Girl Kills Herself After Rape

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | October 16, 2003 | Chicago Sun-Times

[kaylar]

I have no idea. I wasn't there. All we know is, the girl is dead. There was no suicide note in which SHE described such abuse. It could be that the father is guilty, that he did this, and he confessed out of remorse. Or it could be that the police just assumed the girl must have been molested , and badgered him into confessing to something he never did out of terror that his other children would become wards of the state . At this point, either scenario seems plausible. Hopefully the truth will come out.

[Jim Cane]

1. Do you think the father is insane?

2. Do you think the death penalty for this scumbag is appropriate?

1. Doesn't matter.

2. No, state executions are too merciful. Rather let him "live", but place him in the general prison population with a sign sewn into his orange jumpsuit that says "pedophile".

Let nature take it's course.

[singsong]

I woudn't worry about dear dad being "smeared" since charges haven't been presented.

Well he already is. On the other hand if he is guilty he was a very bad parent. Such people are likely to send their children to private schools if they have the option. This makes the case for school vouchers. It's very likely that bad parents are trying to homeschool their children out of fear of the public school (and it's very well founded fear). Such parents and their children would benefit a lot from school choice. This is in addition to the numerous other benefits. BTW, in the local school a teacher raped several girls 6th to 8th grade. None of them killed themselves but other kids in that school did (for other reasons). All in all kids are not safer in public schools. On the contrary, there is danger in addition to the one from the parents. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world.

God rest this child's soul.

[DallasMike]

Given the limited information, I have two questions;

1. Do you think the father is insane?

2. Do you think the death penalty for this scumbag is appropriate?

I would say yes to both, you?
 

I don't have enough information, but there is nothing to indicate -- as there was for Andrea Yates -- that the father was totally divorced from reality, didn't understand right from wrong, and didn't understand the consequences of his actions. If the guy isn't insane -- and there's nothing to indicate that he is -- then he should get the death penalty if it's available.

One doesn't have to be insane to do horrible things, which is where I think that you and I disagree. Most crimes, I would argue, are committed by people who are sane enough to be responsible for their actions. English and American law has always recognized that there must be a mens rea -- an evil intent -- for one to be held responsible for their crimes, and that the punishment should be proportional to the amount of evil intent that they had. I think that we would both agree that a 3-year old who finds a gun and shoots daddy thinking that he's using a toy gun shouldn't get the death penalty. Similarly, a person who, because of severe mental illness, doesn't know right from wrong any more than a 3-year old, should not receive the death penalty either.