SCOTUS: Can't execute child rapists

Yeah, I was wrong. T sent his posse out instead.

 

Frankly, I think it should be up to the victims, or their families, to decide the punishment. Wouldn't change things much, but at least the victim could get a small measure of revenge against the perp.

 

Why can't this discussion - anything regarding the death penalty or crime and punishment - ever occur without advocates claiming that opponents "sympathize with the pervs" or "care more about the rapist/murderer than the victim"? I know it's frustrating to some of you that others aren't in lockstep with your strong feelings about the issue, but you're making a Grand Canyon-sized leap and I think if you were intellectually honest with yourself, you would admit that.

These are such complex legal and moral issues that spewing inflammatory rhetoric does a disservice not only to discourse in this country when it comes to these matters, but also your own side, which likely has legitimate points that get lost in the tidal wave of your lowest common denominator appeals.

Oh, and this appeals equally to the people on the left who use similar inflammatory language to argue against the Iraq War, Bush social policies and onward and so on.

 

You said that better than I could have...

 

The catch-22 is that this kind of emotionally heightened language works politically - it rallies people. That's been proven again and again. But at what cost? Not worth it to me to weaken and divide the republic in the process.

 

Not yet.

This tidbit came out in court today:

TRENTON - The 12-year-old girl who claims a city man sexually attacked her in August 2006, was on her way home after having sex with her boyfriend when Shawn Brown allegedly called to her from a third-floor window to come to his apartment.

 

Poorly written lead. Is she 12 now? Was she 12 then?

 

12 then.

 

Today, I've heard at least two people say this ruling said that it was OK to rape children, as if the only two options for dealing with child rapists were to execute them or not punish them at all.
Huh?

 

So let me get this straight. The Scalia block thinks punitive sanctions against businesses found liable in torts shouldn't exceed the financial damages, but in the case of child rape (which I agree is a horrible crime), the sanction can exceed the damage inflicted.
I realize we're talking apples and oranges here, but if you cross that line of expanding the death penalty for crimes other than murder how do quantify what deserves the death penalty. Statutory cases? The nature of the attack. I honestly believe if you started putting the death penalty on the table for white collar crime, you might actually deter the crime.
But dead is dead. Eye for eye. We shouldn't allow the government to unfairly apply the death penalty to more cases. Lock em up throw away the key.

 

Some would say, and many have, that a child who is raped is dead inside for the rest of their lives.

By the way, did anyone catch the state rep from my beautiful home state of Massachusetts on the floor discussing Jessica's Law and why he is against it? Of course as a criminal defense attorney, he seems to care more about his wallet than he does his constituents.

ENJOY: http://hubpolitics.com/tag/james-fagan/

 

That is an absurd, divisive generalization.