Today's sign that the apocalypse is upon us

[bigfella]

A sex offender avoids jail because he's short:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/26/judge.flap.ap/index.html

This just makes me nauseous.

[teribl sob stry]

i'm totally gonna go sex offendin now, that guy's only 1/2" shorter than me!

[REMgirl]

I saw that story on the news. The judge needs to have his head surgically removed from his ass. If anything, that pedophile needs to be IN with other larger male inmates. Maybe he would experience a little of the fear his small vicitims must have felt when he was molesting them. :mad:

[djudge79]

christ. i just got a job at the lincoln regional center, the spot where this guy'll be headed if the attorney general's appeals work. i'll have the distinct pleasaure of evaluating this guy if he shows up in july or later.

[monkey neck]

In jail, he'd be hearing "while you're down there..." alot.

[epeolatry]

I saw that story on the news. The judge needs to have his head surgically removed from his ass. If anything, that pedophile needs to be IN with other larger male inmates. Maybe he would experience a little of the fear his small vicitims must have felt when he was molesting them. :mad:

i totally concur.

[Shlep]

Randy Newmans' eerily prophetic lyrics come home to me as truth now. ;)

[teribl sob stry]

oh yeah, all joking aside that is a totally rediculous sentencing. as far as i hear child molesters are in big trouble in jail. he would probably be ripped limb from limb in there and i think that constitues "cruel and unusual punishment". but i don't know what the alternative is. definitely not probation.

[synthetic]

I didn't know jail was like a rollercoaster ride and you had to be this tall to get in

[Slar]

as far as i hear child molesters are in big trouble in jail. he would probably be ripped limb from limb in thereAgreed, and the judge probably had this in mind.

I recommend castration.

[Homsar]

He's a CHILD MOLESTER! What, he's supposed to feel safe after what he's done?? This is RETARDED and BULL SHIT.

[Duemellon]

I don't understand why everyone wants jails to be a dangerous rape-happy shiv-filled torturous experience. Vindictiveness is a sign of some other mental incapacity for forethought.

If you really want every criminal ever convicted to go through a moment of Hell to let you feel they've paid some pennance to society, do you do society a favor & self-flagelate yourself when you cheat on your taxes or screen your calls?

Are you really that angry that these people did something against the law? or are you really just looking for someone to beat the fuck out of to feel better about who you are because you haven't "sinned" & been caught? Really? in this day & age of internet communications, even if you don't have some illegal software, you probably have some illegal music, & even if you don't have that you probably have some media given to you by someone else that is outside of the fair-use rules of the RIAA.

Sure, dance around the corpses of those who did "wrong" like feral adolescent boys trapped on a island hunting pigs if it makes you feel a since of justice, but one day, when you end up on the other end, remember how you loathed the evil-doers.

Now... more specifically...
Yah, he should've gone to jail. That's stupid.

[Slar]

Dear Duemellon,

Child molestation is not the same as downloading music.

Slar

P.S. The prison system has a lot of problems. I do not agree with how prison systems are run. Fact is, a lot of violent criminals consider themselves "family men" and have children themselves. That is why child molesters are given such a hard time. This guy would have probably been eaten alive.

[atomikdarling]

Dear Duemellon,

Child molestation is not the same as downloading music.

Slar


Agreed.

And Duemellon, that "sense of justice" some people get when the perpetrator of a particularly vile crime reaps what he sows is a fairly normal human response.

Not that I think prison should be shiv-party 2000 or anything, but when it happens to human scum, don't expect me to shed a tear.

[Duemellon]

Dear Duemellon,

Child molestation is not the same as downloading music.

Slar

P.S. The prison system has a lot of problems. I do not agree with how prison systems are run. Fact is, a lot of violent criminals consider themselves "family men" and have children themselves. That is why child molesters are given such a hard time. This guy would have probably been eaten alive.Agreed.

And Duemellon, that "sense of justice" some people get when the perpetrator of a particularly vile crime reaps what he sows is a fairly normal human response.

Not that I think prison should be shiv-party 2000 or anything, but when it happens to human scum, don't expect me to shed a tear.When you get into prison, whether it was for the slow-slaughter of a family of nuns, eating their guts & selling their genitals on eBay, or your delinquency for your 14th unpaid traffic ticket, you just might get raped, beaten, have nipples tatooed on your shoulderblades, or otherwise grossly mistreated by the "gray" areas of jail justice.

Should all the criminals be put into a posh cell with cable & an education system? or should they be put in something that resembles a fantasy-chamber of Vlad Tepes III?

I just find the venom towards criminals here to seem totally exaggerated or possibly just displaced anger from other areas. The horrible things people cheer to happen to criminals make me shudder & wonder about your own humanity.

[markalot]

When you get into prison, whether it was for the slow-slaughter of a family of nuns, eating their guts & selling their genitals on eBay, or your delinquency for your 14th unpaid traffic ticket, you just might get raped, beaten, have nipples tatooed on your shoulderblades, or otherwise grossly mistreated by the "gray" areas of jail justice.

Should all the criminals be put into a posh cell with cable & an education system? or should they be put in something that resembles a fantasy-chamber of Vlad Tepes III?

I just find the venom towards criminals here to seem totally exaggerated or possibly just displaced anger from other areas. The horrible things people cheer to happen to criminals make me shudder & wonder about your own humanity.

I have to say that I agree and disagree at the same time. It's sad to give up on people, but when I do give up I want them dead. At some point every criminal was a child with a potentially bright future that went horribly wrong.

But I've given up on them, right or wrong.

[REMgirl]

I think that what's so frustrating for everyone is what to do with pedophiles. I have searched over and over for some sort of hopeful prognosis for treating them, something that says once they've been caught and punished that they won't ever abuse another child. The numbers aren't there.

Lately on Dateline they've shown pedophiles being caught in the act of travelling some long distance to meet up with potential victims. Some of these guys are teachers, rabbis, youth group supervisors. Some of them show up knowing it's a sting, but they take a chance anyway. One guy showed up TWICE to the same sting. He could not help himself.

Until health professionals can come up with significant ways of treating these men, they have to be taken out of public life and kept in the criminal system. Especially those with records of previous violation.

[Breeze]

Not that I think prison should be shiv-party 2000

And won't shivvy be disappointed...

[back2vinyl]

I just want to go on record as thinking it would be a good thing if we had a prison system where people could do their time without getting raped or stabbed without joining a gang and/or becoming someones bitch.

[Duemellon]

I think that what's so frustrating for everyone is what to do with pedophiles. I have searched over and over for some sort of hopeful prognosis for treating them, something that says once they've been caught and punished that they won't ever abuse another child. The numbers aren't there.There are some ppl who place pedophilia in the realm of being a genetic propensity.

a) If that's true, so fucking what? We do a lot of things against our instinct.

Where, in our genetic code, do we learn to drive? Why do soldiers stand up & run into the firing line instead of hide behind something & run like our instinct tells us? Why do we give someone a piece of paper & molded pieces of metal in exchange for food that's just laying around asking to be eaten?

If someone says that they're a pedophile b/c they were "born that way", it's on them to learn a new behavior, not give into their primal urges.

b) but... it's not true

Most of it's about power, reliving the past, or just genuine inability to care for another person's life (those are the types of people who become hitmen v. a psychopath).

They just don't get support or reason to change
It's such a horrible thing to be that there will never be a support group like AA formed b/c every week someone would come in & blow them all up. There really hasn't been too much media attention on rehabbing them. It's like everyone (including the psych specialists) write them off as unrecoverable.

How many 1 or 2 time pedophiles do we know never did it again? U'kno, how many have done it 1-2x but "recovered"? We will never know because if they came out they'd be lucky to survive the night.

How many people have come close to being one but didn't? Who'd even share such a story? The moment they did they'd be ostracized or sent to a ward just in case they failed the next time.

How many people have had the urge but can't get the help they want to keep them from doing it? Who can they ask to prevent it without trading their own freedom even though they're trying to gain their freedom.

I know, I know, we've covered a lot of this before. One of the things I've always said is that the victims in these cases are victimized more by society than the actual perpetrator. It prevent recovery for anyone involved. The stigma of having your ass beat & having to walk home 5 blocks naked in the afternoon goes away quicker than being molested once by a stranger all because our society will not let you forget.

But that's a different can of worms.

[the happy prole]

I think that what's so frustrating for everyone is what to do with pedophiles. I have searched over and over for some sort of hopeful prognosis for treating them, something that says once they've been caught and punished that they won't ever abuse another child. The numbers aren't there.

The only way to insure that it never happens again is to kill them.

Other than that, somewhere between 85-97% never get arrested for another sex-related crime. Pretty much on the low side in terms of recidivism for violent crimes. There is also considerable evidence that treatment reduces the recidivism rate.

What's amazing really, is how long the politicians have been able to sell us on the whole sex offender thing without ever citing a statistic. It's not even like they bother to spin the numbers, they just trot out some poor parent whose kid got killed.

[thames]

If anything, that pedophile needs to be IN with other larger male inmates. Maybe he would experience a little of the fear his small vicitims must have felt when he was molesting them. :mad:

I'm sure he has experienced that feeling, when HE was a child. People want to see these people tortured for what they did, like it's so black and white, but they were most likely molested as children themselves.

[noonan]

Totally thought that link was going to The Onion. Unreal, but probably nt the bigest WTF ever perpetrated from the bench. That said, I don't think letting molesters get molested and released does anybody any good.

[bigfella]

I'm sure he has experienced that feeling, when HE was a child. People want to see these people tortured for what they did, like it's so black and white, but they were most likely molested as children themselves.
While it is true that abusers of any sort are often victims of abuse themselves, at some point you have to take responsibility for your actions. If this man was himself molested, then that makes me feel sad, both for him and for his victims. But he still made the choice to molest a child, and regardless of whatever predisposition his past may have created, he needs to be held accountable. I'm not advocating torture, but mere probation is not defensible.

[Duemellon]

...were most likely molested as children themselves.
I'd like to put an addendum &/r correction:

Not necesasry "molested" but abused or raised in an environment of abuse.

In other words, if a kid is raised in a household where the father sexually abuses a different kid than him, it's possible this becomes "the norm". If, instead of sexual abuse, the child is physically abused, they may reinterpret the power-play as sexual.

However, abuse is a manifestation of frustration about power & control of themself. It could be the only way they know how to express their frustration which, well, pretty much directly suggests the solution.While it is true that abusers of any sort are often victims of abuse themselves, at some point you have to take responsibility for your actions.Exactly.

They, at some point, made the decision to act that way, or not stop, or something like that. If it's just a result of genuine niavety of how to express this frustration in a healthy way, that's something that can be fixed, but they 1st have to make the realization they do not have to continue to be a victim of their own past by reliving it on others.