Under the innocent-looking heading “Sunday wrap-up”, countenance wrote:
Aw, hell no. What next? Are they going to say that dead people won’t be allowed to vote?
How many unsuspecting people innocently clicked on that link? I clicked on it and now I’m psychologically scarred forever… oh wait, I was rather “eccentric” even before that; never mind. Anyway, here’s an excerpt:
Prohibiting sex with a dead body corrects an obvious omission in the law, Beiser said.
If the measure passes, sex with a corpse would be a Class 2 felony, with punishment ranging from probation to seven years in prison. Unauthorized removal of a corpse would be a Class 4 felony, with a penalty ranging from probation to three years.
As a libertarian, I must ask myself, “Where is the victim when it comes to necrophilia?” By and large, the comments contain some good points. For example:
captain hero said: Will this outlaw sex with dead animals? Phone/Web Cam sex with the dead? What if a person has a signed, notarized consent form permitting their partner to have sex with them post-mortem?
jimharris said: Spending time on legislation to stop sex with the dead…(and you wonder why the state is going bankrupt..).
Dick-Butcher said: They didn’t take this far enough because they made one-felony-fit-all for the offense. They should divide this into more categories such as hate-necrophila where the prosecutor alleges the sex is a hate crime because the corpse was of a different race or religion than the accused, or child-necrophilia if the corpse is under age 18, or patriot act-necrophilia where the accused is Muslim or cyberstalking-necrophiia if the act is recorded and placed on the internet. After all, you can never have too many laws on the books.
All good points. The ancient Jewish sages once said “A person’s will is his honor”. In other words, what is considered dishonorable for you may be perfectly honorable for somebody else; it depends on the opinion of the person in question. As for me, if somebody decides to have sex with my body after I’m dead, I really don’t care. As a matter of fact, I might consent when I’m still alive. Consider what happens to your body after death: It rots in the ground, maggots and worms eat away at it, the skin peals away, the organs shrivel… well, you get the idea – and you’re going to worry about somebody messing around with it for a few minutes? What about the embalming process? Most Orthodox Jews do not have their loved ones embalmed; they consider it dishonorable. I’m pretty sure some Muslims feel the same way. It all depends on your priorities and sensitivities. There is no “one size fits all” and if I am able to posthumously donate my organs, then I certainly have the right to grant legal immunity to anybody who has sex with my corpse. If the State prosecutes anyway, then it is dishonoring me.
What if somebody used the body of one of my loved ones after her death? Honestly, I would not want to know about it. As long as I don’t know, no harm has been done. As far as I’m concerned, the idiot who walks up to me and tells me is the real criminal. This would be one of the rare cases where it really might be justified to “kill the messenger”. Some things are best left unknown.
Does “society” as a whole suffer as a result of lewd acts upon the dead? This might be the case where such acts are common and known. But if only the perpetrator knows about it, then it is difficult to see what harm has been done. If I were to stumble upon somebody engaging in such an act, then I would ask myself which course of action would be best for the family. Typically, the answer would be: Don’t say a word about it. If the survivors found out, it would only cause them untold, and needless, anguish. Aren’t they suffering enough already? I would also consider how much money would be wasted, by the government, in prosecuting the perpetrator. Many thousands of dollars of tax-payer money would go down the drain. I might consider hitting him over the head with his own shovel, but his embarrassment at having been caught might be punishment enough.
What about diseases? I might be wrong, but it seems to me there would be health-risks involved with necrophilia. Bizarre diseases, and bugs, might be passed on to the perpetrator’s living sex partners. This is true – but it is also true that other sexual practices, and extramarital affairs, put spouses and girlfriends at risk. Should they all be made felonies? We need only look at certain Islamic nations to get an idea of what sort of society we would live in if such a mentality were taken to its logical conclusion. I, for one, would not want to live in such a society; I’d rather endure the occasional perverted oddball than give the government those extra powers. This is one of the prices we pay for freedom. Some people will take their freedom and do strange, even disgusting, things.