Posted on 07/20/2005 5:06:58 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
Reign in sex offenders
By: Rick Reiss - For the North County Times
Recent child abduction-murders have riveted national attention again on the problem of convicted sex offenders. In Florida, Jessica Lunsford was kidnapped, abused and buried alive by a repeat sex offender. An Idaho girl was recently freed from a serial sex offender. This pedophile now stands accused of kidnapping, sexual abuse and the murder of the girl's Idaho family.
Closer to home, outraged San Diegans protested the planned release of sex offender Douglas Badger to their community. The District Attorney's Office successfully prevented the release of Badger, for now. Badger's psychologist filed a favorable recommendation to the court but was compromised by a personal relationship with another convicted sex offender.
In Riverside County, residents in Mead Valley have been staging protests against a nearby halfway house that is home to an assortment of convicted sex offenders. Fuelling these protests was news that David Allyn Dokich resides at this home for deviants. Dokich was convicted of forceably assaulting two teenage girls yet spent only half of his 35-year sentence in prison.
It's frequently said that the government that responds best to the people is local government. There is much truth in this, as San Diego County and Riverside County officials responded quickly by challenging the release of criminal perverts to our communities. It is our government at the state level that has broken down.
It's apparent that many California state legislators simply prefer catch-and-release programs for rapists and pedophiles. A few months ago, state Senate Democrats buried Senate Bill 722 requiring lifetime monitoring of convicted sex offenders with Global Positioning Systems. This bill mirrors the recently enacted Florida law named after murdered Jessica Lunsford.
Other failed bills in the Legislature include SB 43 which would require posting offenders convicted of child pornography on the Megan's Law Web site and SB 277, which would prohibit paroled sex offenders from living within 1 1/2 miles of a park, playground or school.
These seem like pretty common sense measures. But not to recalcitrant Democrats who seem more interested in doing the bidding of the ACLU.
Many California legislators have to be dragged kicking and screaming by outraged parents and citizens to enact tougher laws against criminal sexual predators. After years of lobbying, Sacramento grudgingly approved a Megan's Law database on the Internet. Public outrage that 137 sex offenders received Viagra prescriptions through Medi-Cal quickly terminated that program.
What is missing from Sacramento is the vision and innovation to enact tough criminal statutes dealing with these predators. Instead of setting the tone for the rest of the nation, California now simply drags its feet and enacts weakened versions of sex offender laws pioneered elsewhere. Sacramento hug-a-thug politicians only endanger our society.
In the meantime, an abandoned prison sits out at Eagle Mountain. Why not relocate the Mead Valley halfway house to this site?
Like hitting two jailbirds with one stone, Mead Valley residents could sleep at night while Riverside County could assess utilizing this dormant prison for county inmates. It's a start.
Rick Reiss of Temecula is a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: RickReiss6@netscape.net.
Moral Absolutes Ping.
There has been so much news about sex crimes against children lately; some may say it's just that we are hearing about it more. In the not-so-long ago past, such criminals would have faced quick execution after the FIRST offense. In how many recent stories has the criminal been a repeater? More than a few.
If each sex offender (meaning rapist or child abuser, not an 18 year old guy who has a volunteer 15 year old girlfriend) is executed, much of this problem will be solved.
For those who say "But if the pervert scum know they'll be executed they'll kill their victims!" Wake up! They're already killing their victims.
Every civilization has had the death penalty for such horrible crimes that ruin countless lives. The so-called compassion that is shown to such criminals by either keeping them alive or worse yet, returning them to society, is false and misplaced compassion. And what is the road to hell paved with?
Misplaced compassion creates nothing but hell on earth. It does no one any good, in fact, does a great deal of harm. Real compassion is quick (not 15 years of appeals) execution. Compassion for the potential future victims and their families. Compassion for those who are already victims. Compassion for you and me, the taxpayers who have to pay for the whole deal, and compassion for the criminal, saving him from himself, and by facing execution, giving him a good chance to repent and beg forgiveness from God and those he has harmed.
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
And make it retroactive.
Absolutely not. The Constitution explicitly prohibits the passage of ex post facto laws. However good an idea it may seem to be (it's not; it would set a horrible precedent) neither the States nor the Congress have any authority to pass such a law.
A possible death sentence for rape may not be out of line, either.
There was something in the Constitution prohibiting the passing of laws restricting freedom of speech. That did not stop Congress, or a complacent SCOTUS.
There was something in the Constitution regarding the absolute right to keep and bear arms. That did not stop Congress from passing the Brady Bill.
What the hell is so wrong with the thought of keeping violent sex offenders (read: rapists and child molesters) behind bars forever?
What the hell is so wrong with the thought of keeping violent sex offenders (read: rapists and child molesters) behind bars forever?
Absolutely nothing. Were such a law to come before the Virginia General Assembly, I would urge my legislators to support it. Were I to serve as a juror on a case involving such a law, I would not hesitate apply the maximum penalty to a defendant I had found guilty. But I will not follow the liberals lead down the evil path of ignoring the law to suit my personal agenda.
So you don't think anything should be done about those sex offenders who happen to be sitting in jail right now as far as keeping them away from children is concerned?
That is what the State has the authority to do.
Then, like it or not, we must release them. If they attempt to offend again, and survive the experience, (your state does allow concealed carry, doesn't it? If not what are you to rectify that intolerable situation) we can prosecute and sentence them under the new law that allows us to sentence them to death by impalement on a meathook.
This is the course of action available to us under our Constitution which prohibits ex post facto laws and "cruel and unusual punishments". I happen to like our Constitution. I regularly berate my political opponents ('liberals') for ignoring it. I shan't join them.
Good luck, idiot.
Shoot, I'm too late. :(
I guess so, since it's obviously too much to ask them to find the correct spelling of "forcibly" in the article body...
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