14 year old rapist

    Throughout the ages, threats of punishment have never been enough to keep crime at bay. Death, castration, torture, whatever. Doesn´t work to nearly the extent one thinks it would.

    Very true. Though I think this is more a misguided attempt to reduce recidivism. I still say the victims should be the ones to decide punishment. Being a victim is being powerless. Nobody like to feel powerless, to be at someone else´s mercy. It´s, depending on what exactly was done, probably one of the worst feelings a person can have. Very traumatizing, to be sure. So how do we fix it? We give the victim power over the perpetrator. We turn the tables so it´s now the victim who holds the perp´s future in his/her hands. That is the only way to achieve real, actual <i>justice. </i>

    Great idea! The situation is such that if anything immoral and barbaric is done, it is the victim´s decision and not the state´s, so the state remains just and does not descend into animalism. And the perpertrator can understand truly the depth of their crime.