It has been reported that legislators in the State of Idaho unanimously passed a bill this week that would allow the death penalty for adults who sexually abuse a child under the age of 12. ACSOL does not believe that the sexual abuse of a child is acceptable or should go unpunished. That is not the issue.
Instead, the issue is whether killing a human being will help a child heal or prevent another child from being abused. The answer to that question is clearly no.
It must be noted that, according to media reports, no member of the Idaho legislature spoke out against this bill. No one questioned whether the bill would achieve its stated purpose of protecting children.
Legislators instead discussed the fact that legislators in the State of Florida passed a similar bill two years ago and that five other states are now considering child rape death penalty bills. The fact that terrible decisions have been made by legislators in other states does not make a decision in Idaho a sound decision.
The legislators in Idaho acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in 2008 that blocked a similar death penalty law in the State of Louisiana. One of the legislators in Idaho suggested that their bill would help the U.S. Supreme Court re-evaluate the issue.
It must also be noted that Idaho legislators recently passed a bill, signed into law by the Governor, that makes firing squads the main execution method in that state. Perhaps the method of execution does not matter, but perhaps it should matter given the factors that will be considered in future death penalty cases.
Those factors include being in a position of trust and kidnapping as well as physical contact with a child’s genitals. That could include a parent who flees from an abusive spouse with an infant and changes that infant’s diaper.
The bill in Idaho has not yet become law and perhaps it will not. Regardless of its ultimate outcome, we shame the Idaho legislators who have passed this bill. If this bill does become law, it is sure to be copied by legislators in other states and perhaps the federal government.
Here is what I can contribute from my own personal experiences of being a victim of childhood sexual abuse and rape.
I used to wait anxiously for those who abused me to die. It was a glorious moment for me to learn that anyone who ever took advantage of me was finally dead.
Fast-forward now to my 61 years of life; my PTSD is worse now than before. All of these people from whom I wished death upon didn’t do a damn thing to help my mental state 58+ years later from when it began.
I do not touch people and I do not allow people to touch me. I do not allow people into my home. I use delivery services and order online to avoid having to go into retail stores.
I use electronic banking so that I am not forced into coming in contact with the general public.
Death of the perpetrator didn’t do a goddamn thing to help me then, and it doesn’t do shit for me now.
Once a child is violated, that psychological trauma can never be undone, no matter what someone tries.
My sister and I both were abused so badly in the first years of our lives, that we grew up believing that in order for us to have any kind of relationship with another person, even just a friendship, meant that we had to give of our bodies first.
While I too committed the offenses that I did against other children when I too was still a child, my PTSD is compounded with the fact that I cannot take back or undo any of the harm that I caused.
If people only believe that they have the educational experience to make determinations regarding laws concerning sexual abuse, one should first visit at great lengths with someone who was victimized.
You can’t get this shit out of a book.
this is getting out of hand! murders in prison for life.
Well, this has got to be the most barbaric way to cut expenses maintaining Idaho’s sex offense registry. If this actually becomes law I will personally boycott potatoes.
I would post the email I sent to the bill’s author, but the shear amount of profanities I included ( tastefully and strategically) would likely get it omitted from here.
Please take a look at the paper written by Professor Eric Janus titled “A Crooked Picture: Re-Framing the Problem of Child Sexual Abuse”
Idaho Famous Potatoes should now be Freaking Punitive Law State. Idaho the northern version of Florida.