State Sen. Bill Diamond’s attempt to reinstate the death penalty in Maine is an idea rooted in good intentions, but one that overreaches well-established precedent.

In the bill, which is still being drafted, the Windham Democrat calls for the death penalty for child sexual predators when the abuse results in the murder of a child. While we applaud his attempt to increase penalties for abusers, Maine last abolished the death penalty in 1887, and despite several attempts to revive it, capital punishment should stay abolished, even for heinous crimes. Instead, life sentences are the answer.

There are many arguments for and against the death penalty. Diamond, who has served on the criminal justice and public safety subcommittee of the Legislature, as secretary of state and in the Senate and House of Representatives, must know them well. He is a well-known moderate Democrat who is able to work across the aisle, especially on issues relating to crime. In his 2004-2012 stint in the Senate, Diamond successfully took up several causes, including pushing for a ban on texting and driving, as well as increasing penalties for drivers operating after suspension.

Since becoming aware of a backlog of cases several years ago in the computer crimes unit of the state police, which probes online child sexual exploitation, Diamond has been influential in adding staff to the department. Unfortunately, business has still been booming for the unit, and arrests are made almost weekly. We all know well the stories of clergy, teachers, police officers, members of the media and countless others, who have been convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor. The recent abuse case of the former Maine State Police chief, who received seven years, is particularly disturbing and proves this scourge is widespread.

In his drive to make Mainers aware of the problem, Diamond authored “The Evil and the Innocent” in 2012. Now at the beginning of his latest term as state senator, Diamond is once again trying to shine a light on the ever-growing issue. By these efforts, he’s done more than any other politician to raise awareness. But while we agree with Diamond that more needs to be done to stop child sexual exploitation, we don’t agree with the death penalty, even in such serious matters, since it snuffs out human life and doesn’t allow for repentance on a spiritual level or rehabilitation on a secular one. Also, as history has proved, the threat of death doesn’t fulfill its promise as a deterrent to crime. And the possibility of innocent people being put to death by the government is an affront to every democratic principle of our rights to life and liberty.

While we’d be surprised to see Diamond’s bill made law – since it would overturn more than 125 years of precedent – his crusade, and the media’s coverage of it, isn’t in vain. Diamond is telling offenders that their online viewing of child pornography has real-world consequences. As his book pointed out, some online voyeurs don’t realize their habit helps fuel the industry. Secondly, the more people are made aware of the evils of child exploitation, the more they’re going to report it when they see the signs of it.

More broadly, Diamond has been instrumental in letting Mainers know child exploitation is happening here. As Diamond said in a 2012 interview with Current Publishing, “The biggest thing is awareness. The general public has to know exactly what’s going on. They have to know to what degree it’s been going on and they have to know that if we don’t build that awareness of what’s happening to the kids, then nothing’s going to change.”

According to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, there were 239 cases of sexual abuse of children aged 17 and under in 2013. Since many children are hesitant to report on a family member or family friend, the rates are probably much higher, officials say. Clearly, there is a problem and anyone willing to say Maine needs to get stronger on this type of crime should be applauded.

While we find the death penalty abhorrent and ineffective, we can also understand Diamond’s frustration. He’s particularly frustrated with state judges historically doling out lesser sentences as compared with their federal counterparts. The former state police chief’s receiving four years for repeated abuse proves that point.

So while Maine already imposes a life sentence for those convicted of murder of any kind, which is at the core of Diamond’s bill, we hope Maine judges get tougher on sentencing all child sex abusers. And, like Diamond, we also urge the Legislature to adequately fund the computer crimes unit to bring offenders to justice.

–John Balentine, managing editor