21 of 121 DOCUMENTS The Boston Globe July 18, 2005, Monday THIRD EDITION KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE FROM SEX CRIMES BYLINE: BY JACK LEVIN SECTION: OP-ED; Pg. A11 LENGTH: 773 words JOSEPH EDWARD Duncan III, who allegedly bludgeoned to death three people in northern Idaho and kidnapped two children, killing one of them, represents a tremendous challenge to our criminal justice system. What are we to do with a dangerous Level Three sex offender who has served his sentence but is likely to repeat his offense. Duncan had served a 15-year sentence in a Washington State prison for raping a 14-year-old boy and was out on bail for molesting a 6-year-old boy. For every repeat offender who turns his life around, there are several others who commit even more hideous crimes. The typical child sex offender attacks more than 100 children. That is why legislators around the country have recently devoted so much time writing tougher laws to track, restrict, or sentence dangerous rapists and child molesters. While well motivated, almost all such legislation is bound to fail. Sex offender registries, including the Comonwealth's version, have been ineffective. They make citizens feel safer but do little else. Many dangerous offenders never register. Others register but reoffend. Joseph Duncan was a registered sex offender. Not even a strong national offender registry would discourage recidivism. Notifying the neighbors that an ex-con is in their community only assures that he will be pulled out of mainstream society and pushed back into crime. As soon as the word gets around, he undoubtedly will lose his job, be evicted from his apartment, and be shunned by his friends and neighbors. Then he will move to somebody else's city or town. Some states have sought to put distance between sex offenders and children. At least 14 states have passed laws which provide buffer zones between convicted sex offenders and places where children congregate. The problem with such laws is that children are almost everywhere, not only in schools and at bus stops, but also at daycare centers, zoos, swimming pools, churches, shopping malls, and playgrounds. It is almost impossible for offenders to live in a community and not be in proximity to children. Last month, Florida and Oklahoma passed laws requiring electronic monitors using Global Positioning System technology for tracking sexual predators in the community. Legislatures in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are considering the same. Bills now being considered by Congress would require all repeat sex offenders to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for life. In theory, electronic bracelets would help law enforcement to keep an eye on high-risk offenders who come close to places where children congregate. This approach would, in all likelihood, help to prosecute sex offenders who violate the terms of their parole, but would hardly prevent them from committing new offenses. Even Martha Stewart claims to have been able to dismantle her electronic monitoring bracelet. To this point, electronic monitoring has worked successfully for dissuading low-level offenders burglars, embezzlers, and drug offenders, not obsessed sex offenders from repeating their crimes. It would be an unmanageable task for authorities to monitor the hundreds of thousands of offenders who would wear electronic bracelets. Recognizing that electronic monitoring, buffer zones, and registries don't work, states are seeking methods for keeping dangerous sex offenders incarcerated after they are scheduled for release. In January 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that dangerous inmates could be held indefinitely, but only if they are proven to lack the capacity for controlling sexually harmful behavior; that is, they must suffer from a mental disorder. The problem with this approach is twofold: first, many sexual predators have character disorders, not serious mental illnesses. They choose to do the wrong thing because they enjoy it, and so are ineligible for indefinite incarceration. Second, psychiatrists and psychologists working for the state must decide who deserves continued incarceration, but they are generally less than effective at predicting dangerous behavior. There is really only one way for the criminal justice system to protect our children from sexual predators: Give dangerous repeat offenders the life sentences they deserve. A first-time perpetrator probably merits a second chance. He serves a finite sentence behind bars and then resumes his life in the community. Hopefully, he has learned his lesson. But a repeat offender has proven that he cannot be trusted with our children. The rule for habitual rapists and child molesters should be: Two strikes and you're never out again. LOAD-DATE: July 19, 2005 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH NOTES: Jack Levin is director of the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict at Northeastern University and co-author of "Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder." Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company |