I was surprised to hear that yesterday the US Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty for child rape cases is unconstitutional, calling it “cruel and unusual punishment.” This was a case brought to the US Supreme court from Louisiana, where a man was convicted of raping his eight year old step-daughter and sentenced to the death penalty.
The most recent medical evidence shows that pedophilia is incurable. People who sexually abuse children, go to jail and serve their time and are released back into society do it again and again. They can’t help themselves.
To make a sweeping declaration about this means that the child rapist, no matter how badly they tortured the victim, no matter how many times they raped the child, they will not be sentenced to death. I think that could be a mistake. I think that victims of child rape suffer the rest of their lives, and the one that raped them stole their lives from them. I think that if the death penalty is taken off the table, then life imprisonment without chance of parole should be the mandatory sentence for child rapists.
