SALT LAKE CITY — A Davis County Republican wants to give convicted child sex traffickers the ultimate punishment – the death penalty.
Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, is pushing to make child sex trafficking a capital offense. He says he accompanied the Salt Lake City vice squad on patrol a few years ago. He’s realized how big an issue child trafficking is in Utah. He said he’s been working on bills to target prostitution and trafficking for years.
“I got so fed up with what I’ve seen,” Ray said. “It’s time to take the ultimate jump and say if you traffic a kid for sex, we’re going to kill you.” Full Article
Nobody supports child trafficking. But the death penalty??? Really??? Total lunacy!
The problem with these and other laws is that in there inception they seem reasonable enough but it is in their application that the real problems come into play. Context and definition. Example is that of a law requiring more access and transparency in law enforcement. The very law intended to require more transparency is the same law used and interpreted by law enforcement NOT to render access to police records and transparency. Weird how that was twisted and applied. The whole definition and context of what is applied is often far from the intent and becomes over-broad and abusive. A parent takes their child without consent of the other parent out of state to visit family could be defined as trafficking across state lines for two weeks…yes, the laws are that stupid and convictions happen often in situations like that.