In your opinion, do you feel people who commit sex crimes against children should ever be released from prison once convicted?
No. Neither should rapists, armed robbers, corporate grand-larcenists, or mobsters. So what are we gonna do?
No. I think it has long been established that every true paedophile, short of castration, never loses the urge to molest. So after a jail sentence is finished, you are basically setting free a person who is almost assuredly going to try and molest again. I would guess there are a few who are so put off by the prison stay that they vow not to go back, but the desire will always be there.
I do think there is a big difference, and laws should also distinguish, between molesters of toddlers and a 19 year-old guy having sex with his 17 year old gf.
What’s your definition of child? Sex offenders run the gamut from some guy caught taking a piss on the side of the road to serial rapists and killers.
Possibly.
Lock them up, throw away the key and then throw away the prison cell.
My 5 year old daughter was molested by the 14 year old son of our neighbor (he was my son’s best friend). He had been asking to see her underwear for a long time and finally worked his way up to getting her to expose herself. He then touched her.
She started screaming and crying. He told his mother that he had scared her and that was why she was upset. He then told my daughter she couldn’t tell anyone because he would get in trouble just like he had last year.
You see, it turns out that last year he had touched a 10 year old girl and we didn’t know about it. Because the parents couldn’t be sure if it was just mutual exploration or something else, he was grounded for a month. And we never knew.
When our daughter told us what happened my wife went to the neighbor and confronted “Tommy”. He admitted to it. DCFS was called and so were the cops. He admitted to them that he touched her, but claims that it was to the side and not actually on the lips. Because of that, they are charging him with Indecent Touching instead of Criminal Sexual Assault.
The detective we worked with was a bitter hard man. He said, “Once a pedophile, always a pedophile. It’s better if he had never been born.”
The parents are still sending him to the public school, which means he is supposed to ride on the same bus as my daughter. We told the cops, state’s attorney and the school superintendent that it was wrong but they said they have no recourse because he has only been charged with a crime, not convicted. After sentencing, they can do something. Meantime, my wife drives her to school.
We can’t file a restraining order to keep him away until after the trial. He is supposed to be under constant parental supervision but we see him riding his bike around the neighborhood. Meantime, my daughter hides when she sees him outside.
The other day I was mowing the lawn and saw him walking along the bike path behind my house. I glared at him but just bit my lip and turned away. He went home and told his parents that I had yelled at him, “What the fuck are you doing out here! Get the fuck away from here!” His parents called the cops.
The cops questioned me and I told them that I didn’t say anything. To back me up, I told them to talk to two sets of heighbors who had been in their backyards at the time. The neighbors told the cops they hadn’t heard anything. The cops then went to the kids parents and told them the kid was lying and, even if I had yelled at him, there was no crime there.
After dealing with the bullshit of trying to get this awful situation sorted out (we have a court date at the end of this month), I think I should have gone with my first instinct and killed the little fucker.
Oh man, do I feel for you erie. Not much else to say. Take the moral high ground on this one though and hopefully let the courts make the right decision. Vigilantism, although instantly rewarding, is much worse in the long run.
I know but it would make me feel so good. When we found out, naturally we talked with our friends who live in the neighborhood. When I told one friend, he just paused, lowered his voice and said, “You know, I’ve got shovels and Quick-rete in the garage. The river is pretty close.” I wanted to hug the man.
Legally, we are not allowed to just go around telling everyone what he did. However, if we tell some friends and they happen to pass the word along….
Also, we had to tell our babysitter and her mother just in case our daughter mentioned it. The babysitter was devastated. She is also in the same grade as “Tommy”, so she started spreading the word. So far, he’s been basically frozen out at school, but hasn’t come home with a black eye, broken nose and split lip yet like I was hoping.
What I can’t understand is the reaction of some people. When we told my brother-in-law, what happened and that the cops and DCFS were involved. He exploded at us. Why the fuck did you call DCFS?! That’s African-American (not his real word) bullshit! You’re going to ruin that kid’s life!”
We told him that, first of all, the mother had called DCFS originally, not us. And second, if we had not reported it, we could be liable for child endangerment and not reporting a crime. Finally we said, “This is our daughter that this happened to. Keep this in mind if, God forbid, it happens to either of your daughters when they get older. So fuck you.” We hung up and haven’t talked to the asshole since.
I called my sister, who is a family law attorney, for advice. She said that she wasn’t sure but would talk to a friend who was a district attorney. My sister didn’t call me back for 3 weeks.
I’m just outraged that there is more concern for the criminal than the victim. The little shit admitted to what he did to us, his parents, DCFS and the cops. I say we take him out to a red ant hill, stake him down and cover him with honey.
erie774, that really is a terrible story, and I’m sorry you are having to endure it. The boy’s parents should be monitoring him much better, and your daughter should not be forced to ride the bus with him, certainly.
But I do not think that is is reasonable or humane to just “lock them up” forever. I do not have a clear, cut and drien answer for what should be done; it just depends far too much on the criminal, the actual crime, and so many other variables. And in some cases, I suppose lifetime imprisonment might be warrented, but not in all. Probably not even in most.
Child = Under 18 years of age in the U.S.
erie774, I remember your thread about that-how is your daughter doing?
The recidivism rate for sexual offenders is pretty high :
And think about this: all convicted sexual offenders have to register upon parole. However, only adults are listed in the online registries and the ones that your local police department shows you. A juvenile offender has to register but his name is not listed where anyone can see it. The only people who will know are the police department and his school officials. You might be living next door to one right now and there is no way you will ever know.
Personally, I don’t want them out in the population again. Boo hoo. Unfair treatment. Insensitive to their civil rights. They deserve a chance to get on with their lives after a horrible mistake. Who cares! Can they restore my daughter’s innocence? Can they remove our family’s pain? Send them to Siberia. Use them for medical experiments you wouldn’t test on a rat. Strap them to the front of a tank. Just keep them the hell away from me and my family.
She’s OK, I guess. Thank you so much for asking. She hid the other day when a man who looked like “Tommy” went jogging by. She also is fixated on her vagina a lot. Saying things like, “Riding over the railroad tracks made my vagina tickle,” or, “These underwear itch my vagina.” No 6 year old (she has turned 6 since it happened) should be saying that word that much. She always knew the word but never used it.
I want to cry every time she mentions some good time she had with “Tommy” because she pauses and says something like, “…but we’ll never do that again.”
[QUOTE=miss elizabeth]
erie774, that really is a terrible story, and I’m sorry you are having to endure it. The boy’s parents should be monitoring him much better, and your daughter should not be forced to ride the bus with him, certainly.
I personally do not understand why Erie hasn’t put her home for sale and moved to a new neighborhood. I know that would be my first action so my child could avoid seeing him when she goes out to play. 
What about corporate thieves who steal billions from people who could otherwise afford life saving operations or medicine? Should we feed them to the rats too?
Many people are unforgettably traumatized by muggings, especially violent ones. Should we lock them up, too, with no parole?
What about rapists who are lucky enough to prey upon people of the “right” age? Should we be bleeding-heart liberals and let them go after only 7 years for this benevolence?
And don’t forget about the drug dealers. We need to keep them in jail for hard time, too. Priorities you know.
Come to think of it, it would be a workable plan, to hold everyone guilty of a serious crime for a lot longer if we’d just stop our War on Drugs.
And I’d support that, if we at the same time support a better investigational system to those that are put in jail for life are truly guilty of what they are charged with.
Cause people that are actually guilty of nearly any felony deserve life in prison or worse. Its just logistics and cost, and incomplete knowledge that give me pause.
I’d move to another neighborhood too, to avoid running into the guy personally. I’d be afraid of what I’d do.
She also is fixated on her vagina a lot. Saying things like, “Riding over the railroad tracks made my vagina tickle,” or, “These underwear itch my vagina.” No 6 year old (she has turned 6 since it happened) should be saying that word that much. She always knew the word but never used it.
My daughter is the same age and I’ve noticed the same thing lately. “Mom, my bathsuit is bothering my vagina.” “Mom, I cant get out of the bath until I wash my vagina”
I really think it is the age and the fascination with a word not commonly used in conversation. (I know my child has never been molested)
erie774, I really do feel for you. I have a young daughter and son, and I cannot imagine your pain. I do disagree with you, and rather strongly, but out of respect for your current position I do not want to argue with you. You seem very emotional about this subject, which I certainly understand, but it makes me feel terrible to say anything about it to you.
I hope your daughter, and your whole family, come through this with strength and dignity. Good luck.
That is sad, Erie, and you handled it well. I’m not sure what I would do if it happened to my daughter, and it scares me to think what I might do.
It’s probably true that “once a pedophile, always a pedophile,” but does a pedophile have to be a molester? I’d have to think that impulses can be controled to where a person won’t harm children. I guess I don’t buy the idea that some guys just can’t help themselves.
I’m a liberal, but… I’d be fine with life in prison for theft/fraud over a $100M or so, for anyone who uses or threatens to use a gun in a crime, and for pre-meditated murder.