I want to start of this article with a bit of a warning. Most of us either know a registered sex offender or a victim of one, so I am trying to approach this topic with a little discretion. If you choose to respond, please keep that in mind when posting.
The death of Chelsea King is the latest in a string of children being killed after assaulted by a registered sex offender. With each death, the wounds held by past victims and their families re-open, making them relive the experience all over again. The responses to these actions are usually that of a mob-mentality, with calls for stonings, hangings, or at a minimum life in prison. However, the first two are not acceptable in a civilized society, and the latter can be viewed as harsh by others.
Brent King, the father of Chelsea, has called for changes in the current laws. He stated on the Today Show, “Kids [need to be] kids and be safe … and predators should not be allowed within their reach.” I can’t think of anyone that would disagree with that statement. As we grow older, we often think back to the days of our innocence, were we would go out and play, with the only worry on our mind is if we’ll be discovered in a game of hide-and-seek. Children shouldn’t be forced to live with the emotional scars of an attack or live in fear of it happening again.
The Sexual Offender (Jacob Wetterling) Act of 1994, also known as Megan’s Law, was designed to help communities deal with registered sexual offenders living in their neighborhoods. Sex offenders have to register with the local community when they move into the area, and that information needs to be made available to the public. Many states and organizations have created websites that compiles this information, so residents can screen their neighborhoods to see if there are any sex offenders nearby.
This practice is handy, but it isn’t fool proof. How can you disclose where a sex offender lives when the person is homeless? In Michigan, State Senator Bill Hardiman thinks he has the answer. He introduced legislation this week that would require the homeless sex offenders to site what area they are living in. That way, the residents would at least know that there is an offender somewhere in the region, even though that can’t pin-point the address. But even still, sex offenders are not under house arrest, so even if they did live in a house, the person could be a threat elsewhere in the area.
One of the ways to keep the movements of sex offenders away from where children are is by limiting their access to housing around schools. But as noted above, sex offenders are allowed to walk around in public, placing them in proximity with children. State Senator Bruce Burns of Wyoming is all too aware of this. Sex offenders currently cannot live within 2000 feet of a school in Wyoming, but in a state where there are many small towns; there are sometimes no places for offenders to live. He has submitted legislation to reduce this radius to just 1000 feet, giving a wyoming sex offender more flexibility in finding a residence.
So how do you balance the rights of the sex offender with that of the general public? You can’t just build a commune and expect all sex offenders to be moved to these “reservations.” Nor can you place a proximity alarm on a sex offender so that it goes off if he is too close to a school, especially if the only grocery store is on the other side of that perimeter.
This is the challenge of the law enforcement and legislatures around the nation. What rights do sex offenders have, and when are we allowed to infringe on them? Any suggestions?
Another problem with
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Write all the laws you want. They will not prevent anyone from committing a crime, if they are determined to do so. In fact, the harsh laws encourage the killing of a victim, because dead people cannot testify. Unless there is some kind of evidence to direct investigators to the Perp. So, how do you tell who might be dangerous? While nothing is 100 percent in this world, we must concentrate on the most dangerous.
1. The VIOLENT offender.
2. The REPEAT offender.
3. The offender who DID NOT KNOW their victim.
If you notice. The vast majority of these most heinous sexual assaults, fall into 1 or all three categories. We are wasting all the resources on the low to no risk while the predators are hiding in the registry.
This is so simple and so to the point! When people say, “Well, we can't get rid of the register, what do you think we should do?” Answer, if we need a public register at all, and I truly don't think the public has proven that they can handle it, then the only ones on it should be those that fell into the categories above!
California has a HUGE amount of registered sex offenders. Punishing all of them for the acts of one individual does not make sense.
He and he alone should be punished. If found guilty, he and he alone should suffer the consequences of this murder.
That's suppose to be the American Justice system.
I too have pondered this very subject. Statistic seems to indicate that child sexual predators can not be rehabilitated and therefore the punishment for such offenses must take into consideration that statistical fact. However being a Christian I do know that any offended can be forgiven and regenerated by salvation through Jesus Christ and Him alone short of that conversion process I do not know what to expect from a repeat offender. Current laws apparently allow for the release from prison of child sex offenders after serving a sentence. Having to then register as a sex offender seems to me like a prolonged sentence and would infringe upon the rights of the individual. If the court decided that a certain prison sentence was just punishment for the accused then should we pile on to the sentence by requiring an additional sentence of restrictions to that persons personal freedom? If we do not want them to come in contact with CHILDREN ever then we need to keep them incarcerated or otherwise segregated from the community of children. In a free society in which we live we must be ever vigilant and aware of our surroundings. It would be almost impossible to remove EVERY danger to our precious children unless we also LOCK them away from society in large.
What then should we do concerning these violent predators. Perhaps we should consider harsher punishment upon conviction of child sexual predators especially if the assault results in death of the child. I would support an automatic death sentence for such offenses and jail time without possibility of parole. I could also support life in prison. Other than that I do not know what to do. We certainly live in a far different culture than when I was growing up. I remember as a child riding off on my bike and riding miles from home not even thinking about the possibility of being snatched or harmed in anyway. The loss of innocence of our children effects us all. There is only so much we can do to protect our children but I think we should do ALL that we can. And in doing all that we can perhaps we need to revisit the laws that govern sentencing of child sexual abusers. Electronic monitoring surely could be an avenue but if the statistics are correct and anything short of a total religious conversion experience it is impossible to rehabilitate a child sexual predator than the only SAFE route is to be sure they are NEVER free to re-offend.
maybe just maybe you should let them be judged by the second half of the equation,the ones that have to suffer because of what the one does.the ones who are living a law abidding life,and then have to suffer because of what some idiot does.
By allowing victims to judge perps would probably end up being more revenge and less justice. Perhaps there are some who would advocate just that. They would like to see victims exact revenge on the perps but that will open the door to chaos and not civil justice. If we all could RETALIATE against anyone who harms us that would not be civil order. We need to lobby for just and stiff laws regarding this highly emotional issue. If we do not like the sentencing guidelines or the length of sentences then we need to see that new laws are passed that would mete out proper justice. No matter what is done however, since we are a flawed people, there will never be a law written that will satisfy everyone in every situation. But we need to do our due diligence to enact the best possible laws in regard to this issue. Personally I am not sure what I would do if someone harmed my daughter or the daughter of anyone in my family. I do not think I would be seeking justice but making sure the perp would never be able to do the same thing to someone else ever again. But I really do not know what I would do until actually faced with that situation and I pray it never happens.