OK, so here's a guy who just got sentenced to three years in prison for having sex with a horse. This is South Carolina, USA.
So what issues come up here? Well, of course there are the animal's rights.Presumably the animal didn't give consent. But on the other hand, it's actually legal to kill a horse--or any other animal--without its consent. And eating animals is legal too. So why the focus on having sex with an animal? Presumably because of what it says about the person who would do that.
So is having sex with an animal worth three years in prison? If you read the article, you'll see that the perpetrator is a 50-year-old black man with a history of mental illness--do we think that it's a coincidence that no one else has been charged with having sex with an animal in several years? So is there an issue of unequal enforcement of the law? Is there the possibility of racial discrimination, age discrimination, sex discrimination, discrimination on the basis of mental health? According to Kinsey, it's actually pretty common for people to have sex with animals, so why don't we read about this kind of thing more often?
And even if the law were enforced equally, is it possible that a sentence of three years is a cruel and unusual punishment?
From reading the article, it seems as though Vereen (the man who had sex with the horse) is a zoophile. A zoophile is one who practices the act of having sex with animals (known as zoophilia or bestiality).
ReplyDeleteHowever, this was not the first time that this has happened. Vereen was previously caught having sex with this same exact horse and was put on probation. He was also required to register as a sex offender. Now, he is facing three years in prison.
I know that Vereen is mentally unstable, but in the article his brother mentioned that he was forced to seek treatment after the previous offense, and was put on medicine. The brother said that Vereen was better on the medicine, but he was unsure if he was still taking it.
However, zoophilia IS a felony in South Carolina. This is why I, personally, think that Vereen deserves his punishment of three years in prison. On the website with the article there is a poll that asks readers, "Do you think Vereen should have been punished more severly?" where presently 44% have answered yes, 41% no, and 15% maybe. I answered no because I think that three years is a suitable sentence for a second offense. Also, one must consider that Vereen is mentally unstable, which may or may not play a crucial role in all of this. There are a few different situations that are possible (i.e. Vereen stopped taking his medication on his own and is back to his unstable state or he is still taking the medicine, but it is not having any positive effects on him), but since the article does not mention what the case is, one is unsure what to think or how to go about accusing Vereen.
I also agree with Professor Tobin. Presumably, the horse did not give consent to have sex with Vereen. But other horses (and all the other animals out there) do not give consent to be killed either. Technically, how could they? What gives a human more right to kill an animal than to have sex with it? This is an argument that may never be solved.
If sex with animals happens so often, then why is it that this BLACK male who is MENTALLY CHALLENGED is one of the few occurrences that so happens to be published online and most likely in newspapers? Why is he one of the only ones to be charged for committing this offense? Obviously, this article, nor the newspapers or any of the media, will ever admit to even their suspicion of this man's race and/or mental state contributing to his conviction. One can only assume that discriminiation plays a role in this case.
While I was researching zoophilia, I came across this article: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1583009,00.html ... This article talks about "Zoo," a documentary about zoophiles, focusing specifically on a real-life man referred to as "Mr. Hands." This documentaty raised great controversy, and even "...the Seattle actor who plays Mr. Hands, John Paulsen, who is a priest, admitted that after hearing he had gotten the role, he wasn't quite sure he wanted it." (Time)
So, should zoophilia be outlawed in all 50 states of the US instead of just some? Should it be legal? Are the laws that are currently enforced, enforced equally? Only you can decide.