LETTER: Punishment fits the crime

Editor, The News:

I was reading an article in the paper about courts weighing the death penalty for child rapists.

The lawyer for the inmate stated that the death penalty for a child rape violated the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

What do we think the 8-year-old went through? To me, it was cruel and unusual punishment, which she will carry along with her for the rest of her life.

Maybe if we had this strict punishment enforced, there might be less of it. They said in the article that groups involved in sexual violence prevention were standing behind the defendant, because they felt the child would then have to worry about it leading to an execution if the child told someone.

How would a child know this? If not the death penalty, I am sure that I could think of something that might suit the crime.

Melissa Janiel

New Castle