New Oklahoma law, effective November 1, enforces tougher sentences for child sex crimes. Rep. Turner: “When they harm our children, we will no longer tolerate it.”
Oklahoma’s law against child sex predators just got tougher. Governor Stitt signed Senate Bill 599, so now, if anyone’s found guilty of committing lewd acts with a child under 14, they could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
The bill’s author, who’s had a long career in law enforcement, says he’s seen too many cases where children were sexually victimized and the perpetrator got a lesser sentence than deserved because it was the only option under the law.
“Let’s be the voice and tell these cowards that when they harm our children, we will no longer tolerate it, and they will be facing the punishment they deserve, death or a lifetime of incarceration,” Rep. Tim Turner (R-Kinta) said.
The bill also removed language that would have required a person been convicted of a previous similar offense to be eligible for the death penalty.
I do not condone any sexual crime. However, I would be remiss to not mention that I read something recently that said victims of these crimes report little to no satisfaction when their perpetrators have been killed or pass away. Dare I say this is “for the cause” and not purposeful in any way shape or form?
Because we use such weird words to describe these crimes, it’s unclear what exactly is eligible for the death penalty here–“lewd acts” with someone under 13 could mean almost anything.
But I do wonder what the bill’s authors would say in response to cases like this where a judge determined an accuser likely lied and released someone from prison (link). While in a case like this the “victim” was over 13, but often in cases that involve actual children there is a custody fight at play (a father believes his ex-wife’s new husband abused their children while in her custody, for example, and pushes his child to make an accusation even when nothing may have happened), or it happened many years ago (church, school abuse cases)–and often guilt cannot be established beyond all reasonable doubt. The benefit of using the death penalty is that, given that it can’t be undone, it may make jurors think twice about saying “guilty” when the evidence isn’t 100%, which is what they’re supposed to be doing anyway. That’s actually something that happened in laws about witchcraft in England–in 1541, the Witchcraft Act made witchcraft punishable by death, and it led to a sharp reduction in accusations of witchcraft, which is largely believed to be because suddenly it was so serious that people were far more careful about making false accusations. Many people will lie for money and revenge, but far fewer people will kill for money and revenge.
” Let’s be the voice and tell these cowards that when they harm our children we will no longer tolerate it, and they will be facing the punishment they deserve death or lifetime imprisonment.”
Thanks for admitting sex crimes punishment far outweigh the crime and nothing is more suitable than death or lifetime being in prison.
First most sex crimes are committed as a persons first time offense and most never re-offend, however you and your ilk won’t acknowledge the facts because it doesn’t fit your narrative. Most people forced to register are teens and not some dirty old man living in a van down by the creek.
Secondly How many children are on the Oklahoma registry for things that shouldn’t be criminalized?
How pro-life of you to decide whether a crime deserves a death sentence all because it involves sex? Are you trying to compete with Florida by being the most cruel state in the country?
Too bad your father’s didn’t use protection and we wouldn’t have you cruel azz politicians that think they are saving the children, while making things worse for everyone and you are the true cowards.
Hasn’t the U.S. Supreme Court already weighed in saying it is unconstitutional to sentence someone to death for an offense that does involve death of the victim?
In Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional per se only in cases involving homicide. Perhaps Oklahoma passed that bill just to open the door to a challenge. Unfortunately, in order to do so a person must first be sentenced to death under that law, i.e. suffered harm from the law. This may never happen because the law will most likely be used as a cudgel by prosecutors during plea negotiations in order to obtain a harsher sentence than they could get without it.
When you attach the death penalty to these types of crimes, you must be very careful to not make a rule where one crime and one penalty fits all situations. Often times, the perpetrator of the crime, is a close family member. If you say everyone who molests a child gets the death penalty, then you will have many victims choosing to not report the abuse. They just want the abuse to stop, but they do not want to see their relative put to death. People who commit these crimes, can should be given a chance to change. Jesus forgives and show should we.