MY life in prison or even DIE rather than let someone like that go.

[MrSlayer]

8. Why twice? Once is sufficient.

You rape a kid once and you should be put down. As I've said many, many times here there is nothing more heinous, nothing lower on Earth than someone who would rape a child.

[rpannier]

9. There are lots of problems with this law that have been pointed out

The first is that it is more likely the rapist will kill the victim and take their chances. The theory being, "If they're gonna die anyway, they might as well kill the child and improve their chances of not being caught."
I have a friend who has been working with juvenile offenders for over fifteen years and when the three strikes laws were being passed a decade ago several of his 'clients' said, "If I'm robbing house or stealing a bike and someone sees me I'll kill 'em. I'm not going to jail for the rest of my life over a bike."
Now, you can parse that statement however you want, but the fact remains, they were willing to kill someone to avoid jail for the rest of their lives.

My other major problem with this law is the 'slippery slope' argument. It's easy to sell this idea to people. Hell, yesterday there were DUers volunteering to "pull the switch." The problem is, then what's the next law that we make punishable by death? Drug peddling? Being a pimp? You can find a number of people who engage in behavior that society considers reprehensible, but we don't kill them over it -- at least not yet.

When the sex offender registry laws were passed it was an easy sell. They told people like me who were (are) suspicious of this registry that it would only apply to sex offenders. A fellow DUer posted an article from Tennessee a few months back, where the state wants to set up a "Meth Registry." You'll be able to go on line and see who the meth producers and users are. My question is "What comes next?"

25 years ago if I said to the majority of Americans that we'd entertain the idea of executing twelve year olds, people would have called me a lunatic and a 'fear monger-er.' Now today, we have legislators and prosecutors saying how they could envision having laws to execute 10 and 12 year olds and most people don't seem to be outraged or care.

Our government engages in and promotes torture. Ten years ago people would have been outraged to hear we were doing it. Now, we just turn a blind eye and rationalize it.

edited for spelling

[Poppyseedman]

10. Are you kidding ???

With this law If someone really has it out for you now they can just get their kids to lie and say you raped them.

Don't you think the child would have a physical exam before they charged and convicted someone of child rape?

Any parent that will put their child though the trauma of a physical exam and questioning by professionals does not deserve to be in charge of children

Personally, if someone raped my child the SOB would not make it to the courthouse to stand trial. (If I know it without a doubt he was guilty)

[depakid]

12. Just goes to show once again

that Republicans have zero respect for the law or the Constitution. Never have- and never will.

Frankly, it seems to me that this so called "Senator" isn't much different than the successionits in his state were 145 years ago.

[LynnTheDem]

13. Closer and closer day by day to IRAN and co.

Way to go, America. :eyes:

[KevinJH87]

14. opposed...

If anybody deserves the death penalty they do.

But, I am against any death penalty.

[MrPrax]

15. Kinda nutty...

1) why twice?
You think that if someone was caught raping a child once, there would be a long spell in the 'stripey hole'--the fact these guys are willing to give a child rapist, a second chance should be something they might focus on in their deliberations. Is it the motivation of legislators to suggest that the courts are too soft or something

2) why 11?
Is the public imagination so shocked to not murder if the victim was 14? What do you get if you got 5 and they are age of majority? It does simply appear to be an abject failure on justice to allow any repeat offenders in any circumstances a revolving door to crime

3) Does the victim HAVE to be '11' to come forward or can they be 28 and proud supporter of recovered memory therapy?
If that's the case, then the fact that child rapists are habitual, a prosecutor in a high profile case could easily scare up a few complainants willing to 'put down' the perp.

The only thing lower than an insane child rapist is I suppose a completely sane murderer acting upon revenge, killing an innocent person.

[brentspeak]

16. Not like I'm going to cry over the death of a child rapist

but what does it mean by "convicted twice of raping a child younger than 11?" If it means convicted for two different incidents at two different places or two times, I don't see the problem. In other words, a serial child rapist.

But if it means being convicted on two counts of child rape involving one incident, or at a single location where there's been many accusations of molestation performed by several different people -- that is not right. Why? Because occasionally there are child molestation scandals involving day care centers and the like, which more often than not turn out to be totally bogus witch hunts. The children are coached by prosecutors to recite imaginary horror stories or injected with false memories from psychologists , and before you know it, perfectly innocent people are labeled "monsters" and thrown into jail (ie. the McMartin Day Care Center trials, the Wee Care Nursery School witch hunt).

So undisputed serial child rapists, yeah -- show 'em the chair. But other kinds of cases -- given the obvious emotions involved whenever allegations of child molestation are raised, there's a good chance innocent people would find themselves facing death.