Last month, the Texas Senate passed a law allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty for a second offense in child rape cases. In the Texas House of Representatives’ version of the bill, the death penalty would be mandatory for a second offense. While child molestation is certainly a heinous crime, it is not of the same magnitude as murder. More importantly, there are many practical reasons why this good-intentioned law is misguided.
One of the main reasons given for mandating the death penalty for child rapists is that a potential death sentence would deter people from committing the crime. However, logic and numbers do not support this claim. Nobody would choose to rape a child thinking his sentence will only be 25 years to life if caught, and then decide not to because the punishment has increased to the death penalty. Furthermore, if raping a child had the same sentence as raping and killing a child, criminals would be more likely to kill the child and not worry about leaving live evidence behind.
Moreover, according to statistics from the FBI Uniform Crime Report compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center, a majority of states without the death penalty have lower murder rates than states with it. While there are exceptions, the numbers suggest that the death penalty is ineffective at best when it comes to deterring crime.
If the purpose of using the death penalty is to punish the child rapist, one must ask if the punishment fits the crime. Child rape is despicable, but the death penalty is not an appropriate punishment for a crime that does not result in the death of another person.
In fact, the death penalty for child rape is likely unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court decided in Coker v. Georgia that the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment for the rape of an adult woman. However, taking an extreme stance appears to be part of the purpose of this new law.
In a statement during his inauguration, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said, ‘If you’re going to commit an unthinkable crime against a child, we’ll show you what Texas tough means.’
The statement reeks of tough-guy mentality, and is certainly a poor justification for implementing the death penalty. Dewhurst needs to catch up with modernity because modern society does not regard killing defenseless prisoners as a way to increase one’s manliness. The purpose of the legal system is not to make the government appear ‘macho,’ but to preserve order through reasonable means. Government officials must make reasonable judgments that serve the public interest, not enhance their image as Wild West vigilantes.
However, the greatest flaw in this proposal is that the people who should benefit from any new legislation on child molestation – state prosecutors and rape victims – do not support it. Many district attorneys and victims’ groups in Texas oppose this new law for several reasons, which should be an indication that it is not in the public’s best interest.
One reason given by district attorneys is that this law will make successful prosecutions more difficult, Shannon Edmonds, state lobbyist for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association said in a May 2 Time magazine article. Child molestation cases are already the most difficult for prosecutors to win.
Anti-sexual-assault groups also oppose the death penalty for child rape. In a statement released on April 24, the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault said, ‘Harsher punishments will not prevent Texas children, women or men from falling victim to sexual violence.’
In fact, instead of improving the safety of the average citizen, the death penalty actually increases the risk to citizens wrongly accused and convicted of crimes. DNA testing has overturned many cases of rape and other crimes where the accused received a life sentence or the death penalty.
According to the same Time article, two men convicted of adult sexual assault and freed on DNA evidence after a combined 27 years in prison visited the Texas capital. Had they been sentenced to death, there would have been no way for the state to make amends for its wrongful conviction.
As Benjamin Franklin put it, ‘It is better [100] guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.’
While appealing to people’s baser instincts of vengeance with cheap political grandstanding apparently wins votes in Texas, it does not serve the best interests of Texas or the United States. Instead of a throwback to the Code of Hammurabi, what Texas and the rest of the country needs is a system for preventing sexual abuse before it happens.
