Simple Answer to Sex Offenders: First offense gets you life.
CNN commentator Jane Velez-Mitchell recently wrote a commentary titled: “Get tougher on sex offenders.” In the commentary Mitchell tells the story of an aspiring dancer from Texas who moved to New York City to pursue her career. The dancer, Laura Garza, soon went missing after last having been seen leaving a club with a convicted sex offender (who was on parole).
New York state police searched the home of the convicted sex offender Michael Mele and found incriminating evidence but could not tie him directly to the disappearance of the dancer. He is currently in jail for violating probation and is a suspect in the disappearance. He had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault, including one count of masturbating in front of two women and one of exposing himself to a woman in a mall parking lot.
The argument that Mitchell puts forward in her commentary is that the Mele should not have been free on the night of the disappearance. To quote her:
In a sane world, Mele is not a free man on that night, able to allegedly target Laura Garza. But we don’t live in a sane world. We live in a world where sexual assault is business as usual. Where’s the outrage?
According to Mitchell there is no such thing as a “minor” sexual offense, because sex offenders often start small and graduate to more serious crimes. Her theory is similar to the one promoted about drug users starting out with marijuana and going on to heroin and other hard drugs. According to Mitchell, after they get away with the first minor crime with only a slap on the wrist, they become hungrier and develop into full-fledged predators. Mitchell’s answer is to start treating all sexual offenses as major crimes. The simple answer is to take all sex offenders off the streets, from the moment they commit the first ”minor” offense.
So I guess if you are convicted of masturbating in public it should be treated the same as rape. The legal system is supposed to lock you up and throw away the key because everybody knows that it is just a matter of time before you go on to rape, kidnapping and murder. Sounds a little like a scene out of the movie “Minority Report” where people are arrested for crimes they haven’t committed yet.
What about somebody convicted of shoplifting? Maybe they should get the same sentence as an armed robber. After all, it is only a matter of time before it progresses from shoplifting to armed robbery. Let’s just nip it in the bud right now. The same goes for someone convicted of domestic violence. Better to sentence them to death now than wait for them to commit murder later on.
Am I exaggerating a little bit here? I don’t think so. Mitchell advocates releasing nonviolent drug offenders if needed to make room for more sex offenders and the longer sentences they will be facing. But isn’t it possible that those released nonviolent drug offenders will someday become violent drug offenders. According to Mitchell it is only a matter of time.
When you start to impose a different legal standard on one group of criminals you are starting down a long slippery slope. No first time offenders, no minor offenses, no misdemeanors, every crime is a felony and comes with a big sentence. Every person convicted of a minor crime treated as though it is only a matter of time until that person commits a more serious crime. You better have some rock hard statistics to support such a theory before you start trying to change sentencing guidelines for a particular type of crime.
Perhaps Mitchell would prefer a judicial system where adulterers are stoned to death and thieves hands are cut off, such as in several Islamic countries. While our judicial system is not perfect and there is much room for improvement, I don’t think the ideas put forth in her commentary are worthy of serious consideration. The statistics she quotes do not support such a drastic solution as the one she proposes.
Comments
By Main Mom on January 15th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Tefft is right. Punishing someone on the basis that they might become a worse criminal is not just.
Lean over right now and touch someone, lightly, on the wrist.
Go ahead, I’ll be here when you’re done.
Okay, did you ask permission before you touched them? If not, you are guilty of assaulting them.
This is the sort of thing that keeps coaches from patting their players on the back. They might be accused of patting lower. They might be accused of sexual assault.
And once you are accused, that’s it. Prosecutors know that one of these cases is an easy win. And the statute that this sort of thing invokes is “sexual assault”, sometimes (but not always) with a number which indicates the severity of the assault.
Indeed, one can’t usually tell the difference between the teen who had consensual sex with someone close to his age from the violent child rapist.
Former offenders (often with no further criminal prosecutions for decades) are listed, and lose jobs, housing and friends.
This is hardly a “slap on the wrist”. And sometimes the behavior is something that no rational person would recognize as a sex offense.
Furthermore, 19 out of 20 sex offenders have not re-offended within 3 years after release from prison, and the odds on sexual re-offending go down every year after that. This is hardly a high recidivism rate; most felonies are repeated by 60-75 per cent of felons within the first 3 years after release from prison. (Department of Justice Statistics)
The time has come to be rational. Pass evidence-based legislation, not feel-good ineffective laws.
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By Letsgetreal on January 16th, 2009 at 10:03 am
It is obvious that, Jane Velez-Mitchell, hasn’t any knowledge of the research, (mountains of it), that has been done.
Had she done this as any real “commentator”, needs to do, she wouldn’t have drawn the conclusions that she is promoting.
Facts, studies reports by the experts are vital to every issue. Especially this one.
Letsgetreals last blog post..Sex Offenders’ Residency Restrictions Studied
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By Gallowsman on January 16th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Ms. Velez-Mitchell comments reminded me of similar comments made 70 years ago in Germany. I say this only because recently I read an analogy of how Sex Offender Laws were the same thing the Nazi’s did then. In an attempt to debunk this statement I did some research and indeed I found that the Nazi’s did start with Sex Offenders in their road to extermination of all those deemed unsalvagable and nonredeemable.
People like Ms. Mitchell scares me when they advocate such nonsense that can only lead to the same conclusion the Nazi’s came to when their prisons, concentration camps, and ghettos became too full with no where else to dispose of societies “Most Unwanted”.
Makes one wonder where it will stop here in America? Or WHO is will stop with after all the Sex Offenders have been locked up again using these new “snares” being legislated almost daily to trap them with even the most mundane technical violation like failing to update their address promptly.
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By SexOffenderIssues on January 16th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com
First, let me get this out. I am totally against ANY form of abuse to any human being. And I believe anyone who murders another human being should be in prison for the rest of their life (until they die). I do not believe in the death penalty for anyone. Also, I believe that once a person has been in and out of prison and has served their probation and parole, done everything required of them, and what was signed on the “contract” when they took the plea, none of this should be required of them, none of it. The state cannot tear up a contract like this, which they are basically doing, it’s unconstitutional. Many people, if they had known they would be faced with all this, they would have NOT taken a plea deal. And the courts are very aware of this and this is why they made it retroactive; thus violating ex-post facto laws! They should be allowed to get on with their life as if nothing happened. I’m not saying for it to be removed from their record, but, the crime should be removed from public view and background checks, they should not have any more restrictions, shaming, etc. If they commit another crime, then they face a lot more punishment, like everything else is treated.
When are we going to move away from being “TOUGH ON CRIME” and move to being “SMART ON CRIME?” If you locked every single s*x offender up, at this moment, or killed every one of them, do you think the problem is over? No, more will follow.
I’ve heard many people say “If these laws protect one child, then they are worth it!” And at the same time, if millions are tortured, it’s ok. Offenders are losing their homes, jobs, families, and children and cannot find new jobs or homes due to the insanity of these laws. The families are also made into outcasts for associating with or being related to an ex-offender and their own children are harassed and bullied at schools due to a family member being an ex-offender.
I know these laws are a sensitive issue, but as all issues, they must be discussed and we must come up with a valid solution that will work. The laws, as they exist now, DO NOT WORK! People are always saying they cause unintended consequences. These laws have been on the books for years now, so nothing is unintended anymore. When are we going to set aside fear, hate, rage and anger and come up with a real solution? History has proven that these feelings NEVER get good laws passed but only create bad ones that punish and torture many people. These knee-jerk reactions to a slim number of high-profile crimes, like Adam Walsh and Jessica Lunsford, MUST STOP!
When an ex-offender is forced to move from his/her home, thus having to sell it, cannot find another home within the law due to the residency “buffer” zones, get fired from their jobs due to being on the registry, cannot find a new job due to being on the registry, their husband/wife lose their jobs due to a significant other being on the registry, their children lose their friends and are harassed and bullied in school due to a family member being on the registry, thus destroying the children’s lives, ex-offenders are forced into homelessness and to live under bridges, harassed by police, neighbors and probation/parole officers, have to wear “I’m a s*x offender T-shirt” or have a neon green license plate on ALL their cars, have “s*x offender” on their drivers license and forced to renew their licenses every year, forced from shelters during tornadoes or hurricanes, cannot give blood at some places due to being discriminated against for being on the s*x offender registry, denied housing due to being on the registry, signs placed in their yards inviting harassment and ridicule from the neighbors, forced to move when the neighbors start picketing outside the ex-offenders home, the list is endless.
I THINK THIS IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT, BEYOND THE EXTREME!
SexOffenderIssuess last blog post..KY – Sex Offender House Getting National Attention
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By Raised In Fear on January 16th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Raised by family that lived through the Nazi reign I can actually get behind the post wherein they said the Nazi party started with the undesirables and moved up from there. We in America should have learned that lesson long ago, but yet it seems we have not since we are moving forward in the same way the Nazi’s did so many years ago. I have seen this country become so enveloped in fear and hysteria that its social behaviors have deteriorated and become mired in all the rhetoric and baseless drama being reported to them by reporters and political leaders, who clearly have not done research on the subject to report clear and precise facts using all the empirical data that is out there on this subject. I am also sincerely exhausted by this subject and those that would grandstand on the backs of people who have committed a terrible, yes, but still a mistake in order to achieve their own goals and aspirations. I swore that when my family came here we were told that this country was united as one people, yet that seems far from the truth today. We as a society need to stop allowing our leaders and small groups of opinionated people telling us that their is a sex offender in every tree and a terrorist behind every bush, and work in a proactive way to change our society for the better without having to live in a soap opera life.
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By SexOffenderIssues on January 17th, 2009 at 12:20 am
Ms. Velez-Mitchell, just another hate monger wanna-be Nancy Disgrace. I and others have tried posting comments at her article, but if it doesn’t agree with her, she deletes it. Typical. She doesn’t care about the facts, and preventing sexual abuse in the first place, she just cares about punishment, just like many other ex-DA’s like Nancy Disgrace, who spews hatred on every show.
SexOffenderIssuess last blog post..KY – Sex Offender House Getting National Attention
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By PATRIOT on January 20th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
HAIL TO RAISED IN FEAR!
When I was a young boy around 1955 I awoke in the evening to ask for a glass of water. As I walked into the living room my Mom and dad were watching a our first TV and a program we now call a “Documentary” I remember to this day my mom saying “Oh Frank don’t let him see this”. They were watching the “Nuremburg Trials” and I walked in as there were evidence movie clips of bodies being bulldozed into a trench (as I found out later).I spoke with dad sometime later about why mom had said this. Dad tried to explain why in as delicate manor as possible what had happened during those years.
My Dad was sent to Germany soon after the war to help repatriate the people and establish different forms of help to the German people. He had heard rumors during this time but told me he did not believe it.
My young curiosity got the better of me. My 7th grade in school we were given a book report assignment. I went to the library and in the “New Books” area I saw a book “The butcher Adolf Eichman”. I hate to even refer to their names as my experience has taught me that survivors of the holocaust become noticbly distressed at any mention of Nazi Criminal names. Please forgive me.
At first I read with reluctant curiosity then with fervor. I too could not believe what I read of the horror and treatment of decent people. I wrote various highlights of the book the gave my report a day or so later. At first there wer a few kids cutting up in the back of the room. By the time I was finished there was complete silence. I was asked to give the same report to 4 other classes. I received an “A” grade on the report.
I would like to add the teacher did edit my report prior to its being given. The graphic description was too intense it was felt for the rest of the class.
As I have studied areas of Political corruption it is a fact that our leaders are securing your rights for total domination exatly as A____ H_____. They are just doing it more slowly. Advice to all regardless of your feelings on a subject “BE AND STAY INFORMED”. Believe nothing government people tell you. They are surely lying. Believe the words of Benjamin Franklin “Those who would give up a fredom for temporary relief and comfort deserve neither relief or comfort”.
It is as if Jane Mitchell write for Joeseph Goebbels by vomiting out ignorant hate dogma stressing Nazi like propaganda. Be careful Jane. You may get your wish and it will be TOO LATE!
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