A man was recently sentenced to 400 years in prison for molesting a 6 year old girl. Now, while I think that sexual predators should be punished, I am concerned that such harsh sentences will lead to more violent crimes.

After all, if a sexual predator knows that he or she could get up to 400 years in prison if caught, he or she might opt to kill the child afterwards just to be safe. If the child is not found, then the predator is free to kill again. And, if the body is found, the predator would only get 30-40 years for murder instead of 400.

Punish the sexual predators but don’t make the punishment so harsh that they are forced to kill just to be safe.