I read this in yesterday's Toronto Sun...
I know that Judge Pinard probably made a comment in the heat of the moment, but my first reaction after having read this was "Hell yes!", but then I started to give it a little more thought. My heart tells me "you sexually abuse a child, you deserve to die". But then, of course, comes the inevitable questions: What if they killed an innocent man? Are we willing to do that for thegreater good? Is it morally permissible?
That is where my heart and my brain collide. My heart says "Shot in the head. Therapeutic", and my brain counter attacks: "Would you punish a sick person who abuses kids because he can't control himself the same way you would punish a guy who abuses his own child and posts the video on the internet for profit?" My heart says "No, this guy gets two bullets. The first one goes down there". "But what would you do with the first guy? What would you do to those who know they're sick and beg to be chemically castrated?" Both my heart and my brain say "I don't know". This whole thing disturbs me a lot.
What would you do?
That is a question every people, specially every father and mother, poses to himself.
ReplyDeleteMothers tend to be more specific, because they, by nature, are made to protect their children.
But it is very difficult to rule out a question like that. Only specifics can do.
Society, when such a tremendous crimes are commited, in its horror, can not react accordingly.
Like, when are those tremendous serial killings (like here, 57 people), there is no punishment according to that.
One can only think of those many many dictators, back in our countries. What happened to them ¿
Nearly nothing I think.
On a specific case -such, if that occurred to me- I would begin with the razor and the salt.
Such a weighty issue.
ReplyDeleteI actually knew someone personally that was a child molester. He went to prison at least twice, serving about 3 years the last time. I was very young when it first happened, and I can't remember how long he went away for, or how many times.
This person, we'll call him Jay, was the father of two. He did not touch his own children, but instead chose his youngest childs play mates, all boys. They would have been probably 10 and under when he was abusing them. This is the last time that he was caught. I have no idea how many children he abused, but I suspect that over the years, it was more than even he could count.
So, here's the thing. I loved this person. I had known him my whole life, and he was like family to me. He never actually hurt ME.
On the other hand...I was molested as a child, by my step father. I know what that does to a child.
I know that Jay was guilty. We all knew it. Yes, he served his time, but it continued. Nothing helped him. Nothing worked for him, or changed him. He was put in prison at least twice, and yet his patterns continued.
My step father, on the other hand, has never been punished. In fact, my bio mom is still married to him, more than 25 years after finding out what he had done. She had confessed to knowing that he is guilty. Yet, she is still there.
What would I do? Well, step daddy dearest should be locked up. I think that he should be locked up with people that know what he did, no segregation for him. See what happens then.
Jay is dead now. I went to his funeral. His wife (who stayed by his side, even after recieving death threats and being run out of town), and his children mourned him. His youngest child still does. She misses her daddy.
Part of me feels like he should have been shot, beaten, flogged, nothing would have been too harsh. Then, I look at his daughter and see that she still misses her daddy.
It's all so complicated, and I am glad that I don't have to decide.
Maybe there are no easy answers.
Biddie, I'm not ignoring your comments. It's that a whole day has passed, and I still don't know what to say...
ReplyDelete