Web Letters: A Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Billy Sothern is worth a hundred Barack Obamas. (Sorry, I forgot that progressives are supposed to look the other way when Obama "talks white.")

James J. Matthews

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

So your argument that it is a waste of money to seek justice for a child from a repeat child rapist? That Louisiana, in spite of its hardships, would stick to this cause is most noble and should be congratulated--but those that refuse to see that death is a due punishment for some crimes could never understand.

Cruel and unusual? No. The cruelty was in the crime, and the unusual is that fact that in spite of its depravity we still treat this person with the dignity of a trial and feed and clothe him and protect his "rights" under law. There is nothing cruel about justice and punishment for crimes. Some things deserve death. I disagree with the Justice's writ. The rapist does kill. It kills the hope and dreams and pursuit of happiness that the person raped had before their horror. It takes their life and leaves them with a damaged one... Life goes on but not the life they had. Their life will not "recover" from this. The scar is permanent. The death penalty is due justice.

CM Wilson

Atlanta, GA

Is the death penalty a cruel and unusual punishment for a child rapist/pedophile, and an apparent repeat offender? I don't think so. Unless you are arguing against applying the death penalty in all instances, the author's point that it shouldn't be applied in this instance because no murder occurred is ludicrous. This crime murders a child's childhood and robs their self-worth. Granted, our current judicial system shapes criminal penalties based on race and wealth, especially the death penalty. But, as long as there is a death penalty, and child rape is a crime in which perpetrators always repeat if given the opportunity, the sentence could apply. The minimum would be a life sentence.

Would the author have accepted a plea of self-defense if the victim had had the ability and opportunity to act herself?

Rick Trachsel

Gainesville, Florida