Rape and the death penalty.
Should a rapist receive the death penalty? What if it was a particularly heinous rape? What if there are multiple rapes? What if the victim is a child?
Professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark Sherry F. Colb argues that consideration should be given to assessing capital punishment for rapists. (*)
Generally speaking, I disagree. It is a matter of deterrence. If rape and murder received the same punishment—the death penalty—a rapist would have an incentive to murder his rape victim. That way his rape victim could not later testify against him in court. Punishing murder more harshly than punishing rape may deter some murders. A rape victim is subject to a variety of psychological pressures, but her life of course still holds as much value as every other.
Updated 8 March 2004 for clarity.