Does a rapist deserve a military burial?

[babylonsister]

Does a rapist deserve a military burial?

Honoring a convicted sex predator who killed himself behind bars sends a chilling message to victims.
By Anne K. Ream
January 23, 2008


Consider this, if you can bear to. Jenny Bush, a young Arizona woman just graduated from college, walks into her home at the end of a workday and encounters an armed serial rapist, James Allen Selby. Selby, who had entered through a first-floor window, uses duct tape to gag and bind her, and then rapes her at knifepoint before fleeing.

After freeing herself, Bush has the courage to report the crime to police -- and the conviction to pursue legal justice. Following a nationwide manhunt, Selby is apprehended and accused of attacking Bush (who, with three other victims, took the stand at his trial) and at least 10 others, including a 9-year-old girl. In October 2004, Selby is convicted on 27 counts, including armed robbery, rape, kidnapping and attempted murder (for slitting the throat of one of his victims). But hours before facing sentencing, he hangs himself in a Tucson jail.

For Selby's victims and their families, it may have been tempting to believe a certain accountability remained operative: His suicide put a fine point on how little he had left to live for in the wake of his conviction. But his death also granted this serial rapist a moral reprieve that the civilian legal system couldn't. Selby was a Persian Gulf War veteran and so, in accordance with Pentagon policy, was buried with full military honors at Ft. Sill National Cemetery in Oklahoma.

The military policy of allowing honors burials for veterans convicted of rape sends a chilling message to victims: Even the most heinous sexual violence does not trump prior military service. It is a position that is as ethically indefensible as it is inconsistent. In 1997, after Army veteran Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for his role in the Oklahoma City bombings, Congress barred veterans convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death or life in prison from being buried with full military honors. Veterans convicted of rape or any other violent crime, however, encounter no such restrictions.

"By honoring those that do not deserve it, we dishonor those who do," Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) said during 1997 hearings on the policy. McVeigh, he said, "was worthy of honor at one time, but he is no longer worthy of honor." Surely the same can be said of Selby.

Jenny Bush's father, Steve Bush, thinks so. Along with several victims' rights organizations, including my own, he has been lobbying to prevent those convicted of the most serious sex crimes from receiving military honors at burial. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), who represents Jenny Bush's district, will introduce "Jenny's Law" in the coming weeks, and Democrat Barbara Boxer of California plans to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

more...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ream23jan23,0,5669391.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

[derby378]

1. You know, I would think that our military would seek to maintain honor AFTER their discharge

And, undoubtedly, the majority of our men and women in uniform do. But for those who forsake their honor through rape, murder, espionage, etc., I think something akin to a "retroactive dishonorable discharge" should apply as far as burial honors are concerned except in clear cases of mental insanity.

[gratuitous]

2. Why not?

There are plenty of mass murderers in those graveyards. And centuries from now, when the archaeologists are sorting through the bones they find, I don't know if they'll be able to distinguish the rapists from the murderers from the so-called heroes.

[babylonsister]

3. I think this article is about the living people left behind who this guy

sullied in such a horrific way.

[Orsino]

4. Military funerals are practically outsourced.

More than a decade ago, I worked post CQ a few times, and part of the duty was taking phone requests for military honors for deceased vets. There's no background check, as far as I know.

Military participation varies, too, at funerals. A service can be completely military, presided over by a chaplain, or there may only be the rifle salute. Military can simply be pallbearers, too, I think. To my knowledge, though, the military doesn't ask about prior convictions. Once a body has been turned over to next of kin by a prison, there may be no way to find out.

We honored military service, and don't, as a rule, judge a member's actions in the civilian world.

[lame54]

5. Only if he's still alive

:sarcasm: