TSgt,
Oh, how I am so strongly tempted to agree with you. I am not a parent yet, but if my child were molested I could not honestly guarantee that I would not hunt the -——— down and hang him first by his man-parts, then hang him from the highest tree in the country.
However, I always worry about one thing: if the punishment for child rape is death, and the punishment for murder is death, what reason does the rapist have not to go ahead and dispose of the witness? May as well be hung for a goose as a gander, so to speak.
It is a hard question. Child rapists deserve nothing but a swift death. However, what good does it do the children when the rapist now has a better reason than ever to ‘finish the job’?
In an imperfect world, justice cannot always be fully carried out. Once the rapist has died in a prison cell, God will carry out the rest of that justice in a more fitting way than any mortal could devise.
IMHO.
I am genuinely curious to hear what your thoughts are on this line of reasoning. To be honest I haven’t heard many other arguments, and would be interested to hear any that you (or any FReepers) might have.