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Should pedophiles be given harsher penalties like immediate death..or mandatory castration..? I do not believe castration stops the mental urges for pedophiles. So I personally believe they should be killed immediately..

Ravenwolfcasey 7 Nov 13
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1

Pedophiles need to be punished and repeat offenders permanently taken out of society. I'm not sure of the best way to accomplish that, farm camps in the middle of nowhere?

In most instances, including this one, I'm against the death penalty. Our court system is a mess with innocent people locked up for years and some executed.

I also don't think castration works. If they are hell-bent on sex with children, they will simply find another way.

CS60 Level 7 Nov 17, 2017
3

They could be placed on an island of like kind that they could not escape from!

That's exactly what I was thinking. And we could put politicians on there and dress them up like children and make a reality tv show off of it.

2

I'm all for castration of repeat offenders, combined with some form of permanent removal from society.
If they have already been incarcerated once for molesting a child, then it is apparent they don't respond to incarceration alone - castration is therefore the next step (along with permanent incarceration or some other method of permanent removal from standard society - build an entire city up in the Alaska tundra just for them, wall it in & require them to produce for their own survival - WITHOUT electronic communications devices).
I believe death should be reserved for crimes involving death - you intentionally kill, you die.

1

Obviously I am talking about child predators that are 100% guilty.. And instead of immediately killed after found guilty...maybe they are put to work...think of all the free labor..

0

What purpose do repeat pedophile offenders have??

4

I do not believe that any single action defines any individual. I don't believe pedophiles should be sentenced to death or castration. The death penalty is the equivalent of identifying the individual as unworthy of the air they breathe and this, I believe, is far too extreme. As for castration, it neither changes the urges or the ability to commit sexual crimes so it doesn't help society at all.

While behavioral science has yet to find a way to correct the urges associated with pedophilia, we do continue to have the option of confining offenders until/unless they cease to be a danger to society. I think this is the best option. We must remember that addictions weren't always recognized as illnesses, let alone treatable, and we need to accept that this too may be something that can be successfully treated with enough time and research.

Until then, we cannot commit murder to save society from danger. Danger will always exist regardless of our legal approach. We must educate ourselves and defend ourselves as best as we can without exacting such a final judgement. If we truly do not believe in god here we should not act as gods with respect to others.

1

Again, I agree with the principle that the death penalty is justified sometimes, but it is the prosecution process I don't trust. 100% proof turns out to be a surprisingly slippery concept to pin down. When, oh when does pedophilia happen with direct rock solid video evidence? Virtually never. Testimony is notoriously unreliable. I don't believe you ever have 100% proof in cases like these. Automatic death penalty certainly would reduce the chance of anyone confessing, even with compelling evidence against them.

Dna is a pretty good piece of evidence

3

"Without a purpose?" "It" is a human being. Even human beings who have done horrible things are human beings. Who gets to define purpose? Without due process, NONE of us is safe.

5

Wow. Killing someone for something they've only thought about?

I agree that pedophilia is a despicable, heinous act but so is child torture/physical abuse ... and rape at any age for that matter. Murder is pretty awful, too. And nothing we do will change the crimes committed or bring someone back to life.

While it's okay to have hostile emotions towards criminals accompanied by a strong desire for vengeance, at a certain point we have to concede that throwing people in jail or killing them isn't working. We have the highest imprisonment rate than any other country and yet crimes keep being committed, and the death penalty hasn't had a impact on deterring it.

I believe punishment is appropriate for criminals but if it's not combined with education, training, support and counseling then it magnifies the problem and results in higher recidivism.

Pedophia - because it's so despicable - is difficult to study because we can only work with those who have given in to their urges, but there are people who consider themselves pedophiles but have never acted on it (kind of like the ol' "lusted in my heart" thing). If we make it impossible for them to come forward (especially by killing them right off the bat) they will go about on as ticking time bombs. So it may be more beneficial to open up treatment for those people so they can manage their illness than it is to castrate them which simply removes one of their weapons - they can, and probably will, still act on the urge. I would support that more than killing someone.

4

I don't believe in the death penalty.. although if a pedophile was also killing victims, that might be an exception.

I think pedophiles should be locked up, an d repeat offenders, should be locked up for life. Adults who molest per-pubescent children should face a possibility of beign locked up for life on the first offense.

The trauma for most children is actually increased by the outrage and reactions of adults on finding out what happened to the child. Such reactions usually make the child feel responsible for their own victimization to some extent. As a culture (in the U.S. at leat) we need to be better educated on how to better deal with such situations to not traumatize victims further.

I agree, @snytiger6. Most victims of assault feel so to blame that it's difficult enough for them to come forward. I know it was for me. There's a feeling that you did something wrong, or encouraged it, or deserved it. And then we have to talk intimately about it to strangers. Not a good system!

7

Many paedophiles began by being the victims of paedophiles, their behaviour is therefore a result of having been taught improper ways of viewing sexuality. Behaviours, particularly learned behaviours, can be changed not least by proper psychological counselling for example. Ultimately however, the point is, before they were perpetrators, they were victims, therefore, in a civilized society, would it not be more reasonable to treat rather than victimize those whose deviance is a result of an earlier victimization. The criminal justice system should be there to help and protect the people, not further victimize those who have already been failed by that system by not being adequately protected when they were young and vulnerable.

This is flawed..because if this was factual..then all or at least most victims of molestation or sexual abuse would become predatory..which is not so...there are plenty of people that have been victims including myself and have never ever looked at children in a sexual manner..maybe the people that turn in that way because of abuse always had it in them genetically

5

Urges, desires and feelings are emotional by nature and not something that can be controlled or are inherently "wrong". ACTIONS can be controlled independent of desire. While I can not condone the desire to engage in acts of pedophilia, I can't really fault someone for having feelings that they are unable to control.

On the subject of castration, I'm a bit mixed. There was a time in my life when I fully supported it in all cases of sexual assault or sexual violence - pedophilia or otherwise. The problem is that castration would rarely have an effect. Sexual assault is so rarely about the sex and so castration almost never addresses the problem, nor does it correct or prevent the behavior. If someone wants to fondle children, or violently dominate another person through sexual acts, how does removing their reproductive organs have any effect?

Great reply

4

NO!
I don't believe in the death penalty for anything. Why?
Because our legal system keeps screwing up royally and punishing the wrong people.
I absolutely believe some deserve it, so that's not my issue with it. But one innocent person put to death would be a travesty. Yet, the United states has done it countless times and continues to.
Plus, sex crimes in generally are being lumped together in grotesque ways. Everyone slapped with a label of "sex offender" has their life ruined. They can't go where they want, live anywhere decent, or escape citizens angry at them who know nothing of the specific case but just mentally lump everyone together. We have a crazy patchwork of laws in this country surrounding marriage, legal age to marry, to consent, etc. And often the difference between a "sex offender" and a piller of the community is whose parents didn't like who their older teens were dating and decided to go after them legally. I have met a couple of gay men who did absolutely nothing wrong but were targeted by judgmental homophobes with false allegations and railroaded into pleading no contest because the system, ESPECIALLY here in Louisiana, is so overwhelmed that public defenders are a joke, don't do their jobs and push their clients into bad plea deals. I know of cases where people who didn't take rotten pleas were convicted on hearsay. The system is badly broken.

I agree. There are too many people that judge without full knowledge or understanding of the circumstances.

This! This EXACTLY! ????

I agree with our legal system is flawed and does hurt innocent people..but if there is 100% proof someone did the crime then it should be considered...also..the sex offender list needs to be changed..it should not put all offenders of all types of crimes deemed sexual on the same list..like a 19 year old kid dating his 16 almost 17 year old gf.. And her parents slap him with rape..because they don't like him..or some girl cries rape cause her bf broke up with her...pedophiles need their own separate list

You're right, @MikeinBatonRouge, and it happens in places other than Louisiana. The disease keeps getting appropriated for other reasons. Your point is interesting: many of these places have the age of consent quite young, and yet pedophilia laws can be used up to age 18. It was so common that the charge was feared by a lot of my gay friends when I was growing up.

0

I can understand the sentiment, but you would violate the due process of law -- one of the foundations of our democracy. As with you vegan cats, you show poor judgment.

First off I am against cats being vegan..WTF are you talking about..2nd...how am I showing poor judgment? Also you are a joke if you actually believe the justice system works...

In other words, you do not believe in our constitution or the idea of constitutional democracty?

3

This is a tough one, I think pedophiles are incurable monsters and monsters that are made not born that way; they were most often visits of other pedophiles. Castration stops the problem in about 90% of the cases but, since it is done by the use of drugs in most cases and not by the knife, it is only effective while they take the drugs. This means that if they stop taking the drugs they again become a threat to children.
Force physical castration is force mutilation of a person and is likely to create a whole new set of aberrant behaviour that has to potential to harm society even more.
Pedophiles need to be either locked up for ever or closely monitored forever but, society does not seem to want to pay for this so, they get let out.
Is your wanting to kill them a need for revenge, justice or a cost saving measure because it sure as hell is not a deterrent this has been proven over and over with every other crime that carries the death penalty?

@HeathenFarmer, I think she means that they be put to death on the spot, when they're caught, with no due process.

Revenge? No Justice..and why keep something alive if it serves no purpose??

So life must have some sort of purpose as defined by you in order to continue it? Bunnies and cats and dogs included? I am not judging your position, but pointing out that it is defined in very rigid lines as presented and I assume you consider there to be more nuance. We probably have a similar position, but in broad strokes, it falls apart. I consider it closer to excising a malignant tumor than discontinuing something without purpose. Excising tumors, mastectomies, prostatectomies are things with consequences, but are justifiable.

Put to death on the spot really, thats crazy and a really good way to eliminate people of an opposing view: You just accuse them of being pedophiles and they are kill on the spot, wow, better be on side of those in power.

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