Released
 

This is actually a re-post from elsewhere, but I wanted it to get more airplay, so to speak.

A few days ago, I got some news ... good or bad or indifferent, I'm not sure yet, although I'm leaning towards indifferent.

Someone I know recently got out of jail. I would occasionally check the State Department of Corrections Inmate Locator to see if he was still in the Big House. It was pretty easy to keep track of where he was, including the name of the State Correctional Institution he was placed in.

Interestingly, I can still keep track of where he is.

He's a registered sex offender on the Megan's Law Database.

That's where the "indifferent" part comes in.

I already know a lot of people on the database, but that's primarily because of work. They are not really people I know, you know?

I found out about his release because another mutual friend caught a piece of a news story about his home being vandalized. I have not seen the story. For some reason, it hasn't been posted to the station's website, and no other news services picked up the story, not as yet, anyway.

Sylvester Stallone being at the link got immediate coverage. This story, much like his conviction, has already faded into the background. We suspected that family money somehow kept the stories about the trial and conviction out of the media. It must have been family money that kept the house all these years..

He was an acquaintance, not a friend. My circle of friends knew that there was something about how he referred to the "Rent-a-Kids," children of his neighbors whom he spent a lot of time watching, taking to amusement parks, and other things that families are too busy to do these days. He was that strange, kindly, child-like bachellor who went out of his way to have an incredible Halloween display including a computer photo album rotating pictures of the kids in their costumes from last year. The parents dug the pics, while the kids got to explore the interior of the haunted house, and, apparently, other things that are scarier than Halloween ghosts and goblins.

We all knew what was going on, and even went so far as to warn someone not to leave her son unattended with him. She didn't take us seriously. She probably "got" it around the time her son had to testify at the trial as the lead witness for the prosecution.

The guy worked for a very major corporation in the area that had an active school outreach program. Guess who's picture was in the Annual Report (for the year of his arrest, incidentally) showing off his rapport with a cluster of young boys? Guess which year of the Annual Report has now disappeared from the corporate library?

An informal poll of his coworkers yielded many "I expected this sooner or later," but only one "I just hope it's not true."

I know he can't really change. There is no "rehabilitation" for sexual predators. I expect that his parole includes the usual requirements, no contact with kids, no hanging around parks and playgrounds, and probably no computer access. Whether or not that one sticks will be the interesting piece ... does the state have the right to restrict you from your means of livelihood? I don't remember whether he was a hardware or software guy. He was certainly geeky enough for either.

I'm really not sure how I feel about this guy being back in the community.

I especially don't know how I'll react if he shows up at some event I go to.

I suspect that pedophiles are incapable of changing. Their sexual affinity is for children and that seems to be hard wired into them. Maybe because they themselves were molested as children. Its beyond me.

I can see how awkward you would feel should you chance to come across this person's path. Personally, I would just nod politely and keep going without looking back.

I don't think I'd nod politely. I'd probably cut him cold actually. He has a right to live his life, but I wouldn't be feeling happy about it or about having to associate on any level with a person like that.

If he were closer within my circle of friends and acquaintances, I'd have to give this a lot more consideration ... I consider what he was convicted for reprehensible. I know how I react to a variety of types of sexual offenders that I have to deal with in work. Professional detachment has it's uses, but isn't always applicable in a personal context.

NYS is looking at permanent incarceration for these guys. If there is no "cure" what choice is there? Is it possible to track them 24-7-365?

.

I saw on the news, one of the boys he raped was walking by the guys house and looked up to see the guy standing in the window, after his release. The kid freaked and the kid's mother said he tried to commit suicide later that day.

The County Justice Department says they screwed up, and the guy should have never been allowed back in the neighborhood where he committed these crimes.

Torches and pitchforks time. :mad:

OK, and then the backhoe.

Chop them up - put 'em in a 55 gallon drum, then fill with concrete and drop it 200 miles offshore from a lobster boat - thats how we, I mean they, do it in the Northeast.

Who? no officer - I haven't seen him.

Go to a local factory that uses caustic to clean their lines... there are always giant vats of it around, nothing left but a grease-slick, anything that may be, the pumps take care of... so I've heard.

*waits patiently for the morally superior among us to defend this misunderstood man's heartbreaking plight*



wonder how long it'll take?

Oh, I feel that once his time is up, he has a right to live his life.

I'm not morally superior, but I do feel uncomfortable with an eye for an eye. I don't generally join in discussions about how to handle paedophiles because if there was an easy answer I think we would already be aware of it.

I don't think this man is misunderstood, or that his case is heartbreaking, but I don't think he deserves to be murdered. His desires lead him to actions which damage other people - this is the case with many criminals. The danger with vigilantism in my mind is the potential for people to believe they are above the law.

Perhaps I would feel differently if I had children.

I didn't think you did 'patience'.

Oh, my bad! it was the CO poisoning! It does that to me sometimes, ha ha!

*any mistakes I make are due to CO poisoning--otherwise, I'd be prefect! OH, ha ha! I did it again! oops!

ah, there we are!

*Smiles* such a pity you never actually did suffer CO poisoning; some of your posts would improve I'm sure.

Holy shit, Brianna. That was taken way out of context.

• Not completely quoted.
• Original quote was presented theoretically.
• From another thread -- where the discussion concerned GWB.

If you're going to fight. Fight fair.

Ah--why should I?

Dana taught me all about taking texts out of context. She's pretty evil.

If society deems that his crimes are deserving of x number of years of incarceration, then he should be free to live his life after serving that time. However, I think the primary role of the justice system should be to protect society from criminals. With the extremely high rate of recidivism for this type of crime, I would not support letting him back into society. It's too great a risk.

I don't approve of the death penalty, so I wouldn't support killing him. That leaves some sort of segregation from the rest of us. Prison seems kind of harsh, because he's already served his time. I wish there were still penal colonies. Send these fuckers to one of those to live free on a big island.

A fair solution would let him live his life in peace after serving his time, and also protect society. Too bad you can't have both here.

Aheh.....I am evil.

I think that's very well stated.

You don't have to tell me!

Are you obsessed with me, Dana? You keep following me around.

You are starting to sound a little paranoid.

Would you accept this tripe from one of your kids? "Bobby did it first!"

Unless you actually have them chained to someone, merely tracking them won't keep them from re-offending.

Prison with a longer walk to the fence line.

As disgusted as I am, I wouldn't kill him. But letting molesters out is a very big mistake.

Putting molesters in community-based group homes is also a mistake. Although they risk going back to jail if they get caught doing something that violates their probation, this rarely happens. As a bonus they get to be involved in group and individual therapy in which they discuss the details of their offenses, again and again. For the participants whose turn it is to listen to the speaker, this is better than a 900 number, because the state's paying for it. I honestly don't get how staff at these places continue to stay there. Turnover is pretty high. Some of the duties can be interesting ... room checks looking for Walmart and KMart advertising flyers, for example.

That's an interesting way of looking at their therapy sessions. Certainly made me think.

Most "treatment professionals" don't get that this is really what's going on. It's also known as "refining one's technique."

*nods*

I can easily see how that could make 'treating' them a bit of a tightrope.

Question: does chemical or physical castration prevent the desire to re-offend? Is this a possibility (for those who agree to it as a term of their release)?

No... rape is about power, not sex.
But, I am not in favor of any kind of life-sentence for a sexual offense, either.

Yeah, I think it must be like sending an 18 year old to 30 days in jail for some minor offense. He gets to hang out with people who were chemists and dealers and repeat shop lifters and there's nothing to do but talk. The kid comes out knowing exactly how to set up his own meth lab, the best way to boost things from Wal-mart, and where to get the best drug deals. Not exactly what the courts had in mind when they sentenced him for driving without a licence.

The chemical castration thing is probably as good a solution as any for repeat sexual offenders. I was aquainted with a man who got sentenced to a year of therapy for a first offense of exposing himself to a 4 year old girl. It was a plea bargain, of course. God knows what he REALLY did. He told me that he picked up pretty quickly on what the therapists wanted him to say and parroted the right words back at them so he could get off probation. I fear for any child he's around, but since he only has the one conviction and got such a glowing report from the therapy outfit, he's not even on the list of Colorado sexual offenders. It makes me mad.

I don't think chemical or physical castration reduces the _desire_ to offend, although it may hamper the _ability_ - Not from what I've read (and I'll have to dig for the supporting information on it)

IMHO, anyone who steals a child's innocence shouldn't see the light of day again. I wouldn't say they should be put to death, but instead left to be 'dealt with' by the general prison population - who has very little tolerance for those who hurt children.

How much research is ongoing into this disorder? Is it being mostly ignored? For example, were the benefits of castration really studied? How much addresses brain activity unique to such individuals? Or is it mostly based on what was done a decade previously - subjective experience?

I'm sure there are studies ... I haven't read them. I live in the world of practical experience. I do suspect, though, that more research is directed toward victims rather than perpetrators. A quick search at PUBMED database yields 6,116 articles for "child sexual abuse" and 161 for "child molester." "Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrator" kicks it up to 204. I could redo that with better search terms, but that's still a pretty huge disparity.

Some of the literature gets a little goofy, such as the infamous study from an APA Journal that stated that Child Molestation is not harmful ... or not as harmful as 'previously believed.'

Chemical castration is only as effective as medication compliance. Sexual behavior tends to exist beyond the production of the sexual hormones, so even in the case of removal of the testes, the desire remains. The strongest sexual organ, after all, is the brain. The physical act is the completion of a chain of complex behavior originating as a thought. There are means other than penile penetration to accomplish a child molester's goal.

Even the half-a-Chinese guy from the IOTD the other day could molest a child, for example.

The most controversial paper on the Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse caused quite a firestorm in and about the American Psychological Association, and made NAMBLA very happy, as one of the conclusions of the meta-analysis by Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman was that Adult/Adolescent sex between males was not harmful. It also recommend that the term Child Sexual Abuse should not be used in "willing encounters" but should be referred to as "adult-child sex."

An analysis of their analysis

And, of course, there's a Wiki

I did read the Rind article when it was published because this was during my brief tenure as an APA member because I needed the cheap malpractice insurance coverage for my practicum.

Given the fact that paedophilia occurs in all human societies I think we really should be paying more attention to the 'why' instead of just concentrating on the effect. Maybe if we had a greater understanding of what actually causes this aberrant behaviour/drive then we would be able to do more about preventing it.

People don't want to know why. They just want to punish someone for something.

Then again, it's also very important to try and find ways of helping the vicitms of such crimes back to some normality in their lives.

This is very much a social issue to me rather than a justice issue, although it's very obviously a justice issue too. Maybe that's the problem.

Too much hand wringing and not enough doing.

Exactly! Ladies and Gentlemen, START YOUR BACKHOES!

Seriously, it isn't about revenge, that is useless. It is about being sure the person doesn't do it again.

As R.L. Burnside said "I didn't mean to kill the son of a bitch, I just meant to shoot him in the head. Him dyin' was between him and the good lord."

There's a lot I'll tolerate, but folks messing with underage booty isn't one of those things.

Fabulous response to all questions. Much of what was posted is either completely new to me or contradicts popularly held conclusions. I did not realize this controversy even existed. Considering credibility of the authors (Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman), I am now completely confused as to what is and it not considered legitimate therapy. IOW it sounds like this subject previously has been handled more as an obvious conclusion rather than with scientific integrity. It confirms what DanaC posted: In short and with too little information to do anything more than speculate, it appears that child molestation has been mostly ignored by researchers. Therefore even some of the therapies may be the equivalent to blood letting.

Another part that has lately caused me curiousity: how widespread is CSA if something like 8% of priests may be guilty? Just wondering if the APA has been ignoring this or if this topic is somehow considered too hazardous for researchers. Just the now well proven history from the Catholic Church - literally subpeonaed by DA Lynn Abraham of Philadelphia - demonstrates the problem is maybe both more common that known and yet ignored until recently.

Let me state, upfront, so Brianna doesn't think I'm a perv, that pedophilia is abhorrent, this guy is dispicable, and I don't want him or his kind around my, or anyone else's, kids. I also don't want people like this subjected to continued punishment and/or violence from the community at large.

So what happens with them? They can't be "cured". Ok, I'll accept that at face value. That means they cannot be allowed access to children. Ever. Capital punishment? My feeling on capital punishment is that it is appropriate for repeat offenders - anybody can make a mistake. Giving someone the opportunity to repeat this type of offense, though, is unacceptable. Life in confinement? Seems extreme, given that these people are not harmful to adults.

I'm for the "penal colony" solution. Allow them to have their own community, which they can never leave. They can have an economy all their own - maybe they'd make the perfect telemarketers.

Reformed and cured are not the same thing.
It's like a mob-scene in here, why don't you guys get torches and pitchforks.
And I was molested as well as my wife...

perhaps.

But probably not.

I have children.

One thing children teach you is that punishment and the fear of it are often not terribly effective in reducing unacceptable behaviour. Prevention is generally your best bet. Obviously, death is a good way of preventing people from reoffending, but if it were an effective deterrent, death row would be empty. We need to find a way to use convicted criminals in a prevention program.

Graphic, gory, public torture and execution? :D

Apparently NYS is not going to address the problem. Sheldon Silver is going to get creamed in the press when the next freed child abuser repeats.