this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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I mean it's a good idea.
Eh, there are definitely pedophiles who will never touch a child or consume CSAM. People who have an attraction to children should be allowed to seek help without fear of being killed.
A decent chunk of sex crimes are motivated by exerting power over the weak, rather than sexual attraction.
But the second they harm a child or consume CSAM, execution is warranted.
Sorry I was responding to "Ilhan Omar calls to execute president Trump".
People who seek help and don't abuse anyone are ok.
If I'm being absolutely fair, I can also see how, if a pedophile knows that they are caught being a pedophile that the death penalty is assured, then there is the chance that they will simply kill their victims because there is a chance that they will simply get life in prison instead of being executed for their crimes.
Maybe as an alternative, the person who commits pedophilia loses everything they own to their victim. Trump would no longer be a billionaire, he would be a poor schmuck that used to have a TV show that literal tens of millions of Americans despise to their very soul.
Pedophilia isn't a verb, though. My point was that there is a difference between someone attracted to children and a child rapist (even though it makes me feel gross to make the point). Being attracted to children doesn't mean you'll ever act on that attraction.
Without them harming children or consuming material whose production harmed children, punishing them is basically punishing thought crime. I think everyone who wants to get help so they never do it should be able to.
But I do agree that the death penalty could have the effect you described. I love your solution.
Would be nice if there was term that lumped in those who sexually abuse minors directly (regardless of the person's attractions) and those who consume CSAM that wasn't simultaneously the term to describe the sexual or romantic attraction to children. But any attempt at trying to separate the two frequently seems to be portrayed as somehow defending those who abuse children or some similar baseless accusation.
Still agree with the intended message of Ilhan (although perhaps execution is perhaps to forgiving to those involved with Epstein).
It's certainly difficult to have a mature conversation about the actual mental illness and people not wanting to feel how they feel, and people who physically abuse children and consume CSAM.
The former should not be lumped in with the latter. That's like me fantasizing about killing my boss, not actually committing homicide, and being lumped in with serial killers. One is thoughts and feelings, the other is actual action and acting on those feelings.
I have a crush on a married woman at my local market. I can feel how I feel as much as I want, knowing I can't (or rather shouldn't) act on those feelings.
Yeah. Both are disgusting, but they aren't the same thing. I don't know if I'm convinced the nuance is worth muddying the waters though.
I mean, if one person just has an attraction to children, and another abuses them, rapes them, and consumes CSAM... Those are two very different people. And the lumping of them together makes the former afraid of seeking help and admitting those feelings to anyone to try and get better, seek treatment/therapy, etc because then people like yourself characterized them automatically as the latter.
Oh you missunderstand what I mean. I don't see much value in making a strong distinction between someone who personally, sexually abused minors, and someone who consumed CSAM. Both sets of people are monsters regardless of their motivation.
Someone who is attracted to children but isn't consuming CSAM or otherwise harming anyone is just a person who needs help with their terrible affliction before they do hurt someone. That is a distinction worth making.
Execution is barbaric. Lock them up instead. Let's be better than the lowest common dominator.
I didn't realize how ambiguous my comment was, but I was thinking of the headline, not Omar's comment.
If we made it a new rule that if you commit pedophilia, you die, I don't think many people are gonna cry about that.
I would absolutely cry about it. Who are you trusting to enforce the death penalty? The same people who are 1) in government, and 2) accuse queer people of being groomers?
Even without arguing over whether the state would abuse/abuses the death penalty, there’s the fact that the punishment is irreversible, which in the event of a mistake means you execute an innocent person.
Yep. The only way to justify the death penalty in a system we know for a fact convicts people we later prove to be innocent is to be ok with executing some innocent people.
I’m very comfortable saying that even a single innocent person killed by the state is too high a cost to pay.
I wish that were true but aggregate polling like RealClearPolitics still puts Trump's approval above 40%.
Depends on who gets to make the ruling.
Subscribed to a [whatever]Moe community on Lemmy? Straight to the firing squad.
I wouldn't cry about pedophiles specifically, but I am against the death penalty in general.