tgd@clyde.UUCP (Thomas G. Dennehy) (01/18/84)
Castration as punishment for rape?? Have we all gone mad??
Perhaps we could roll civilization bask to those carefree
days when a samurai could lop off your head for looking
cross-eyed at him.
Those who watched the local news in NYC this morning learned
that a man convicted of murder based on solely on the
testimony of his wife was released yesterday after serving
one year in prison. Mrs. Wonderful finally admitted she had
been lying and that she had committed the crime in question.
Suppose the crime had been rape and the poor blighter had
been castrated. What are we supposed to say to him now?
"Oops...sorry, man...duuhhh". Or worse. Suppose New York
State executed him.
Our prisons may not be the best system of punishment (all
Jack Henry Abbott needed was a chance...) but it is far
better than the finality of mutilation and death.
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Tom Dennehy AT&T BL Whippany, NJ ...{whuxb|clyde}!tgdwombat@uicsl.UUCP (01/21/84)
#R:clyde:-29500:uicsl:16400031:000:856 uicsl!wombat Jan 20 13:30:00 1984 I assume that whoever mentioned castration as punishment for rape had it in mind for repeat offenders, those who have been convicted several times for different rapes by different juries, not for first-time offenders. As for the testosterone tests in Texas, there's a guy who'd been doing similar research on prisoners jailed for violent crimes. He takes samples of hair and checks the levels of various metals, and claims there is a correlation between particular levels and violence. It was in Science News a few months ago. He thinks that by adjusting the levels of metals in their bodies their behavior can be altered. Could parole officers throw someone in jail for forgetting their medication? Could this be used to produce a nation of mindless sheep? I sure don't know, but it's an interesting theory. Wombat ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!wombat