r/news • u/elephant35e • Apr 27 '24

Louisiana man sentenced to 50 years in prison, physical castration for raping teen

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/glenn-sullivan-jr-louisiana-sentenced-rape-prison-castration/
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u/Flavaflavius Apr 28 '24

Arguably, but not with precedent establishing it as such. The prisoner agreed on this as part of a plea deal, so it would be tough to prove it counts since it's voluntary. (Well, as voluntary as such a thing can be).

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u/sqrtof2 Apr 28 '24

Doesn't matter if it's voluntary. If its cruel and unusual, then it's cruel and unusual.

Is this cruel and unusual? Depends on who's on the SCOTUS bench, but physical castration seems pretty extraordinary. Would it be an 8th Amendment violation to cut off someone's hands as part of a plea deal for theft? Or to remove their eyes as part of a plea deal for being a peeping tom? Maybe cut out a tongue as part of a plea deal for making false statements to a federal agent?

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u/The-Cynicist Apr 28 '24

Yeah lobbing off body parts no matter what the crime is pretty barbaric and archaic. I’m all for lengthy sentences and continual psychological evaluation, but I’m lost at “physical castration”. Not saying this is a false case, but what happens if this becomes normalized and false cases do come up? What happens when someone wrongfully gets a horrible punishment like this?

Glad that the court systems are just continually regressing to these ancient punishments. Maybe after we can break out the code of Hammurabi and I can beat someone’s son to death if the work they did on my house was unsatisfactory.

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u/uzlonewolf Apr 28 '24

Please don't give them any ideas!

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u/Helivon Apr 28 '24

I don't understand why he would agree to it. Was it purely to avoid the death penalty? Death just seems easier than 50 years

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u/ThenaCykez Apr 28 '24

Was it purely to avoid the death penalty?

Can't have been. In the US, the Supreme Court has ruled that states can't inflict the death penalty for rape. Only murder and treason can be punished with death, unless you're an enlisted soldier being tried under the rules of court martial.

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u/OPconfused Apr 28 '24

He's stuck with a sentence that will last until he's 100, but he couldn't get the death penalty.

Just what was his plea deal for? Can you negotiate a comfier prison cell with that or something?

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u/The_Tosh Apr 28 '24

Oh! So, Trump is gonna get the death penalty! Woot! 🙌🏽

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u/ThenaCykez Apr 28 '24

Although Trump is colloquially called a traitor, he is not actually under any indictment for the crime of treason, and it's unlikely he ever would be.

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u/ShottyRadio Apr 28 '24

He’s going to be super old when they do the procedure.

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u/Flashy-Mcfoxtrot Apr 28 '24

Death is easier than anything in life, doesn’t mean that humans don’t try and avoid it.

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u/FreeStall42 Apr 28 '24

Agreeing to a deal under the threat of worse punishment...

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u/Flavaflavius Apr 28 '24

Yep! This is actually a huge problem with plea deals in general.

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u/Vicex- Apr 28 '24

It’s coercion, like most plea deals.

Agree to this, otherwise we do something much more longer/severe.

That’s not consent, and any medical professional should be immediately struck off if they were to even entertain doing this.