Is there justice to be found in Jessica's law?
OK, I'm biased and I admit it. I'm a sucker for kids.
I was raised in a daycare home my entire life where I was constantly surrounded by children. Every year there was a new baby, every year there was a whole series of first days of school and initial homework assignments and stories about little friends made in class.
Everyday there was youthful enthusiasm and a light stimulated by something new and exciting. I saw it everyday, enjoyed it everyday and I'll be the first to admit that I likely am biased in supporting the stiffest penalty for those who would take all of that away.
Thousands of miles from Princeton they are talking about Jessica's Law in Texas. Simply put, the law introduces the death penalty as a viable punishment alternative for those who rape or sexually abuse children.
The law itself is named after Jessica Lunsford, a nine-year-old from Florida who was kidnapped, abused, buried alive in a hole and left for dead. Her attacker was a known sex offender who lived nearby.
We don't need to go to Florida to find cases of individuals brutalizing children. They appear here on the news as well, if you have the stomach to watch them. I often do not.
But is the death penalty the answer?
Implementing Jessica's Law steps away from the common mentality of capital punishment, which, in its purest form was always the "an eye for an eye," rational; or, as the case may be, a life for a life.
But can you approve of taking a life when the perpetrator of the crime did not? Is this step away from "an eye for an eye," a logical one?
I believe it is, but then, I told you at the beginning, I'm biased on this issue.
Jessica's Law, or at least the version the Texas Legislature is considering, does carry some stipulations. Under the Texas bill, the death penalty would only apply to perpetrators who rape a child under six two times or assault a child under 14 twice using threats, weapons, drugs, injury, or accomplices.
I have trouble feeling sympathy for anyone guilty of the aforementioned offenses. They can be shipped to the front of the line on death row as far as I'm concerned.
Opponents of the mark will point out that the attacker is often a relative. Statistically, the victim knows his/her attacker 80 to 90 percent of the time. Does seeing a loved one executed for assaulting a child do even more damage to a young psyche than the attack itself?
I can't answer that. I am eternally thankful I don't know this subject in intimate detail and I refuse to speculate.
I will instead pose this question. Does the possibility of death for a second offense—as is the case with the Texas version of Jessica's Law—deter that second offense more than prison time ever could? Because if it does, than the legislation has to be supported and signed. We should be so lucky if all bills were so fruitful.
In a state that doesn't have capital punishment, it seems frivolous to discuss widening the scope of this final judgement to include more crimes.
Whether or not such a law is ever in our state's future, I cannot say.
If capital punishment did exist in Minnesota however, Jason Gonsioroski, the 27-year-old who submerged his 10-year-old daughter in a bathtub of scalding hot water to punish her for misbehaving seems an appropriate candidate. Gonsioroski's daughter later died of her injuries.
I can think of no one in Minnesota more deserving of capital punishment than Gonsioroski.
But, as I said at the beginning, I'm biased.
- Chris Schafer
Princeton Union-Eagle
P.O. Box 278
Princeton, MN 55371
Telephone: 763-389-1222
Fax: 763-389-1728
