Sexual Predators

[Faucet]

Nowadays, many times I open up the News channel to hear about a sexual predator who did ...... to ..... and is getting a couple years or sometimes even probation. This is just disgusting as they metally scarred people usually young kids who will have their life changed forever while they will be released soon possibly commiting the same act again. This has happened before with Joseph Duncan. He is supposedly to have raped more than 13 boys. When he was sentenced to 25 years in prison he was instead sent to a place to help sexual predators turn around. HOwever it didn't work and he again sexually assaulted people and was recommited. In my opinion people like that should have a minimum of 25 years in prison. If they recommit they should be tossed in jail for life.

[Kokotai]

I am also one who wishes for tougher laws in this area. Sexual pred. are no doubt sick indiviguals however it is not the type of sick that you can cure. I think a guy or a woman should get one chance. They blow it, that is it.

[vicki2]

Since jail time doesn't seem to work most of the time, I think we should consider castration for repeat offenders. There's nothing worth than a paedophile which is followed closely by repeat sexual offenders. Get' em where it hurts rather than put them back out on the street still able to do what they like to do.

[chameleon]

Chemical castration is an option that's been tried - with some limited success in dulling the urges. The problem is that when it doesn't work - when the 'urges' are linked to anger or a need for domination, for instance - you have a predator who uses other objects to do what his body no longer can... with disastrous effects.

I don't believe that the debt to society on a crime like this can ever be paid. It's not a matter of punishment but of protection. If we accept that it's an illness, a compulsion that can't be controlled, then it's incumbent on us as a society to protect the future victims by removing the predators - with no return. Period.

[vicki2]

I'm not talking about chemical castration, I'm talking about real castration.
I suspect even that isn't 100% dependable and there would be loads of human rights issues attached to it too.

In most states, you can go to websites where there are pictures of all known sex offenders listed. Out of curiosity once, I visited the Connecticut one and found two in my tiny little village. I knew one of them and had no idea. I was glad I looked!

[chameleon]

Oh, I did understand what you meant - but my point still stands. There are worse ways to rape than with the equipment God gave a man - and deprived of it, those worse ways will be - and often are - used. Locking them up on a little island in the middle of nowhere may not serve our revenge fantasies very well... but it WILL keep our kids safe.

[Whirling Dervish]

In most states, you can go to websites where there are pictures of all known sex offenders listed. Out of curiosity once, I visited the Connecticut one and found two in my tiny little village. I knew one of them and had no idea. I was glad I looked!
The only problem with this is that a lot of people are called sexual predators who are not. I rememebr reading about one man who married a 15 year old girl, then was thrown in jail for having sex with her. Now he has all sorts of trouble because he's on one of those websites. The happy couple has two kids now, I believe.

I'll see if I can link us up to the article. It's about a month old.

[vervilledeb1]

I have been reading through this thread and now I want to do some research. Rape is a violent act produced from anger. Obviously the way it's being handled now is not working. All we have to do is get the stats on repeat offenders out there. Which I just may do now that I'm wondering. But, as mentioned there are mistakes made in the listings of some of the offenders and I can just imagine what that must do to someones life.

As I think it was Chameleon points out with the castration method you are not curing the problem. You are just taking away one of the tools used to commit the crime. If you have a sex offender and they can't rape would that make the anger worse? Would it lead to such rage that this person would commit murder?

[vicki2]

My point on castration is that the methods we are currently using don't seem to have much effect on preventing sex crimes. Not that castration would an ultimate preventative but I see nothing wrong with it for convicted repeat offenders. The key word is 'repeat'.

That said, of course, it would be best if rehabilitation were possible, but it doesn't seem to be and I just want to see these people as locked up and inoperable as possible.

[LightHeart]

My point on castration is that the methods we are currently using don't seem to have much effect on preventing sex crimes. Not that castration would an ultimate preventative but I see nothing wrong with it for convicted repeat offenders. The key word is 'repeat'.

That said, of course, it would be best if rehabilitation were possible, but it doesn't seem to be and I just want to see these people as locked up and inoperable as possible.
You are right Vicki, the key word is repeat, and these people should never have been given the opportunity to repeat, I believe it is a proven fact that the majority of these people never change, I understand our prisons are overcrowded, in fact U.S. incarceration rate is the highest in the world, with more than one million people imprisoned, I also understand that it costs $25,000 per year to house a prisoner. Is that the reason we let so many of these offenders out?

Rapist, molesters and murderers should never be given a second chance, and why waste the money to house them, once found guilty give them the chair. I know this sounds harsh, but we are paying for the Scott Petersons, and the Charles Mansons and all these others that don't stand a snowball chance of ever getting out, why not do to them what should have been done in the first place.

[vicki2]

I totally agree and it's one reason I'm not against the death penalty. There's a public 'discussion' going on here in the U.K. regarding prision sentences and how life in prision doesn't even mean that anymore. Sometimes, it's ten years! Why even call it 'life' if it isn't ...is the point of the debate.

[chameleon]

The traditional stats and wisdom is that child molestors are nearly impossible to rehabilitate. Many honestly see nothing wrong with what they do - it's the rest of us who don't understand. And many... are tortured by it every day of their lives. A boy I grew up with was routinely molested by his father as a child - and made a part of victimizing his sisters as he was growing up. From the time he was 18 till he was 23, he repeatedly admitted himself to hospitals and psych centers begging them to help him overcome his urges, to castrate him, to do whatever it took so that he'd never act on them again. At 23, he took his own life because he felt it was the only way that he could ever be sure he wouldn't hurt other children the way that he was hurt.

As far as mistakes and false accusations and the like - my younger brother had to register as a sex offender for 15 years. His crime? He was 19 years old, working two jobs, one on the tail end of the other. His wife was driving him from one job to the next and he was changing his clothing in the car. The woman in the car that pulled up beside them at the light gave him a shocked, disgusted look, and being a bit of a dork, he mooned her. She called the police, handed in their license plate number, and he was arrested and charged with indecent exposure. The public defender he was assigned told him it was easiest to just plead guilty and pay the fine. So yeah... there are certainly cases that are ridiculous... but you know, despite the fact that it has affected his whole life, my brother supports the law that makes sex offenders register - he says it keeps his children safe.

[wilma50]

The traditional stats and wisdom is that child molestors are nearly impossible to rehabilitate. Many honestly see nothing wrong with what they do - it's the rest of us who don't understand. And many... are tortured by it every day of their lives. A boy I grew up with was routinely molested by his father as a child - and made a part of victimizing his sisters as he was growing up. From the time he was 18 till he was 23, he repeatedly admitted himself to hospitals and psych centers begging them to help him overcome his urges, to castrate him, to do whatever it took so that he'd never act on them again. At 23, he took his own life because he felt it was the only way that he could ever be sure he wouldn't hurt other children the way that he was hurt.

As far as mistakes and false accusations and the like - my younger brother had to register as a sex offender for 15 years. His crime? He was 19 years old, working two jobs, one on the tail end of the other. His wife was driving him from one job to the next and he was changing his clothing in the car. The woman in the car that pulled up beside them at the light gave him a shocked, disgusted look, and being a bit of a dork, he mooned her. She called the police, handed in their license plate number, and he was arrested and charged with indecent exposure. The public defender he was assigned told him it was easiest to just plead guilty and pay the fine. So yeah... there are certainly cases that are ridiculous... but you know, despite the fact that it has affected his whole life, my brother supports the law that makes sex offenders register - he says it keeps his children safe.
Hello chameleon.
Powerful post. Powerful and reather heartbreaking ... for the fellow with whom you grew up.
As to your brother, well, he's got a great sense of humour - unfortunately for him though, that odd woman did not!
I believe that your brother has the right attitude.
I believe in the sex offender registrary, as it does protect children. Children are our greatest resource.
Just my opinion.
wilma

[Jessica]

I totally agree and it's one reason I'm not against the death penalty. There's a public 'discussion' going on here in the U.K. regarding prision sentences and how life in prision doesn't even mean that anymore. Sometimes, it's ten years! Why even call it 'life' if it isn't ...is the point of the debate.
Yes that has always stumped me.
Its the only reason Im not against the death penalty. Some situations call for it and this is one - as long as the person is 100% without a doubt guilty.

[Whirling Dervish]

I also agree that the death penalty is applicable in some cases and I'm not totally against it. But I also believe that until we have more foolproof ways of determining guilt and innocence, the only morally right thing is to use DP when there is a confession and/or another explanation (like a state-sponsored lynching) doesn't follow logically.

So much DNA evidence has exonerated people who spent years behind bars that no one can convince me that our current methods of criminal justice are good enough, efficient enough, or even "just." Sometimes a family of a victim is pleased when someone is convicted of a crime and years later we find out the "criminal" is innocent. It makes me think the system has become one of placation instead of one of true justice.

[jaescafe]

I totally agree that we need some kind of extreme measures to keep these people off the streets and away from our children. I don't care what we do to them we just need to figure out something that works and DO IT. Get a solution and stick to it so our children (and everyone) are safe and secure.

[Kokotai]

The problem is that sexual assault is not about sex, it is about power. If a man is casterated he will find something else to use because his gradification comes formt he act of holding the power against a person not the act of penetration. Also casteration leaves out female sexual pred.

[Whirling Dervish]

"Defense attorney Dan Lewan has portrayed the detectives as overzealous and unconcerned about Couey's constitutional rights. When his client asked for an attorney, Lewan argued, the detectives spoke over him in a confusing interlude before simply dropping the issue.


Lewan also asked the discovery of Jessica's body be inadmissible in court because Couey told authorities where to find her."


I'm confused here. Couey told authorities where to find Jessica's body so that makes it inadmissable? We're just supposed to go find all our evidence on our own or it will be uselss? Then why even question the criminals at all?


Lordy!!!!:eek:

[vicki2]

The Couey incident makes me really question our justice system these days.
Perhaps, the solution isn't all within the punishment ...but in a hard look at where our justice system has gotten itself. In the case of Couey, it shouldn't be as complicated as it has been made. He's guilty. He's admitted it. Case closed.

To adhere to constitutional rights is one thing but to try to find loop holes for the admittedly guilty wastes the time and effort of the whole justice system.
Okay, so Couey probably has a court appointed lawyer who is trying to make certain he does the best for his client, but ....

[Kokotai]

I agree. I think it is incredible that a man or a woman can "admit" to what they have done and still come out getting off. I think that if you admit that you did it, barring anyone forcing you or being mentally unable to take responsiblity, that should be it. I am one for rights and all but once you have admitted doing something the buck stops there.

[Whirling Dervish]

I agree. I think it is incredible that a man or a woman can "admit" to what they have done and still come out getting off. I think that if you admit that you did it, barring anyone forcing you or being mentally unable to take responsiblity, that should be it. I am one for rights and all but once you have admitted doing something the buck stops there.

Amen, Sister! Another thing that surprises me is how many of them do get out and attempt to live normal lives in society and never get knocked off by the victims' family members. If someone would have hurt me as a child, my father would have...well, never mind. He used to get graphic about it.