Missouri Governor calls for child rape to be a capital offense
As detailed in this local article, Missouri “Gov. Matt Blunt on Thursday called for the death penalty for child rape.” Here are more details:
Blunt’s proposal would impose the death penalty on those who commit forcible rape or forcible sodomy on children younger than 12. The governor announced his proposal at an Internet crimes summit in Jefferson City, where he took a tough stance on cyber predators. “Sexual predators in Missouri should be put on notice that if they think they can roam Internet chat rooms or our neighborhoods for Missouri victims without consequence, they are wrong,” Blunt said in a statement.
If Missouri passed such a law, it would join a handful of other states, including Oklahoma, South Carolina and Louisiana, with similar measures. A man convicted of raping a child under the Louisiana law now sits on death row in that state, and the case may be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Among the ironies of the Supreme Court’s capital jurisprudence, the death penalty for child rape may become more constitutionally sound if (and perhaps only if) Missouri and other states join those already with statutes providing for the death penalty for child rape.
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