Monday, October 5, 2009

Man Charged With Raping and Beating His 8-Day-Old Daughter

Reginald Davis, 18, of Arkansas was arrested for allegedly raping and beating his 8-day-old baby daughter. The video below shows the account of the story.

This story, while certainly shocking, opens the door to a few questions:
1) Should laws against child sex offenders be strengthened? Whoopi Goldberg took heat for her defense of Hollywood director Roman Polanski after he was arrested for allegedly raping and drugging a 13-year-old girl in 1978. Does this say that our nation doesn't take crimes against children seriously? Does the child's age make a difference? If so, in what way? Should we see Polanski and Davis in the same light?

2) Obviously Davis is either mentally ill or on drugs (no normal human being would commit such a heinous crime). Should this be taken in to account in his sentencing? If so, in what way?

3) Should child sex offenders be allowed to have children? If so, then how do we protect the children from their parents?

I am not here to provide answers to these questions, for I am not sure what the answers are. I invite readers to chime in with their reactions. The video of the Davis incident is below.



Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University, a leading black speaker and author of the forthcoming book 'Black American Money.' To have Dr Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.

No comments: