Jim Bob Duggar, the patriarch in the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, ran for the U.S. Senate in the state of Arkansas. One of his talking points was that any instance of rape and/or incest should be met with the death penalty, reported The Huffington Post.
“If a woman is raped, the rapist should be executed instead of the innocent unborn baby,” said Duggar in 2002. “Rape and incest represent heinous crimes and as such should be treated as capital crimes.”
The election came in May 2002 and Duggar lost. However, months before, a female minor told Duggar that his son Josh had molested her while she was sleeping. Josh was 14-years-old, and he admitted his wrongdoing that July.
In Touch Weekly broke the story that Duggar, whose platform ran on the idea that all rapists and incestuous individuals should be put to death, found out that his son was molesting female relatives. More accusations surfaced that Josh Duggar had touched their “breasts and genitals.”
Despite the inflammatory accusations, Duggar did not file a police report nor did he punish Josh on his own terms. Instead, Duggar took his son to Arkansas State Trooper Jim Hutchens for a “very stern talk.” Hutchens is now serving 56 years in prison for possession of child pornography.
An anonymous person contacted The Oprah Winfrey Show about the accusations. The police launched an investigation, but they never pressed charges because the statute of limitations had expired.
The conservative fundamentalist camp is nothing but hypocrites. They yell and beat their chests about extreme punishments for extreme crimes. But whenever someone close to them commits said crimes, they say God forgives and so should we.
