Re: Ping: Ethan Edwards

That seems very unlikely. People make driving mistakes, very few people intend to hurt children, and penalties do not influence that sort of behavior very much.

But the same penalties may sway a pedophile away from engaging in sex with a child? lolwut?

The difference is between no penalty at all for sexual activity with a kid if there is a reasonable doubt about consent (an implication of the pro-contact ideal) and some substantial penalty now. And I took your case of child driving accidental homicide to be a different penalty length but already pretty long.

When the penalty goes from 0 to 1 year in prison, huge deterrent. If it goes from 2 years to 10 years, not much deterrent.

I don't know as you specified the penalty for hitting a kid currently, but I thought it was severe enough to deter. If it's really more like a parking ticket, then I would say I made a mistake, but that wasn't my impression.