This four part article argues that the source of this movement in the United States and around the globe is a revival of Victorian notions that someone is better off dead than raped. Section I examines the history of the death penalty’s application in rape cases with emphasis on Western legal systems. Section II discusses the rhetoric underlying the legislative and judicial moves toward reviving the death penalty for rape. Section III analyzes the policy and legal effects caused by the new statutes and the language supporting them. Section IV offers some conclusions and a few observations about the direction rape law is taking under these new statutory regimes.