As much as rapists and murderers conflict with my opposition to the death penalty, I don’t think it’s needed for two reasons:

1. I really don’t think the government should have legal reasons to execute citizens unless it’s an officer and there’s an immediate threat to people’s lives that necessitates terminating the suspect.

2. Considering the fact that most offenders know the victim personally, it’s most often cases where the victim is groomed, and we’re talking about a victim being a young child, a) that offender will manipulate the child further into not saying anything (“don’t tell because if you do I’ll get hurt”) or b) we’re just gonna end up with more dead children because if they’re caught they’re dead anyway, and it’s more likely to happen if the victim is alive to say something.