Should child molesters be executed?

NO. We should not execute anyone.

Yes! He didn't just molest. He tortured the poor girl. What he did to her, she needed surgery for. (!!) I'm a liberal, but I say give him the chair!!!

A civil society has no place for people who torture. Whether they are our presidents or someone's father. Shame on him!

i think they should be tormented in the same way they molested the child, but for life. the majority of offenders who get loose, re-offend. so don't let them out. if they kill themselves, darwin wins again

there will always be a reason for torture phoenix, no matter what the era we happen to be in

But not for parents who would do this to their own kids. There should be a special kind of punishment for those who would be cruel to an utterly defenseless human being.

With a few exceptions, yes, child molesters (and sex offenders in general) should be executed. I get so pissed when I hear in the news about a REPEAT offender getting caught, getting a slap on the wrist, and being set right back out on the streets again to continue.

It's a simple case: if there is enough reliable evidence to prove someone has knowingly and purposely commited a sexual crime then just take 'em out back shoot 'em after the trial. These people screwed up big time and don't deserve second chances.

Yes, child molesters should be executed, repeat offenders and those caught red handed in the act should be SUMMARILY executed on the spot. I say you cut em loose in general population and make them wear a pedo-sign for about a week prior to their execution and let the prisoners have their way with them, even hardened criminals detest pedophiles.

Whoa, killers. Who else should we execute?

What are the exceptions? How young does the child have to be? How old does the molester have to be? What about if the molester is retarded? Where should we draw the line in terms of IQ?

@ Liberal_Extinction - so, this topic makes you angry, yeah? I don't know many people who are not angered by child molesters. But summary execution? You mean, the cops should be empowered, as soon as they think they see a sex offender who has done it again, to just shoot that person dead? So, fuck due process, eh?

Sure, and while we're at it, how about we just give the cops the right to kill anyone they want, for any reason, anytime. Or maybe that goes too far...

A civil society has no place for executions. I can't believe all the responses to this article advocating executions. I expected better from the Current audience.

Has anyone wondered why there are sex offenders in the first place? Killing them won't solve the problem. It would be like imprisoning all the robbers out there instead of solving the problem of poverty and social inequality.

i have an uncle whose worked with sex offenders for his state as a rehabilitation councillor for 24 years , and has dealt with thousands of child molesters , rapists , etc. - his opinion : they should all be shot . studies so far have shown that child molesters cannot be "rehabilitated" - they have a predatory mentality which "chemical castration " ( a hot topic , BTW , because some idiots regard it as a violation of "rights" ) can't "cure" - these are individuals who cost us taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with - this is money that could be spent in helping out any other cause where favorable results can be expected .

I know that the devastation that a child molester causes would make anyone want to kill him but that will get us nowhere. I don't think we as human beings have the right to take the life of another human being no matter how terrible he is. We don't have the right to decide who gets to live or die. Thats what I think.

No, a robber is not the same person as a child rapist. There are some crimes that are just too heinous. Anyone who would torture a defenseless child doesn't deserve to live. She needed surgery after what he had done to her! What about her? Doesn't she deserve justice? Doesn't she deserve to live out the remainder of her days in safety and peace?

After all, isn't this what a civil society is about? To stand up for those who are unable to stand up for themselves?

While I'm not in favor with the death penalty in general, exceptions ought to be made. Like this one. The law needs to be very careful not to give the police cart blanche on anything. But only narrowly and strictly defined to convicted child molesters & rapists.

Certainly, the society needs to figure out what drives a person to commit this kind of crime. I suspect it has a lot to do with the crazy dichotomy in the ways a lot of Americans think about sex. On the one hand, we have the church telling us that it is shameful, dirty and worthy of eternal burnings in hell. On the other hand, we have a free market and media culture that seeks to commodify women through violent porn and even every day advertisements. Mix that with sexism and patriarchy - the notion that men must prove themselves by destroying, dominating, humiliating someone. If someone is already mentally unstable, it's very easy for them to go off the deep end given these forces in society. Still no excuse though. He must pay for what he did to that poor child.

Resources ought to be poured into research and prevention measures. But let's not forget to serve justice to those who desperately depend on us to do so.

Thank you, hack26 and carcrash - voices of reason, finally! voices in the wilderness, apparently, but voices at least!

phoenix - what can possibly give the little girl justice? how would killing the guy give her justice? nothing will ever give her justice or peace! killing him, cutting his balls off, locking him up for life - nothing. the hard reality is, there is no justice for her, but at the end of the day we are still a liberal democracy in the 21st century. the death penalty is a cancer on all of us, and yet so many of you are crying for blood. the blood is on your hands and mine.

and, phoenix, how can you talk about men proving themselves "by destroying, dominating, humiliating?" what the hell are YOU advocating?

here are the top five executing countries, according to Amnesty International's April 15, 2008, report:

1. China
2. Iran
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Pakistan
5. United States

does the company we're keeping give you guys a clue at all?

i like this thread if only because it brings out the bleeding heart kind of liberals - thing is , in getting individuals out of the gene pool who are patently corrosive to "civility" , society as a whole is served , not just the specific victim in any particular case - it should be the objective of any truly compassionate citizenry to want the best for the whole - to oppose the execution of child molesters is selfish - i'd go so far as to say pathologically selfish , and pretty much equivalent to the selfishness the perpetrators themselves posses - and if anyone opposed to the death penalty wants another option , how about penal colonies ? actually , how about just adopting some of these people and letting them live in your house ?

It is morally reprehensible to think that countries in this world actually still believe in state sanctioned murder. Yes, child molesters are despicable human beings... human beings who should then do life, which would not bother me. However, to say we as humans have the right to murder another and strut around with our chests out as if that makes us better is a true failure of humanity. And then where will that lead? Execute all petty thieves? All prostitutes? Then all those who commit adultery? And what of those falsely accused? Our societal ills go much deeper... however, we don't want to face them, we just want to take the easy way out.

Revenge is not justice.

I think a true child molesters (not sixteen year olds sleeping with 12 year olds an unfortunate event but not the same as a 40 year old with a 12 year old or even more disgusting is the old men getting off with babies) should be compassionately killed. It should be explained that their personality simply cannot be perpetuated.

JanforGore, I simply do not agree that the same type of thinking that is applied to this case should be assumed to be used for resolving the other conflicts you describe. It is not a universal resolution to all crime.

show your "humanity" Jan - start a grass roots campaign to highlight the "revenge" mentality of execution advocates by volunteering to rehabilitate criminals in your home - if you're so confident in the moral justness of your statements then i'm sure you're equally as confident in your ability to further morality by using your moral soundness to reform those in this world who are lost , confused , angry , etc. - go ahead - put your money where your mouth is .

Always the stock answer when there is nothing else. Studies have shown that the death penalty actually costs more than giving life sentences. The death penalty is also not an effective deterrent to violent crime. You would still have molestations taking place, and with any type of crime there would more than likely be innocent people caught up in the system. So how does that solve the problem other than the vicarious thrill some seem to get from watching someone be murdered? I also believe that in many cases the death penalty is again, the easy way out. Hard labor, hard time, and no hope of ever seeing the outside world again in many cases in our prison system is a fate worse than death. Again, it is called justice not revenge. So please stop assuming that because someone is for justice that means they are soft or bleeding hearts. I'm not, but I am also not a bloodluster either.

I hate the term bleeding heart liberal. I hate any stupid term assigned to what I feel strongly about that makes it seem inferior.
But my heart is bleeding and I prefer it that way. If it were not producing blood I would clearly be dead. So I don't know what your getting at by calling people that.

One human cannot take the life of another. It happens, but should never be a punishment. There is no justice in that. You don't hate the person who did it. You hate whatever they did and the effect it had on you. There may just be no solution. The universe is chaos there's no divine judgment that one person can make over another. Figure out your own rage.

I'm not liberal or a conservative or any of that. This is just my human decision.

I like the making him wear a sign so people know. They won't get far if everyone they contact knows they've done this. Being treated a certain way will get to them. I usually am against prison, but I think exile is what should be done to these people. I think they can be changed, but until then, no one wants them.

Nope. Civilized countries do not execute their criminals. The death penalty is just legal murder, it serves no purpose other than to satisfy one of the basest instincts in man - revenge. It has absolutely no deterrent effect whatsoever on crime - on the contrary, it encourages crime in many cases, through "suicide by execution".

circumvent the "legal system" which allows convicted criminals to appeal their cases forever - i agree , the present protocol is ridiculous - and the solution is to create a penal colony in Iraq - just send off our domestic terrorists to hang out with their kin abroad - "detain " them all - and as far as any person who might just be wrongly convicted , they should quit whining and consider themselves martyrs - if there's a god , they'll surely be the chosen .

Intelligent countries don't re-introduce the worst of their society back into the productive part of society. Intelligent countries don't waste their f'ing time worrying if convicted criminals have television, a meal that is acceptable to their religion, internet service, plenty of smokes, etc. We're too DAMN soft on our criminals as it is. The death penalty needs to be extended to MORE crimes and the appeal process needs to be cut down FAR shorter than it is now. DO I want to see an innocent person executed? No, not in the least, do I think that we have FAR too many criminals caught up in the legal system because we are too SOFT on criminals? ABSOLUTELY! You up the penalty and you will eventually get more people's attention, if they don't pay attention, who gives a shit, we get rid of them.

malathion, have we not alread wreaked enough misery onto Iraq without sending criminals there?

Liberal_Extinction, your rant is completely insane and foreign to reality.

Hammurabi had the right idea - ok , lets not execute anyone ( extending the code to fit modern sensibilities ) , instead , let's just amputate the hands of convicted criminals , not murder them - i'm inclined to believe that news coverage involving the hardships endured by handless criminals trying to eat a mickey d's hamburger would have more visceral impact than an "insider" documentary on inmates languishing on death row - actually , give the convicted the option of being freed as amputees or staying imprisoned - my bet is that handless freed convicts would be a greater deterrent , when allowed to mix with the rest of the population, than the merely imprisoned .

where do you draw the line?

Malathion, that's sick and primitive.

If it a fact that he did commit the crime of rape,and the evidence is undisputably accurate.YES,HE SHOULD BE CONVICTED.

Recividism in child-molesting cases is significantly lower than recividism in other crimes. Here is an excerpt from http://www.johnhoward.ab.ca/PUB/C24.htm

Sex offenders are of grave concern to the public due to the nature of sexual offending. The public tends to believe that the recidivism rates of sexual offenders, particularly pedophiles, are quite high. This information sheet is intended to provide a quick overview of the research on this topic.

Recidivism is defined as being charged with the commission of a new offence. In the case of sex offenders, the public is most concerned with sexual recidivism - the commission of a new sexual offence. Recidivism rates vary by the time frame being looked at and by the type of sexual offending.

Recidivism Rates

One research project looked at 61 previous studies of sexual recidivism using a 4-5 year follow up period. This research on sex offenders found that 13.4% recidivated with a sexual offence, 12.2% recidivated with a non-sexual, violent offence and 36.6% recidivated with any other offence.

A long term follow-up study of child molesters in Canada found that 42% were reconvicted of sexual or violent crime during the 15-30 year follow-up period.

In addition, the long-term follow-up study (15-30 years)of child molesters showed that the average recidivism rate for this group of offenders is actually lower than the average recidivism rate for non-sexual offenders (61% versus 83.2% respectively for any new conviction).

hmmm castration BIG YES...... death LITTLE MAYBE. (If you cant cure it...... kill it....isn't that the American way?)

what are we supposed to do with child molesters, if we sentence them to jail, they usually get out to do it again, if we kill them its inhumane, and if we have them spend the rest of their life in prison, they will either eventually be killed by other inmates, or cost us a shit ton of money to keep them there forever. I say we put them on their own little island and let them fend for themselves the rest of their life.

An eye-for-a-head justice is not ok. In no way am I endorsing this terrible crime, but most of the offenders are mentally ill.

As I stated above, justwannafindmytrue, recividism in child molesters is nowhere as high as people beilieve it is. In Canada, they have special medico/carceral prisons for child molesters where they are treated humanely and receive excellent medical and psychological/psychiatric treatment. These offenders have a dramatically lower rate of recividism. Those who do not respond to treatment should be kept in those medico/carceral facilities for life, and given an environment as normal as possible, such as a kind of village, in which they can study, work, be productive, and contribute to society from behind those walls.

What is the cost of their special prisons and if Canada is getting these great results why wouldn't we follow their lead?

why leave them behind walls - wouldn't it be an indignity to have them slave away behind walls ? if they're ever to be re-incorporated into society they must be given the chance to interact with the world whose principles they've violated (and show their remorse by their willingness to participate in "justice" ) - how about letting them be crash test dummies ? or medical experiment subjects ? if the test of their reformation is the degree to which they are willing to atone for their crimes by helping people out , why wouldn't they volunteer for ballistics trials ? the nature of "contribution" seems to be contentious . regardless of the oft- changing priorities of any particular administration , the citizens ( who are the victims ) should , ethically speaking , benefit from the punishment dealt to their predators. . in no way do i support letting death row inmates lay around and enjoy a higher standard of living than a large number of africans - the people now occupying death row should be put to better uses -why should any morally pure rat or monkey be subjected to studies by cosmetics co.s ?

Blazeboy, I'm talking about patriarchy and the inherently misogynistic values that it advocates: domination, humiliation and destruction. So cool your jets. Patriarchy and sexism are things that this society needs to counter and eradicate, or we'll never get rid of the conditions that produces child rapists & molesters.

I'm a liberal through and through and I favor his execution. There are just some crimes that are too heinous to excuse, no matter one's political stripe.

Speaking as a mother of two small children, I don't believe that killing a child molester is the right thing to do. I firmly believe that if I found out someone hurt one of my children I would be in prison for their murder. That's just me though, and I'm afraid I would have to get into line.
Recidivism in pedophiles versus sexual predators in general would be an interesting research topic. There have been local paper interviews with people convicted of sex crimes in my town (Portland, Oregon) who are ostracized for life because of an event that may or may not be considered morally wrong - for instance statutory rape between a 15 and 18 year old here forces registry with the state as a sex offender. Should that kid be executed for having sex with her boyfriend? Also, some states make non-heterosexual consensual sex illegal. Should we support the execution of gays and lesbians for "sex crimes"? I believe that until the system is fixed, nobody should be killed by the system.
Another interesting point to make is that many pedophiles express a strong desire to be executed - is that then fulfilling the desires of the attacker over justice for the victim? Because the death penalty is not a form of justice, but the most base form of revenge.

As I've said before, I don't agree with the death penalty except in the cases where the victim is a child. The law needs to be defined pretty clearly if we're going to do this at all. Lacking that, I'm fine with locking him away for life, with no possibility of parole.