[AnAmericanMother]

The reason the DP for rape was done away with in the first place was the tendency for offenders to eliminate the complaining witness just as a precaution.

If you're going to the chair anyhow, why not reduce your chances of conviction?

As it stands, cases such as the fellow in Florida who raped and buried the little girl alive with her stuffed toy are thankfully rare. They would increase if the DP was brought back.

And "short eyes" are not well regarded in prison, where punishment is much more likely (and swifter) than a death penalty that is probably 20-30 years away or even never, given appeals, habeas, stays, wholesale pardons by pandering governors, etc.

[mvpel]

Good point - but there has to be a middle ground somewhere.

The local paper just reported the effort of a fellow to get an arrest annulled after spending only 12 months in prison for aggravated felonious sexual assault of a minor - raping a 15 year-old girl when he was 20.

That’s not justice, by any stretch of the imagination.