LEV836 … it would be wrong to assume that Judaism's ancient criminal laws are always a perfect fit for today's society. Jewish laws on sexual offenses reflect the morality of the times in which they developed. Some sexual offenses in the Bible are punishable by death. [E.g., this verse]. By contrast, the trend today, even in those countries that retain the death penalty, is to not impose capital punishment for sexual offenses. Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008). Moreover Jewish law prohibits many sexual activities, including consensual acts with nonmarried partners, that today's secular laws may allow. The biblical laws on rape and sexual assault seem antiquated when they call upon women to resist their attackers, cry for help, and be amenable to "punishment" of the defendant by requiring him to marry the victim or pay a fine. (Deuteronomy 22:28-9) These ancient laws do not fit today's culture because they come from a time when women were often considered a type of property. So what do these laws teach about Judaism and the content of criminal justice? They teach us, first, that while Judaism offers some valuable lessons about the operation of a criminal justice system, it does not offer magic formulas for a peaceful and just society. The greatest value that Judaism offers for establishing a criminal justice system is not in the details of its individual prohibitions or exceptions. Rather, it is an ethics-based system that holds its laws out as representative of it ethical values. Within that system, the focus is as much on the needs of the victim as it is on society's need to punish the defendant. (By Laurie L. Levenson, "Judaism and CriminalJustice"