TresSugar

Child Rape Death Penalty Unconstitutional, For Murder Only

LibertySugar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:00:00 -0700

The US Supreme Court struck down the death penalty for cases of child rape as unconstitutional today, continuing its tendency to narrow, rather than expand, capital punishment. The broad ruling held that the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment requires that the defendant killed, and intended to kill, the victim in order to trigger the death sentence. The Court left room for death in cases of treason, by discussing only crimes against individuals.

Justice Kennedy wrote the opinion, which sited the unfairness and inaccuracies of the death penalty as reasons to be cautious when expanding its application. He also brought up that the death sentence requires repeated and painful testimony from the child victim, writing: “The way the death penalty here involves the child victim in its enforcement can compromise a decent legal system."

To see what Justice Alito, writing for the conservative dissenters, wrote read more. Alito argued: "The harm that is caused to the victims and to society at large by the worst child rapists is grave. It is the judgment of the Louisiana lawmakers and those in an increasing number of other states that these harms justify the death penalty."

When the Court heard oral arguments on this issue a while back, you all weighed in on whether you think the death penalty for child rape constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Now that the Supreme Court has decided, and you've seen their reasoning, do you agree that death is a disproportional punishment to the crime? Should children be protected from having to testify repeatedly through a long drawn-out death penalty trial and appeal process?

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Is Death Penalty For Child Rape Cruel and Unusual?

LibertySugar — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:45:55 -0700

For the first time in 30 years, the US Supreme Court will consider the legality of imposing the death penalty in nonmurder cases.

Tomorrow the Court will hear arguments on whether the crime of raping a child warrants execution. The case involves a man sentenced to death for raping his 8-year-old step-daughter. Currently, all executions in the US are on hold, awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court on another case involving lethal injections.

The Court, which meets between October and July, has already considered big issues like guns and abortion in jail this session.

Is the death penalty an extreme sentence in the case of child rape? And putting aside the defendant's constitutional rights, if the punishment is the same, doesn't a rapist have an incentive to kill the child victim, who is also the major witness to the crime?

Should the Supreme Court strike down execution in the case of child rape? Should the death penalty be used in nonmurder cases?

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Stranger than Fiction: School Used Lap Dance Therapy

TresSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0800

When you think of activities to help the emotional growth of teens with behavior troubles or special learning needs, lap dances would probably be the last thing you'd think of.

But that's exactly what the staff at Mount Bachelor Academy came up with, and they forced students to undergo lap dance therapy as a part of their "emotional growth" curriculum. The boarding school was shutdown after students accused the staff of employing this dubious therapy, and a seven-month state investigation has just confirmed the allegations.

According to the report, the school's "Lifesteps" seminars made students take on sexualized roles and perform in front of staff and students. One girl, who had been raped before going to the school, was forced to dress as a French maid and perform a lap dance. (Who thought this was a good idea?!)

Oregon's Department of Human Services says the school poses "a serious danger to child safety." Whenever I hear these horror stories about reform schools, I wonder: did anyone ever check to see if the people allowed to run them for so long needed some reform themselves?

Front Page: HPV Vaccine Reminds Girls of Sexual Risks

TresSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:00:43 -0700

A new study shows that the HPV vaccine reminds girls of risks associated with sex, such as contracting STDs, instead of giving them a license to be promiscuous as some people feared. - Salon
Wal-Mart is now selling affordable coffins. - BBC News
A Dutch court has told 14-year-old Laura Dekker that she is too inexperienced to sail around the world by herself, and she will be placed under the guardianship of child protection authorities until next year. - New York Times
A sixth person has been arrested for the gang rape of the 15-year-old California girl outside her homecoming dance. - CNN
Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley sat down for another beer this week, this time without President Obama. - Huffington Post

According to NGOs, 90 Percent of Afghan Women Are Abused

TresSugar — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

This sobering CNN video takes us into one of only a dozen women's shelters in Kabul, Afghanistan. According to nongovernmental agencies, 90 percent of Afghan women are victims of domestic abuse.

One woman is at the shelter trying to escape 15 years of abuse from her husband for not being able to conceive a child. As she speaks, a slash on her throat is visible and highlighted by stitches. She would like to see her family again, but she fears she will be killed if she goes home. Another woman has tried to kill herself three times to escape the abuse of a man who often chained her to a wall, setting her free only when it was time for her to cook. In a country where women are viewed as property, even children aren't spared. A 9-year-old tells her story of being raped at age five.

Manizha Naderi, the director for Women for Afghan Women, risks her life to take them in. Listen to her explain the way that the expectation for how women are treated is handed down from generation to generation. By providing a safe space, Naderi lets them know they have an option.

Ireland Released Five Volumes on Abuses, But No Names

TresSugar — Thu, 21 May 2009 08:30:00 -0700

Ireland released an extensive report yesterday revealing that more than one thousand children were beaten, neglected, or raped at Catholic reform schools. The five-volume accounting took nine years to compile and covers six decades, but it doesn't include a single name of a priest, brother, or nun who abused children at the Catholic institutions. A religious order in question successfully sued the government in 2004 to keep the names secret. Thus, the perpetrators of rape and other physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are free from criminal prosecutions. Now victims say they've been cheated of justice.

While the victims feel vindicated by the inquiry, many maintain that they never would have opened their wounds if they knew it would result in zero criminal accountability. The report did offer over 20 ways the government could address the wrongs, including: building a monument, improving child protection services, and providing counseling to the victims. The Catholic Church in Ireland has also apologized.

Do you think the perpetrators should be brought to justice in the courts?

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British Woman Receives Life Sentence For Smuggling Heroin

TresSugar — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:05:31 -0700

Samantha Orobator's saga continues. Orobator, a 20-year-old British woman arrested in Laos for smuggling heroin and tried in a country where drug smuggling is punishable by death, has just been sentenced to life in prison.

Officials in London and the Laotian capital of Vientiane agreed to a prisoner transfer last month, but it won’t take place, according to a representative, until the sentence is finalized with no appeals. Human rights lawyers and British officials worked on Orobator's behalf, which must have paid off because the amount she was carrying would otherwise have gotten her the death penalty.

Orobator got pregnant in prison but denies that she was raped. Her baby is due in September, and although she evaded death and will hopefully be in a British prison soon, what a tragic fate for such a young woman and her child.

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Lorena Bobbitt to Oprah: Why I Threw It Out the Window

TresSugar — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0700

The "it" I'm referring to, of course, is Lorena's husband's penis she had just cut off.

It was 1993, and the nation was morbidly curious and nervous-laughing about a story that seemed too crazy to be true. Beautician Lorena Bobbitt, suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) after years of enduring spousal abuse, a forced abortion, and infidelities from her husband John Wayne Bobbitt, snapped one night after he came home drunk and, according to her, raped her.

She went into the kitchen, saw a gleaming knife, and cut part of John's penis off. She then got into a car (holding the severed penis) but threw it out the window while she drove. She recently appeared on Oprah and explained why she did it. Curious about the aftermath for all parties involved? Then watch the clip when you read more.

Lorena, as she told the jurors during her trial, realized after her action that she'd done something horrific and stopped the car and called 911. After searching for hours in a field, paramedics found the severed penis, and it was eventually reattached.

Although John Wayne Bobbitt was acquitted in a later trial of charges of spousal rape, jurors believed that Lorena had indeed snapped after years of abuse and found her innocent by reason of insanity.

Lorena has since remarried, had a child, and started an organization to help educate and stop domestic abuse. John's post-severed penis life was a little more chaotic. He was charged numerous times afterward with domestic violence against girlfriends and wives (wow, some dudes never learn!), formed a band called "The Severed Parts," starred in a couple porno flicks - "John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut" and "Frankenpenis" - and was even briefly a minister in a Vegas church.

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Briefing Book! A Closer Look at Afganistan's Marital Rape Law

CitizenSugar — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:00:27 -0700

The Afghan "rape law" is nothing new. - The XX Factor
Sarah Palin's pick for Alaska's attorney general allegedly defends marital rape, too. - The Frisky
Apple's Steve Jobs is currently working from home. - geeksugar
Chuck Todd to get his own MSNBC weekend politics show. - Huffington Post
Why Obama shouldn't waffle on Cuba. - Salon
The eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's 18 offspring is expecting his own child. - lilsugar

Afghanistan Legalizes Rape but Only Sometimes

CitizenSugar — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:00:50 -0700

The UN is in an uproar after Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, hastily signed a law that legalizes rape. But, you know, only between husband and wife.

The bill, according to UN papers, says there's no need for sexual consent between married couples; approves child marriage implicitly; and, in a throwback to Taliban days, restricts a woman's right to leave her home. If you think that's bad, look at the specifics. UN papers, which London's Independent has seen, said:

Article 132 requires women to obey their husband's sexual demands and stipulates that a man can expect to have sex with his wife at least "once every four nights" when travelling, unless they are ill. The law also gives men preferential inheritance rights, easier access to divorce, and priority in court.

I bet you anything "ill" means "has period."

Why erode women's rights now? Election time! Critics say President Karzai rushed the bill through parliament to butter up fundamentalists before September elections. One senator said the bill was never even read in parliament's Upper House much less debated. Hmm. Good thing women (and girls over 12?!) have the right to vote!

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