Thursday, June 01, 2006
South Carolina's Latest Code of Hammurabi
The United States is starting to mirror the ancient Mesopotamian ruler with their harsh unsparing laws.
In the latest incantation, the South Carolina House passed a “pair of bills that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for some repeat child molesters.”
Now as horrid as sexual abuse may be, it’s about proportionality; and like opponents of this bill, Howling Latina “question[s] whether capital punishment is constitutional for people who haven’t killed anyone.”
Sure looks like our society is regressing instead of evolving.
Hell, why not just go back to the ancient Hammurabi Code of Laws?!? There are 282 to pick from.
Here are a few gems we could adopt as our own.
Law Number Six: If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
Law Number Eight: If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death.
Law Number 16: If any one receive into his house a runaway male or female slave of the court, or of a freedman, and does not bring it out at the public proclamation of the major domus, the master of the house shall be put to death.
Oh, Howling Latina especially likes this law: If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.
Death, death, death. Let’s see how enamored prosecuting attorneys are if every time they fail to win a capital conviction they lose their own life.
By the bye, Louisiana, Florida and Montana already allow the death penalty for certain “sex crimes.”
// posted by Howling Latina @ 1:24 AM 
