Some things you don’t forgive

A front page article in USA Today this morning focused on sexual predators who’ve continued to be incarcerated after completing their original judicially-imposed sentences. There seems to be a great deal of controversy concerning the right to due process, etc., but the Supremes have come out in support of extended stay programs for persons considered “sexually dangerous.” The Supremes blew this one -  we should never be holding someone in prison absent imposition of a specific legal sentence.

Before you go off on me, I am NOT advocating for the release of these deviants. Anyone convicted of a sex crime against a child should never again see the light of day. I don’t care if they claim conversion or cure, whether a wart-covered monster or “doe-eyed” Mary Kay leTourneau. 

But we shouldn’t resort to such measures to accomplish the end of sequestering these miscreants. The answer is never to bend our own laws. The answer is to change the laws to reflect the need to protect society – and particularly, the most vulnerable members of our society – from those who would do them harm.  

Those who prey on children tend to become expert at manipulation and it is a sad fact that many, probably most sex crimes against children are never reported. Once reported, they can be particularly difficult to successfully prosecute.

I believe in the protections provided by the constitution. We shouldn’t be messing around with those protections to fill a gap in our criminal laws. It’s time to treat sex crimes against children as what they are – the worst possible depravity, deserving of life sentences.