A couple of snips:

Many people are so overwhelmed by the thought of child abuse that they’ll do just about anything to change the subject when it is mentioned. The most common device these subject-switchers utilize is the ultimate decree. They’ll say, “I think if someone gets caught abusing a kid, they should be rounded up and killed! Case closed!” Once you proclaim that you’re in favor of executing pedophiles, what else is there to say? You have advocated sweeping them under the ultimate rug and that’s that. Problem solved. The problem, that is, of having to discuss child abuse.

Pronouncements of lynch mobsters notwithstanding, I wouldn’t have wanted my rapist put out of his own misery and into mine. I started life without blood on my hands and I aim to keep it that way.

…

Even if I supported the death penalty, I wouldn’t want child rapists killed simply because they were once children themselves. In all likelihood they were abused children. While most victims of childhood sexual assaults don’t grow up to become pedophiles, the vast majority of pedophiles were sexually abused as children. Who knows what would have happened to me if I had been raped a few more times, or a few years later, and had been tricked into believing I’d been acting on my own initiative? Would my social contract have been completely voided? I can’t say. Life gets pretty damned nuanced when you can consider yourself a lucky childhood rape survivor.

Another reason I don’t want pedophiles executed is because we need to study them. The more heinous the criminal, the more important it becomes to at least try to figure out what the hell makes that person so dangerous. There’s no question that these people need to be segregated from society. When it comes to confining convicted child molesters, I am no bleeding heart. Sadly, I don’t think people over the age of 21 who offend in this fashion can ever be trusted again. Perhaps they could be reformed if we didn’t have a prison system that’s heavy on punishment and light on rehabilitation. Unfortunately, our prisons are just about the most lawless places in our society. Maybe if prisoners were taught that laws are meant to protect everyone, even prisoners, they might gain some respect for legal statutes. In any case, I don’t want these people treated inhumanely.

It’s a long post, but one of those ones worth its weight in gold. If you have a few minutes to spare, I really recommend reading the whole thing.

As one of the blog mods I promise you your concerns will certainly be acted upon and Lisa will be sternly spoken to and possibly even spanked as soon as I finish typing this. Pics may be made available in future if strong enough interest is shown.

1. In prosecuting child rapists, the human rights of the accused rapist should be held to be more important than the emotional and psychological well-being of the alleged abused child.
*The only seemingly relevant comment to this specifically states that the whole point of their comment was that one NOT be held more important than the other. Your twisting of this person’s words is merely inflammatory and more than a bit ridiculous.

2. A child who has severe emotional issues resulting from childhood trauma lies all the time about being sexually abused, both about who did it to them and about being sexually abused at all, ever. A reason suggested for this is to “get attention.”
*Again, the post that this seems to be taken from’s words have been ridiculously twisted to suit your purpose. The poster write that children - plural! - lie all the time. To rewrite that as a specific child will do so turns that into a sweeping generalization that was never made. Do you even READ your comments, or just scan for words that seem to contradict you in order to justify this jump onto an internet soapbox?

3. A child who is mentally ill lies all the time about being sexually abused, both about who did it to them and about being sexually abused at all, ever. A reason suggested for this is to “get attention.”
*Same as above.

4. A child who is telling the truth about being sexually abused, if the abuser is a known and cared-for or previously trusted individual to the child, would feel terrible if that individual was sent to jail for life based on the child’s testimony. It may be more traumatic for a child to send an abuser to jail, on top of the trauma of being abused, than it is for the abuse to stop because the child sent the abuser to jail.
* Once again, it’s hard to see where you’re getting this. The poster that you seem to be reacting to, did indeed make such statements, but the reference was to a death penalty trial, not incarceration. This statement seems only to have been made as part of their overall stance against the death penalty being applied to child rape cases.

5. Advocating for children to help send their abusers to jail is teaching children bloodlust.
Again, the poster refers to bloodlust as being applied to the death penalty. For all the reading on the subject you claim to do, your clear restructuring of others’ words in this blog alone calls YOUR every word into question.

6. Children who have never been sexually abused may get the idea to claim it has happened to them because they heard another child talking about it or they saw it on the Internet or on TV.

*Yes, this does in fact sometimes happen. Are you saying that false allegations NEVER EVER happen? If so, where does the source for such claims come from? And if so, where do you get off for speaking for every person in this here world? I sure wouldn’t want you speaking for any of MY children. I am not necessarily saying that a child who makes such a claim does not have other issues at work, but trust me, just because YOU saw a great deal of sex on tv as a child and never made a false allegation, this does not lead me to believe it could never happen. That’s a sound argument, right there.

In short, your blogs are nothing more than hot air. You don’t cite sources for any of your inclusive, sweeping statements, paragraph after paragraph is nothing more than your own inflated opinion, you reword others’ statements in incendiary ways in an obvious attempt to curry opinion to your side and you clearly don’t respect the diverse opinions of anyone who might dare to comment on your writing with even the slightest hint of contradiction, instead finding the need to attempt to condescendingly lambaste their opinions, one by one, in essay form no less. Pull your head out of your ass. While the lack of a single actual authority on the matter referenced anywhere is glaringly apparent, you repeatedly use words like always, never and exclusively, a definite no-no in the field of psychology, showcasing your ignorance further.

You even have the nerve to close with, “I hope it gives anybody interested out there food for thought, though.” I need more than one unqualified (outside of second-hand accounts heard in childhood’s) personal opinion as food for thought thanks.

Blog moderator, please take note. Unsubstantiated, inflammatory, self-serving essays will surely drive readers away. The more this poster posts, the less I, for one, want to visit Punkass.
GET OVER YOURSELF. I am flabbergasted by your ego.

Actually, they say exactly what they say…no hidden messages, sorry! (I generally don’t do hidden messages…that’s a lot like sitting around expecting your significant other to read your mind and take out the damn trash without you having to specify that’s what you want him to do aloud…a very low success rate in getting your point across coupled with a very high success rate in raising your blood pressure.) I oppose the death penalty from an philosophical and prejudicial application standpoint, but I don’t give a shit about the lives of child rapists on a personal level. That’s really all.

I don’t have direct and upfront experience with the anti-death penalty movement, but I agree with what you’re saying here anyway. See Part One of this series of posts if you’re interested in me rambling on about the subject.

“Your essay above leaves out something: Jordan Minnesota, McMartin school, Jubilation Day Care Center, Kern County, California, Paul Ingram, Alvin McCuan and Scott Kniffen, Ryan Harris

There is now a long history of sex abuse panics and cases involving overzealous prosecutors coercing false information from children and accused alike. Non-experts misusing the misunderstood concepts of repressed memories.”

Actually I don’t leave that out; I specify that children who are not being led, encouraged or threatened by adults into making false accusations don’t generally make them–the above cases you cite are cases of all three occurring. That’s a totally different dynamic (and a very ugly one, of course).

Also, it’s important to realize what a tiny fraction of child abuse cases result from this kind of Salem witch hunt hysteria. In 2002 there were over 680 THOUSAND day care centers in the United States–how many cases of false accusations of systemic abuses in day cares have there been by contrast? Not many–it’s because they’re such a tiny percentage that they’re so sensationalized.

There is now a long history of sex abuse panics and cases involving overzealous prosecutors coercing false information from children and accused alike. Non-experts misusing the misunderstood concepts of repressed memories.

It is these cases, which were their own form of child abuse, which people are thinking of when the are concerned about expanding the death penalty. In these cases, the revulsion at the idea of the crime led prosecutors and juries to overlook the actual evidence and logic involved, making it guilty until proven innocent.

Had a death penalty been involved, there’d be a much bigger pile of executed innocents. These are things even Andrew Vachs - and just about no one is as zealous a abuse advocate - does not shrink away from.

I’m a bit vague on the motive for this three part essay. I suspect the context is comments on your posts condemning the lawyer’s threat about minimum sentences, and your death penalty post. These posts do not seem especially offensive to me as the attorney’s comments were out of line, and you seem to agree with the ruling even if your emotions do not. If you have to explain that to people at length, they are beyond hope.

Taken together, these follow ups almost seem to indicate a repressed urge to say you DO think child rapists should get the death penalty.

You’ve made an extensive case about the reality of child rape based on direct and close personal observation. I wish you had equally direct and upfront experience of the issues behind the anti-death penalty movement. Speaking as someone who is familiar with the innocence project, and had a front row seat with the moratorium then mass commutation in Illinios, it is an equally disturbing and disgusting issue, with a level of injustice many seem to refuse to admit exists. The US is essentially incapable of administering this penalty in a fair and consistent manner.