I don't believe in capital punishment, the law should remain above such acts. Now that being said, if I ever had the perfect oppurtunity to kill one of these people I wouldn't hesitate. These people are scum with no chance of rehab, the lowest of the low.

Do you people know how many innocent people are in jail right this moment for child molestation. Everyone is on such a witch hunt right now that no one looks at the facts. People are guilty until proven innocent in these cases. And many times, all these cases are are one person's word vs. anothers. And EVERYONE'S always apt to believe the victim. It's so easy to get an innocent person locked away, their life destroyed, just because you don't like them. People need to start realizing that not everyone accused of this is guilty, and that throwing people in jail for being accused of a crime they didn't commit destroys innocent lives.

Let me state at the outset that I'm against the death penalty, even for the crime of murder, although I understand the sentiments of people who want it, and am not glib or cavalier about it. If someone close to me was murdered, or molested, or raped, I'd want to tear the perpetrator's heart out with my bare hands. But...I'm not here to get into a whole philosophical discussion about the efficacy of the death penalty. In some ways, I tend to share Eschew's sentiments on this particular issue (big surprise!) in that I think child molestation is a worse crime than murder, at least in a large number of cases. In a sense, it's the murder of a child's spirit. However horrible or tragic their death may have been, the murder victim is out of their misery; the molested child must deal with the psychic wounds of their defilement for the rest of their life and it's a horrible cycle that tends to repeat itself over and over again. I believe it's a statistical fact that most child molesters tend to have been molested children, as well as prostitutes, drug addicts, criminals of various types, etc. I've also heard from experts whose opinions I respect that the majority of pedophiles can never be cured because they truly don't believe they've done anything wrong, or that their desires are abnormal. So...what's the answer? Hard to say, but my instinctive sense is that if someone has shown themselves to be a child molester, they shouldn't be out on the streets ever again, which would render the whole debate about Megan's Law moot. One of the things I'm curious about is whether there's something about our contemporary society that has created so many more people inclined to molest children, or whether it's a result of us just being more aware and cognizant of the problem than we were in the past? Interesting...

Now, let me get this straight. Child molestation. A child has been molested. I know, I know, it happens every day. Ah, the sanctity of human life, the "slippery slope" argument. How about applying the slippery slope argument the other way. If someone with proclivities in the area gives in to his temptations and molests the kid, why shouldn't HE have to wrestle with the slippery slope internal argument: if I get caught, I could get the death penalty? If you don't think it's a severe crime in its effect on the child, go to a clinic where these children are treated. Not the hospital ward where they recover from their physical wounds, the long-term therapeutic clinics, shamefully underfunded, over-crowded and understaffed. Spend some time there, you don't even have to talk to any of the clients (they don't call them patients, or victims, or molested children) just see what their life has become. Then, tell me again that the gratification-seeking predator should be punished compassionately. If, as a society, you fail to punish crime, any crime, you will see more of it. Today, we do not punish these animals in relation to the damage they inflict. They also do not re-habilitate themselves, why should they? Another slap on the wrist and lay low for six months. Parents are emotional about this issue because every parent sees his/her child psychologically damaged in some way and to some extent, and extrapolates how much worse it could have been if . . . and thank God, it wasn't. It isn't many parents who have to live through this nightmare, thankfully. But, our society has an obligation to protect its weakest and most vulnerable. As they inject the lethal serum into one of these jackals, duly convicted by a jury of his peers, I think, "well, I guess he won't do that to any more kids. " Left to his own devices, and turned back out into society, there's almost 100% probablilty he would, though.

UPDATE: Darn it, PG and Mr.Death force me to revisit this - it was the implication by Mr.Death that I would be licking my lips at the idea of the death sentence for burglary that really did it - Mr. death - please cut me some slack - I really don't think that robbery etc. should result in death sentences, as my other postings to the list should indicate, and I don't think that I was implying that. You were pulling me a few hundred feet down PlanetaryGear's slippery slope, it's cold down here and - hey! - there are a few RIA regulars over there - Hi guys, recognize me? I concede that singling out this offense of child molestation as an offense deserving death leads to all sorts of problems and borderline scenarios. I always have grave misgivings about setting precedents in areas where there are grey zones - whoops! down the slippery slope we go, yes I know, and if this came to the vote, I would vote against the death penalty because of these concerns. However, ask me what I really feel as a person about death for the very specific case of a person who is apprehended molesting a child, then I am sorry, but I find it difficult to maintain the emotional distance which would have me advocating arresting this person and trying them before a court of law to be incarcerated. I am also less than enthusiastic about the idea of foraging around in so much manure for the little nugget of humanity that we should nurture at all times. I have changed in this respect since I was younger and it was easy to deal in abstracts. Perhaps it is the start of my own personal slippery slope, maybe not.. Original message. Well, I assume we are talking about the man-on-young child scenario here, and not the 18 year old with 16 year old? Of course, there is always that element of doubt in criminal cases, which makes me leery of advocating the death penalty for anyone, but I think that anyone apprehended doing this deserves death. A person who does this has so grossly and fundamentally violated the most basic of rules in any society, to protect children, that I do not see the value for society of keeping that member, not to speak of the potential hazards of releasing that person back into society. When I was younger, and it was all just an intellectual argument for me, I could buy into the idea of all human life being sacred. I view this with a more jaundiced eye, now that I am older, have children, and do not have any fixed religious beliefs which would cozy me into believing, against all intuition, that people like this should be helped and rehabilitated, but on the other hand for instance, consider the life of any non-human animal as a commodity to be bought, sold and disposed with at will.

First of all, I believe it to be unquestionable that the sexual exploitation of children (or anyone else considered innocent and unknowing in the sexual realm) is in fact a violation of natural law. It is thus beyond appeal that this practice is wrong. However there are many crimes that fall into this category that are not punished as severely as earthbound might like. Stealing is violation of the same set of standards that are beyond contestation of wrongness. Since theft is a crime, those committing it should be punished. We do not, though, deal with thieves by means of the death penalty, nor should we. Just because someone commits an act that violates natural law is no argument for why they should be killed. More specifically consider one who abducts a child. It is unquestionable that such an abduction is wrong, and that the rites of an innocent child have been violated. Yet I see no strong reason why such a perpetrator should be sentenced to death by society. Another case to be considered is that of a child pornographer. Such a person has exploited the innocent sexually and has violated the law accordingly. This person has done so in very similar way as the molester. Yet again, why should such a perpetrator be sentenced to death? One solution I think that has been hastily overlooked in this thread is the option of a life sentence without parole. This would keep molesters separated from and unthreatening to society. And even this possibility still seems extreme in the possible case of the rehabilitated. Such a sentence with possibilities of parole based upon progress and psychological evaluation seem a better course of action. It is not impossible to imagine a case of a child molester who realizes the error of his ways. It even seems there is a greater possibility of such an occurrence in cases where the convicted have a great amount of time to think about his/her actions and their implications. Also, and in my opinion a very liberal allowance here, is the national sex offender database which opens up the possibility of publicly revealing sex offenders in exchange for their justified release into society. Im not a proponent of the last option as a soul solution, but fail to realize how it is invalid, especially when compared to the death sentence. When set aside from religious considerations, there are options other than death for such people. Even those who can not be rehabilitated still can be held in separation from society for their entire lives. It is unclear to me why the death sentence is the correct option or why it should ever be a considerable possibility.

no, they can be saved

Let them live in jail, and let the other criminals decide what to do with the pedophiles.

Honestly, I wouldn't care much for their lives. As disgusting as they are, I wouldn't exactly protest too much of they disappeared off the face of the earth. All I would care about is to see them taken away from children for good, and if that means locking them up and throwing away the key, it wouldn't bother me a bit.