“everybody does” Statutory rape? Was he in Tokyo or something?
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NO, dummy, if “everyone” did it, it’d probably be legal.
He should be executed like all pedophiles.
Because people are reluctant to object to extreme statements about punishment (for persons they’re reluctant to be seen defending), there’s a tendency for legislators to make penalties harsher and harsher. Don’t you think, though, that the death penalty for having sex with a sixteen-year-old prostitute — who could pass for nineteen — is taking things too far? It reminds me of the kind of thing that the Taliban and Al Qaeda support.
I believe that punishments should be in proportion to the harm done (or in rare cases attempted), and to the possible good that might result from invoking them. In this case — and whatever I may think of Lawrence Taylor as a person — it appears that no significant harm was done to the girl, by him anyway. (I doubt very much that an innocent girl was dragged off the street, beaten by the pimp, and forced to go to his room.) Now, though, she has become a celebrity in a negative sense — as a victim — and that may affect her life more than the single incident with Taylor.
Also a very important thing to bear in mind — even with major offenses against younger and more innocent children — is that if you use the death penalty for offenses that don’t result in death, you’re in effect giving the offenders an incentive to kill the victim (and to decrease their chances of getting caught by leaving no witnesses).
I think the penalties should be great enough to provide some justice for the victims (and their parents), but not so severe as to encourage the perpetrators to go ahead and kill them. The difference between getting back an abused child alive, and getting back one whose body has to be dug up somewhere is, in my opinion, like light and day. I think the penalties should be too. If there’s serious damage, a serious penalty; if minor damage (or doubtful damage) like the exposure that Shirley Temple laughed at, then a minor penalty. Certainly not the death penalty unless the child was murdered (or tormented, and murder attempted).