Child Rapists Deserve the Death Penalty

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on January 30, 2026

A child rapist deserves the death penalty.

An Editorial Opinion

I have been aggressively fighting for sexually abused children in child molestation, child rape, child pornography, and incest cases since the early 1980s. This has been heartbreaking work.

Over the past four decades, significant progress has been made in this fight.  However, with the arrival of Trumpism in 2017, elite child molesters, child rapists, and child pornographers found a powerful friend, ally, and pedophile protector in the White House.

In 2025, this pedophile protector turned the FBI and federal prosecutors against more than 1,000 acknowledged child sex trafficking survivors in the Jeffrey Epstein case, alone. He also pardoned known child sex offenders who were among those who were rioting at the National Capitol on January 6, 2021. He called the Epstein case a "hoax" and demanded that people stop talking about it.

Today, the fight against pedophilia requires new approaches and tools to combat the evils of child molestation, child rape, and child pornography.  Imposition of the death sentence in child rape cases is one of these approaches.

Existing Criminal Justice Systems are Inadequate in the Age of Trumpism

As a former Special Assistant Attorney General for the state of Alabama and a longtime criminal defense attorney, I have witnessed deteriorating conditions in federal and state criminal justice systems that are sickening and intentional.

First, victims of sex crimes are often disrespected and ignored. This is particularly true for child sex victims.

Second, many federal and state prosecutors are weak, timid, and/or political sycophants. This condition allows rich and famous culprits to escape criminal justice.

Third, the number of corrupt judges and politic hacks on federal and state judicial benches is surging. This condition erodes the character and quality of of the public criminal justice systems.

Fourth, presidential pardons for rich and politically connected pedophiles, adult rapists, child rapists, murderers, police attackers, wife-beaters, Wall Street fraudsters, crytpcorrency swindlers, and narco-terrorists are “for sale” under Donald Trump’s presidency and everybody in Washington knows it. 

Today, there are presidentially protected classes of violent criminals, including police officers who murder civilians, foreign intelligence officers who murder Americans like Charlie Kirk and Jeffrey Epstein on U.S. soil, and hundreds of elite Epstein pedophiles who molested, raped, brutalized, and photographed children in hardcore sex acts. 

This state of being was unthinkable prior to Donald Trump assuming his second term as president in January 2025. 

The Administration of Private Justice

Given the profoundly negative changes in the nature, character, and quality of the federal and state criminal justice systems in 2025, I believe the administration of private justice may be appropriate in those circumstances where the federal and state public systems of justice are corrupted beyond repair.

Private justice would prevent a complete failure of justice in a child rape case where the rape is confirmed and the rapist is identified with certainty. Practitioners of private justice have explained it to me this way:

No corrupt prosecutor, or compromised judge, or pedophile protecting U.S. president would be able to throw the child rapist a safety line. The rapist's fame, riches, and/or political connections would not save him from criminal justice.

The administration of private justice would be meted out to the rapist in a thoughtful, efficient, and effective manner.

No politically-rigged court of appeals or “pay-to-play” supreme court would be able to sidetrack the administration of private justice.

The condemned rapist's transition to the afterlife would be a memorable one for him.  He would be awake and observant during the transition process.

Like public executions, the rapist would be immobilized but not anesthetized during the transition process.  

The administration of private justice guarantees that the rapist will never hurt another child again.

Private justice may, or may not, bring peace to the child rape victim’s family. Yet, it is arguably better for society than a complete failure of justice. 

In my view, if an adult rapist kills a child’s innocence by raping him/her, this person is not fit to live!