Louisiana man sentenced to 50 years in prison, physical castration for raping teen ( www.cbsnews.com )

A Louisiana man has been sentenced to decades in prison and physical castration after pleading guilty to raping a teenager, according to a news release from the region's district attorney. 

Glenn Sullivan Sr., 54, pled guilty to four counts of second-degree rape on April 17. Authorities began investigating Sullivan in July 2022, when a young woman told the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office that Sullivan had assaulted her multiple times when she was 14. The assaults resulted in pregnancy, and a DNA test confirmed that Sullivan was the father of the child, the district attorney's office said. Sullivan had also groomed the victim and threatened her and her family to prevent her from coming forward.

…

A 2008 Louisiana law says that men convicted of certain rape offenses may be sentenced to chemical castration. They can also elect to be physically castrated. Perrilloux said that Sullivan's plea requires he be physically castrated. The process will be carried out by the state's Department of Corrections, according to the law, but cannot be conducted more than a week before a person's prison sentence ends. This means Sullivan wouldn't be castrated until a week before the end of his 50-year sentence — when he would be more than 100 years old.

StrawberryPigtails ,

I’m a little confused. First the punishment actually seems to fit the crime. Second I didn’t think castration was legal in the US. With everything else going on right now, what the actual fuck!

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

First the punishment actually seems to fit the crime.

So should we go back to chopping off the hands of thieves?

masterofn001 ,

And be very careful about looking at a woman with lust in your eye.

MagicShel ,

You know, I always used to say they ought to do this. But now, presented with the reality of it, I don't like it at all.

DragonTypeWyvern ,

I mean, when the state of Louisiana agrees, it's only reasonable to wonder if you're being the baddy.

teamevil ,

If I've learned anything after coming back to the south south (for some dumb reason) if you find yourself agreeing with the state you're definitely the baddy, with ☠️ and all.

EatATaco ,

They made my residential road a 25mph speed limit, and I'm really happy about it. I just learned that i'm a baddy. :(

Rakonat ,

This falls squarely under no cruel and unusual punishment for me. Heinous as the crime was this is just inhuman.

wide_eyed_stupid ,
@wide_eyed_stupid@lemmy.world avatar

This is because we can be of two minds about these things. You can have a personal response to heinous acts, but still think the government ought to be better.

If some guy murders the murderer of their kid, I can absolutely 100% understand why, and I could even admit that I might do the same in their position. But I still think that as a society we should not lower ourselves to this standard and I will always be against the death penalty (especially because the system will never be perfect and I will never think it's worth killing even one innocent person by accident).

It's why vigilante justice is so easily understood, but it's still something we, as a society, shouldn't accept.

Emotional reactions can cloud our minds to these things. But I absolutely agree with you. This is horrendous and barbarous. I can still somewhat understand the "he deserves it for what he did"-response, but I'm absolutely against this on a deeper level.

EatATaco ,

I don't think it's about having "Two minds" about it, for as you describe it doesn't seem to fit the op, as he admitted that he wanted the state to do it.

Imo, this is about abstraction vs reality. In theory something might sound good, but when you are actually faced with the reality of it, it's a huge turnoff.

I'm reminded of the reddit story where a guy got into scat porn. It became a fetish so he hired a prostitute to shit in his mouth. On the day of the deed, once the shit hit his mouth, as he described it, he was "just a guy on the floor with shit in his mouth."

The shit is just hitting the OPs mouth right now.

BestBouclettes ,

Any punishment with no possibility of back pedaling should never be given. The chances of permanently harming a potentially innocent person are far too great.

InternetUser2012 ,

He got her pregnant... His DNA. Not possible to be innocent. He plead guilty. He shouldn't hit a prison cell, he should go directly to the chair.

MagicShel ,

Most likely this particular guy will never live to see it done. So the particulars of this case are moot.

I changed my mind about execution some 25 years ago, and while there there have been many people executed since then that I won't defend or feel bad about dying, I still don't think it's right for the state to execute prisoners.

Same thing here. What this guy did was horrible. I wouldn't even disagree that he deserves castration. But I still feel it's not right to actually do it to anyone. It's a dichotomy I'm confronting right now. There is what the guy deserves and then there's a separate consideration of what justice I think is appropriate to mete out. And I thought those were one in the same, but it turns out they aren't.

foggy ,

That sounds like cruel and unusual, no?

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

It sounds like there's a good chance the castration would never happen at all, since it has to be done 2 weeks before the prison sentence ends.

foggy ,

Not to antagonize you, but like, rhetorically, is that not still cruel and unusual?

I mean, nothing about this sounds constitutional to me. Hate to be the "stick up for a piece of shit" guy, but...

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

It is definitely unusual, but I don't think it would actually be cruel unless the dude lives long enough that it actually is carried out. If the sentence isn't carried out, is simply being given it cruel? 🤔

The judge is compelled by the law to have that as part of the sentence, but the stipulations of that same law have provided a loophole whereby the judge condemns the person to a lengthy prison sentence that would give a greater chance of having the castration part never happen. If that was the judge's intent all along, it's kind of brilliant malicious compliance.

The law itself that makes that a legit sentence is pretty fucked up, though.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

So you're saying anything goes in sentencing as long as the judge is pretty sure the prisoner won't live long enough for it to happen?

HelixDab2 ,

I'll take, "Laws that violate the 8th Amendment" for $100, Alex.

DancingBear ,

What does physical or chemical castration even mean? And why is this a punishment when he is 100 years old?

Also, under current law there, no abortions are allowed unless life of mother is at risk, so they will castrate the rapist but force the mother to give birth?

What the actual fuck

Phanatik ,

Well, it's because he's an old fuck already so his heinous crimes result in him spending the rest of his worthless life in prison. If he's lucky, he'll die before he reaches 100.

DancingBear ,

I disagree with the idea behind that punishment…. But I hear you

Alto ,
@Alto@kbin.social avatar

Child rapists really test my principles regarding the death penalty and such, not going to lie.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

But that's the whole point of a fair justice system. It doesn't respond to people's personal feelings or emotional arguments. It is based on concepts like cruel punishments should not be meted out regardless of the circumstances.

Should the justice system be about vengeance? I don't think it should. I don't think an atrocious crime deserves an atrocious governmental response.

capt_wolf ,
@capt_wolf@lemmy.world avatar

Chemical castration is the lowering of hormones medically. Physical castration would by physical removal of the testes.

Welcome back to the dark ages. See you at next week's drawing and quartering. It's right after the hangings! Hopefully we get some real kickers!

conquer4 ,

Lowering hormones medically? Sounds like something Trans, and that's illegal in the south.

Neato ,
@Neato@ttrpg.network avatar

Barbaric and inhumane. Cruel and unusual.

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

You mean the rape of a teenager, right?

Neato ,
@Neato@ttrpg.network avatar

We don't mutilate and torture convicts. Rather, we aren't supposed to but Louisiana is a shit hole.

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Well, he won’t actually be castrated. So, why care?

Mac ,

why do you care so much about torturing criminals?

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

I don’t. It’s never going to happen. Why do you care so much about a rapist who won’t ever be castrated getting a castration sentence in 50 years from now. Why is this even news?

Catoblepas ,

God help me if my brain ever gets this cooked.

BestBouclettes ,

Because he most likely won't be the last one to be given such a sentence. And some of them will probably undergo the castration. Which is cruel, pointless and not reversible.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Are you saying that it is acceptable to sentence people to things that would normally be considered cruel as long as the judge doesn't think they'll live long enough for it to happen?

EdibleFriend ,
@EdibleFriend@lemmy.world avatar

and also just....weirdly fucking pointless. They are waiting till he is 100 to castrate him?

Deceptichum ,
@Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works avatar

Why add the physical castration part to plea if it doesn’t take effect until he’s 100, seems so pointless.

The American legal system is so barbarically fucked up.

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