Currently, punishing rapists remains a pressing issue in society. Recently, on a Q&A social media platform in China, this topic was dissected by netizens and quickly garnered significant interaction.
An account named @Li Ba Lang shared their personal opinion as follows: The law cannot measure emotions. Some argue that rape causes serious harm to victims, but that pertains to feelings and psychology. Psychological harm cannot be quantified.
This individual also provides an example to clarify their point. A 20-year-old unmarried girl and a 40-year-old married woman, if unfortunately raped, would certainly experience different levels of psychological trauma. But is there any basis to assess that the 20-year-old girl would suffer more severely and that the perpetrator should receive a harsher sentence?
Additionally, @Li Ba Lang expressed that, in their subjective opinion, one should neither kill nor confiscate the tools of crime from rapists. Because doing so would increase the national crime cost without ensuring a thorough resolution of the issue.
On the other hand, account @Wang Jia Jia argued that the statement, “Most women will choose to end their lives after being raped or will never marry again” is somewhat inaccurate. From a legal perspective, the issue of women choosing to commit suicide after being raped is a random factor, and there is no causal relationship between suicide and being raped.
@Wang Jia Jia does not deny the consequences of rape on women, but it does not reach the level of deserving the death penalty, as there are many horrific crimes that leave far more severe consequences.
Another netizen also agreed with the opinions of @Li Ba Lang and @Wang Jia Jia. This person, nicknamed @Na Lang, also believes that it is impossible to eliminate the tools used by rapists, as such actions symbolize a lack of human rights. Everyone has human rights and dignity. Even criminals locked up in prison should not be treated like animals.
A user named @404-NotFun stated their reasons for disagreeing with imposing the death penalty or “confiscating” tools of crime from rapists because these measures waste time and resources of the police force.
Furthermore, a comment from lawyer @Da Nguyen Hiep Chi indicated that if the law mandated the death penalty for rapists, they would kill their victims after raping them. Because whether for murder or rape, they would face the death penalty.
According to him, legal rulings make people think they are protecting the criminals, but in reality, they are protecting the victims.
The account @The Other Arm also agreed with the lawyer’s comment but added: Even if the tools of crime were “confiscated”, it would have no effect in preventing the victim’s suicide.
Source: Zhihu