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OPINION & EDITORIAL

Expand the death penalty

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Also by Matt Modell:

Taking responsibility for your decisions (April 24, 2003)
An honorable and just battle (November 20, 2003)
Fixing the problems of ASM (November 25, 2003)
The key word is 'illegal' (December 4, 2003)
A fond farewell to UW (December 11, 2003)

by Matt Modell

Thursday, September 18, 2003

Capital punishment is a touchy subject for many people. Although the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens support capital punishment, there are certainly legitimate concerns about ensuring that only the guilty are put to death.

When guilt can be established, whether by DNA or more than one eyewitness, the use of capital punishment should be expanded. The death penalty should be a possible punishment not only for murderers, but also for criminals who are convicted of raping children.

A Louisiana law permits a jury to sentence a person to death who is convicted of raping a child under the age of 12. The law, first enacted in 1995, has been found to be constitutional by the Louisiana State Supreme Court, and in 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal on the constitutionality of this law. The U.S. Supreme Court could still take up the appeal of Patrick O. Kennedy, who was convicted of raping an eight-year-old relative.

The doctors who treated this young girl said she was the most severely injured child-rape victim they had ever seen; she required surgery to repair the damage. At the penalty stage Kennedy’s goddaughter, now in her 20s, testified that when she was eight or nine, on three separate occasions, Kennedy raped her as well.

The death penalty is the ultimate penalty a government can give to a criminal. This penalty should only be handed out in murder cases and for a small group of serious crimes, including raping children, treason and a few other crimes already covered by federal statute.

Is killing an adult child-rapist “cruel and unusual punishment?” No.

Rape is a cruel and unusual act of violence, but death, as a penalty, is not a cruel and unusual punishment. Any child who is raped by an adult has had his or her life ripped away from them. Is it equivalent to death? Not physically, but the lifetime of agony for that child is almost certainly insurmountable.

Extensive counseling and a large cast of supporters around that child will not likely help him or her heal mentally. Rape is the worst way to violate another human being, short of killing them.

A rapist is an adult who must be held responsible for his or her actions. No one forced that person to commit such a heinous act. A child who is raped is defenseless against such a crime.

Some argue that sexual assaults in general, and rape specifically, are often covered up by a family if it was another family member who committed the crime. It has been argued that if death can be the possible penalty, such a problem will only increase.

This is an intellectually dishonest argument. To rationalize that a harsher penalty may increase cover-ups is not addressing the validity of the punishment. If the penalty can be as severe as death, families may consider the issue more seriously and be less inclined to participate in a cover-up.

This will be particularly true if you create a law where those who conceal the crime can be charged as accomplices and face stiff jail sentences.

The death penalty is not simply about “an eye for an eye.” The death penalty should be used as a way to deter crime, as well as a way to strike justice against those truly evil people who commit heinous acts.

The judicial system must afford anyone charged with a capital offense the necessary tools to put on a strong defense. The death penalty should continue to be used as punishment in these cases, when all evidence has been examined and tested and a person is still found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Raping a child under the age of 12, as Patrick O. Kennedy did in Louisiana, meets that burden of evil, just as murder does in the majority of the states in this country.

Matt Modell (mmodell@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science.