Politicians in primarily southern US states have passed laws that expand the use of the death penalty to include repeat child sex offenders — a move mental health professionals say is ineffective in stopping molestation and abolitionists believe ultimately will be ruled unconstitutional.

Despite the warnings, though, two states, South Carolina and Oklahoma, this summer enacted laws that allow repeat child sex offenders to be put to death. They join Louisiana, Florida, and Montana, which already have similar laws on their books. The governors of both Oklahoma and South Carolina argued that the sexual abuse of children is as bad as murder because molestation causes permanent damage to the life of the child. “It is about sending a very clear message that there are some lines that you do not cross,” said South Carolina governor Mark Sanford in a statement, “and that if those lines are crossed the penalties will be severe.”

Oklahoma State Senator Jay Paul Gumm echoed the sentiment. “We allow the death penalty for someone who has killed a body,” Gumm, who authored the Oklahoma bill, said in a statement. “Why would we allow someone to escape who has killed a soul?” But critics dismiss such reasoning as irrational and unconstitutional, even though they acknowledge that child rape is a serious crime.

“Obviously, it’s a very, very serious crime,” said John Holdridge, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) capital punishment project. “But this law is totally disproportionate to the crime, which does not involve a case of an eye for an eye.” Holdridge’s remarks seem to parallel the US Supreme Court’s 1977 opinion on a case involving the rape of an adult woman in Georgia. The ruling suggests that the death penalty may only be applied in cases of murder, not rape.

Deciding the case, the court observed that execution for rape was “disproportionate to the crime.” “Rape is without doubt deserving of serious punishment,” the ruling said, “but in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public, it does not compare with murder, which does involve the unjustified taking of human life.” Moreover, citing the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution, the court described the death penalty for rape as “a cruel and unusual punishment.” Along with the majority of lawmakers in South Carolina and Oklahoma who voted in favour of death penalty laws, Gumm reasoned that only an unusual punishment, such as execution, could deter those who repeatedly use sexual violence against minors.

“This law is terrible for the victim,” he said. “It gives no incentive to the offender

not to kill the victim.” Moreover, in most child molestation cases, the victims and offenders know each other. Holdridge doubts family members would be willing to report the cases of child rape.

Mental health professionals say they do not believe the death penalty will deter a child molester. “It’s a very simplistic way to deal with the issue of child molestation,” said Dr Gerald Landsberg, a professor of social work at NYU.

Dr Landsberg said various methods of treatment are available for child molesters, though there is a “very mixed” opinion about which are most effective. Sometimes, for instance, child molesters are treated with chemical castration. — IPS