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The Annoyed Man wrote:Too bad about the SCOTUS ruling. It would be interesting to know if the percentage of the total population which experiences rape as a victim of it has increased or decreased since that ruling.

This is the second time today I get to use the word unknowable.

SCOTUS ruled against capital punishment for rape in Coker v. Georgia in 1977.

The state of Louisiana tried legislating around the criteria of that case and prescribed capital punishment for rape of children. SCOTUS overturned that law in Kennedy v. Louisiana in 2008.

(In the latter case, the justices extended their reasoning to say that capital punishment could be used only for murder, treason, or espionage.)

The problem with predicting the effects of these rulings or other changes in the law is that attitudes toward rape and other forms of sexual molestation (all of which would be sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault under current Texas law) have changed.

In earlier decades rape and sexual abuse were considered so shameful that victims often did not report the crimes. If they told family, the family often hushed it up. If they complained to the police, it was difficult to bring a case before modern advances in forensics (such as DNA testing).

We've had something like 30 years of social encouragement to report sexual abuse and changes in laws and police techniques that make it easier to prosecute.

Still, the reported rate of forcible rape has declined along with other crimes since the early 1990s. It peaked in 1992.

- Jim

SCOTUS ruled out capital punishment for rape a while back.

I honestly think there is no practical rehabilitation for people like this. They re-offend at the first opportunity. Probably they hate themselves, the way most addicts and obsessive-compulsives do.

At best they will be put out of their misery when they cross the wrong guy in prison.

- Jim

Probably you are right, and I was confused by the antecedent of "his sister."

This article definitely states that the rape victim was a relative:

On the same day that the burning car was found, crimes-against-children investigators obtained an arrest warrant against Gilbert alleging sexual assault of a child under 17, stemming from claims that he had molested a teenage relative over the past several months.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/07 ... death.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It doesn't matter whom he raped. It's a moral outrage in any case. Rape is never excusable or justifiable.

- Jim

Note that this fine citizen has been in and out of prison since 1987, and most recently is accused of raping his own 16-year-old sister.

- Jim

In Ft. Worth, a convicted sex offender who was wanted on a new charge allegedly tried to fake his own death. He allegedly killed a homeless man who resembled him, stuffed the body in the trunk of a car, and set the car on fire.

Police were not fooled. They arrested the suspect Thursday after a standoff, during which he reportedly tried to slit his own neck.

He is recovering and charged with capital murder.

It was the second time that the suspect had tried to fake his own death.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/FW-polic ... 44789.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/07 ... death.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim