Friday, August 28, 2009

Another Death Penalty Offense?

There are some cases other than premeditated murder for which the death penalty may well be an appropriate penalty.

Those who perpetrated this crime --- the kidnapping, holding, and serial child rape of Jaycee Lee Dugard --- should be eligible for the ultimate penalty. Particularly heinous is the fact that the wife of the alleged rapist was completely complicit in his crimes.

3 comments:

Bismarck said...

While I agree that this crime is indeed heinous, I still believe that the death penalty should be limited to the crime of murder. Otherwise, anyone who engages in a crime serious enough to merit a very long prison term would have no reason to leave a potential witness alive.

James Young said...

Thanks for your comment.

You certainly raise a legitimate point of debate. I think I disagree with your conclusion, because what was motivating this criminal went far beyond the usual criminal act. People like this (and, as you know, there have been others) have taken years from people's lives, aside from any particular criminal acts (i.e., rape) that he has committed as part of the larger crime.

However, I think it is a penalty that should seriously be considered for child molestation, particularly for repeat offenders.

Bismarck said...

I think that in the case of child molesters, there ought not to be any repeat offenders. The first offense should merit a life without parole penalty.

In this particular case, I understand that this guy is a suspect in ten murders. He may get the death penalty. However, I don’t know what the penalty is really worth in California. It could be like Maryland where the sentence is death by old age.