I am happily still in support of the minority view on this issue. The death penalty in my view is always wrong.
It is good that at least the State of Illinois is going with the free and civilized world. Too bad that other states want to be more like China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, and it's too bad that many posters here also prefer that direction. I kind of like the free world myself.
But be that as it may, I just wanted to continue with what people suggested.
True - with DNA evidence, fewer innocent people will be put on death row or in prison period.
But if the death penalty should be enacted (as racist and discriminatory against the poor as it is) why would people support the death penalty for something the does not involve the death of another.
I am not a big support of rapists or child molesters either, and have no terms better than despicable to describe them.
It is true that a child molester cannot be rehabilitated in order to be in the presence of a child ever again. I think in the past, there was a belief that perhaps they could be rehabilitated, only to see people go back out and commit the same offenses.
But what cannot be rehabilitated is a mental disorder.
Yes - these people need to be punish if they violate the boundaries of another uninvited, and of a child invited or not.
But to whack off their members or to even kill them -- I think someone needs a reading of the bill of rights. We do have provisions against cruel and unusual punishment.
Which leads me to the next question --
Why is there a prevailing support here for cruel and unusual punishment? Why is there a desire to give to people a punishment beyond their crimes?
I am glad that our justice system still considers criminals as human beings, and hopefully it will be more humane when the death penalty is repealed.
But this dismembering that some of you suggest makes us no better than some countries that we sanctimoniously ridicule for public beheadings.
Extending the death penalty for crimes beyond murder, again makes us more like a repressive country.
I am unsympathetic toward sexual offenders, but this treatment that you describe is far too harsh.
I know of three people on the list, perhaps in this zip code perhaps in another zip code who may need to be on the list - but are not deserving of any of these harsh penalties that you speak of.
I will not give case information because you may know one or two of the people - but in each case, a person with a disability did something to cross the line - and probably did not know they were crossing the line. So now they're on the sexual offender list.
Yet, you think these people should be given the death penalty.