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Posted on 05/31/2006 4:20:03 PM PDT by AnnaZ
2006
2006
The House voted 84-27 to agree to the Senate version, which could send offenders convicted twice of raping a child under 11 years old to death row.
Opponents accused lawmakers of casting political votes during an election year.
Greeleyville Rep. Kenneth Kennedy said he's concerned about the emotions involved in the bill. He said the law will cause problems for the state eventually.
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
Why give them the opportunity to repeat?
I am pro-death penalty is certain cases, but not this. The punishment should equal the crime. Life in prison with no parole is appropriate.
I tend to agree-the life a child molester behind bars aint worth a nickel. Making pedophiles live there for life, getting the same treatment they gave kids is good enough for me..
HARTSVILLE, S.C. - Exhausted and thirsty after apparently hiding in woods for four days, a convicted sex offender was captured about one mile from his home, where police say he bound and raped two teenage girls in an underground room.
As the manhunt took its toll on Kenneth G. Hinson, he emerged at the back door of a relative's home Friday and asked for water. The relative gave it to him and then called 911. One minute later, Hinson, who was carrying a loaded handgun, was arrested without incident.
Hinson, 47, assured authorities his relatives had not tried to hide him.
"No, they're not harboring, I just come up to the back window," Hinson said in a videotape of his arrest that aired on WIS-TV in Columbia.
The two 17-year-old girls were taken from their nearby home late Monday and assaulted in a room under a shed on Hinson's property, police said. The girls were left bound inside the room but managed to wriggle free and walk to safety.
Hinson's neighborhood is about 20 miles northwest of Florence, where busy Interstate 95 meets Interstate 20. Local, state and federal authorities had been combing the woods since Tuesday.
"He looked like a man that was sort of relieved that it was over," Chief Deputy Tom Gainey of the Darlington County Sheriff's Department said.
Hinson, who is charged with kidnapping and rape, was taken to the county jail, Gainey said. He also faces burglary and assault and battery charges and will have a bond hearing Saturday.
In 1991, Hinson was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl and he was released from prison in 2000. Earlier Friday, state Attorney General Henry McMaster blasted Hinson's early release.
"This man was sentenced to 20 years. Had that 20 years meant 20 years, he'd still be in jail now, and this wouldn't have happened," he said.
McMaster also chided a judge's decision not to place Hinson in a program for sexually violent predators.
"We thought then that the judge made a mistake," McMaster said. "I think events, if all this is true that we hear today, it appears that the man should have gone into the system certainly."
Just before Hinson's release from prison in 2000, a review committee recommended he be committed indefinitely to a Department of Mental Health facility for treatment. But Circuit Judge Edward Cottingham rejected the recommendation, saying prosecutors failed to show Hinson would likely offend again.
[Excerpt]
If it's the same punishment for raping a child, or raping and killing a child... why not kill the child?
Life without parole for raping a child would be enough.
mrs VS
Own3d
unconstitutional,
Oh, I hadn't considered that angle.
You've got a point.
The punishment should equal the crime.There is no state-sanctioned punishment allowed, short of this, that could, IMO.
The devil here is in the details... while I want nothing but swift death for true child molestors, I hope this doesn't apply to 18 year olds who have sex with 16 year old, and, more importantly, hot female teachers who have sex with their students.
It said under 11
Life without parole for raping a child would be enough.They always seem to get out, regardless of how heinous the crime -- although short of murder. (Like the guy who kept the girl in a box under his bed for seven years, and then was paroled.) (Then again, I think that was California, so maybe it doesn't count... : \ )
...and, more importantly, hot female teachers who have sex with their students.*chortle*
unconstitutional,Time will tell. (I believe Oklahoma has passed a similar law. Florida will, if it hasn't already.)
It is only unconstitutional if five Supreme Court justices say it is. I would like to see this go up to the Supreme Court and see what happens. I feel confident four justices would support the legislation. Even if five or more voted otherwise, I think the conservatives would ultimately win a huge political victory. It might even help elect a conservative President.
I see, thanks.
"I am pro-death penalty is certain cases, but not this. The punishment should equal the crime. Life in prison with no parole is appropriate."
First off, there is not such creature as "Life in prison with no parole". Second, what punishment equals the horror a 10-year old experiences when raped by an adult? The 10 year old is condemned to a life-long existence of psychic damage that you cannot imagine. Very often they engage in the same horror that was visted upon them when they become adults. I suppose that in a nation that condons the killing of the unborn, that the act of pediophilia is rather tame by comparison...our "baseline" is so debased that our nations soul is suffering a loss of humanity that cannot be recovered.
Florida has had the law since they became a state. They just haven't used it since the 60s.
Time will indeed tell, but the Supreme Court has already held the death penalty to be unconstitutional in rape cases. Seems to me like this is a rape case, and seems to me like this will also be unconstitutional.
And how is it unconstitutional?
Maybe if it had been used more, none of those crimes would have happened. Doesn't mean the perps shouldn't still get the chair though.
Seems to me like this is a rape case, and seems to me like this will also be unconstitutional.As the mother of three young ones, I'll leave the debate to the less biased. But I'd go for LWP on the first offense.
"Time will indeed tell, but the Supreme Court has already held the death penalty to be unconstitutional in rape cases. Seems to me like this is a rape case, and seems to me like this will also be unconstitutional."
No, this is not rape. It is malicious child molestation. Not much of a distinction, but a distinction none the less.
Death Penalty by Pistols at Dawn:
The perv gets nothing but all the parents and family members get pistols shoot it with.
I say let's not only limit it to people who rape just children, but to all rapist. And I will be more then happy to throw the switch.
unConstitutional in what country?
I realize the damage these people cause and I also realize the emotions this issue stirs. I still believe removal from society permamently is the punishment that fits the crime. The death penalty should be reserved for those who take the lives or aide and abet the taking of a lives.
You are entirely wrong. We have this in Iowa. I have yet to hear of a single murderer who received this sentence being released. If it is specifically written into state law, life without parole is real. One good thing about it is that it makes getting murder convictions easier. One bad thing about the death penalty is that it makes getting murder convictions harder. I am not against the death penalty, at all. But I am reasonably well satisfied with Iowa's life without parole. It works, here.
We once had a horrific murder of a young mother who was killed by three teenage punks who had run away from home (two of them were identical twin brothers). All three were convicted and received life without possibility of parole (unless one turned states evidence and got a lesser sentence, can't quite remember for sure). The interesting thing was that the usual whining about poor, dysfunctional juveniles was tried briefly by the lefty media and was pretty much abandoned as it simply did not get any traction. If the death penalty had been a factor, you would never have heard the end of it.
You're wrong, too. As I said before, we have this in Iowa, and it works just fine. Parole boards can only do what they are allowed to do by law. Our parole boards cannot let out murderers sentenced under our life-without-parole statute.
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