Originally posted by: DonVito
Originally posted by: marvdmartian
My solution is to give them one of 2 choices:
1. get fixed......much like we do now to cats and dogs.....once they no longer feel the sexual urge, there's no reason (or sick-o joy) for them to continue molesting anyone, since their bodies no longer give their sick brains any feedback
2. frontal lobotomy......then hand 'em a broom, or a garbage bag, and get 'em working on cleaning up all the trash along the highways. Then at least they'll be a positive member of society.
Castration or Lobotomization.......your choice.......we'll give you 5 minutes to think about it.
Castration is not an effective means for stemming child molestation. The behavior itself is habitual, and even elderly men who no longer have working penises molest children.
FWIW, I've prosecuted a number of child molesters, including one who got life in prison, and my take is this:
I am not generally in favor of the death penalty, but to the extent we have it, I think it's misapplied.
Murder actually has a relatively low rate of recidivism (usually when people commit murder, they are killing the lone person on earth they would ever kill), and although it's an awful crime, the murder victim's suffering ends when he or she dies.
Child molestation and rape, OTOH, have very high rates of recidivism (interestingly, and perhaps counter-intuitively, though familial child molestation has the lowest rate of recidivism in these kinds of cases, whereas men who rape adult strangers are the likeliest to re-offend).
These crimes create awful suffering in their victims that is lifelong, and the victims of child molestation are FAR more likely to suffer from severe depression and various other mental and emotional problems, up to and including split personality disorder. They are much likelier to become addicted to drugs and alcohol, and FAR likelier to commit crimes themselves as adults (particularly sexual offenses, but other crimes as well).
As such, it seems to me that
if we are to have a death penalty at all, society would be better served executing rapists and child molesters than murderers (other than serial killers or other particularly aggravated murder cases involving torture or other especially heinous circumstances).
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