G
Gandalf Grey
Guest
The Pervs in the Parks
By Jerome Doolittle
Created Jun 14 2007 - 9:49pm
The fearful folk in Stafford, Connecticut, frantic to protect their kiddies
from the hordes of pervs who ceaselessly roam their streets, are about to
bar [1] convicted sex offenders from the local parks.
Makes perfect sense if you're one of those paranoids, and most of us in
America are, who won't be happy until the inevitable risks of life are
reduced to zero. At which point we will, by definition, be dead.
Can we all stop gibbering in terror for a moment? Can we recognize the zero
option for what it is, which is paranoia? Can we for once apply a little
common sense and rational risk analysis to the funk in which we so love to
wallow?
Let's start with Stafford. The town's proposed ordinance, like all similar
laws, is aimed at the wrong target. Most children are not molested in public
places by strangers. They are molested right in the bosom of the family, by
family members or friends.
Still, proponents say, if the law saves even one child it will be worth it.
This is the zero option, which carried to its logical conclusion would
require us to kill every infant at birth. Only in that way would little Ken
and little Barbie be spared the perils of life.
Moreover, the law is very unlikely to save even that one child. The Hartford
Courant quotes Dennis Gibeau, program director of the Center for the
Treatment of Problem Sexual Behavior: "I know of no case where it's
protected a child from being molested."
And this from a Minnesota Department of Corrections study [2] released this
spring:
Not one of the 224 sex offenses would likely have been deterred by a
residency restrictions law. Only 79 (35 percent) of the cases involved
offenders who established direct contact with their victims. Of these, 28
initiated victim contact within one mile of their own residence, 21 within
0.5 miles (2,500 feet), and 16 within 0.2 miles (1,000 feet).
A juvenile was the victim in 16 of the 28 cases. But none of the 16 cases
involved offenders who established victim contact near a school, park, or
other prohibited area. Instead, the 16 offenders typically used a ruse to
gain access to their victims, who were most often their neighbors.
But wait a minute, you will say if you are a normal, sex-haunted American,
child molesters are walking time bombs that cannot be deactivated. They will
go off again if we are not eternally vigilant. They never reform.
This is the whole assumption underlying our savagely punitive laws on the
sexual abuse of children.
(Digression: an immigrant day care worker in New York faces 25 years in
prison for her conviction yesterday in the rape of a four-year-old boy.
How - physically how - did she do that? Come on. The prosecutor and the cops
and the judge and the jury went Salem on her. Read the story [3].)
..And that whole assumption is wrong. Only a small fraction of released child
molesters go out and do it again. In fact the rate of recidivism for
non-sexual offenders is a lot higher than that of child molesters. Don't
believe it? Go read this report [4] from the Justice Department's Bureau of
Justice Statistics.
If the citizens of Stafford want to do something useful to protect their
children from harm, they should forget about the pervs in the parks and
think about putting seat belts in their school buses. Only three states
mandate seat belts for the kiddies; Connecticut isn't one of them.
If only one child is saved, it will be worth it.
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Jerome Doolittle
Created Jun 14 2007 - 9:49pm
The fearful folk in Stafford, Connecticut, frantic to protect their kiddies
from the hordes of pervs who ceaselessly roam their streets, are about to
bar [1] convicted sex offenders from the local parks.
Makes perfect sense if you're one of those paranoids, and most of us in
America are, who won't be happy until the inevitable risks of life are
reduced to zero. At which point we will, by definition, be dead.
Can we all stop gibbering in terror for a moment? Can we recognize the zero
option for what it is, which is paranoia? Can we for once apply a little
common sense and rational risk analysis to the funk in which we so love to
wallow?
Let's start with Stafford. The town's proposed ordinance, like all similar
laws, is aimed at the wrong target. Most children are not molested in public
places by strangers. They are molested right in the bosom of the family, by
family members or friends.
Still, proponents say, if the law saves even one child it will be worth it.
This is the zero option, which carried to its logical conclusion would
require us to kill every infant at birth. Only in that way would little Ken
and little Barbie be spared the perils of life.
Moreover, the law is very unlikely to save even that one child. The Hartford
Courant quotes Dennis Gibeau, program director of the Center for the
Treatment of Problem Sexual Behavior: "I know of no case where it's
protected a child from being molested."
And this from a Minnesota Department of Corrections study [2] released this
spring:
Not one of the 224 sex offenses would likely have been deterred by a
residency restrictions law. Only 79 (35 percent) of the cases involved
offenders who established direct contact with their victims. Of these, 28
initiated victim contact within one mile of their own residence, 21 within
0.5 miles (2,500 feet), and 16 within 0.2 miles (1,000 feet).
A juvenile was the victim in 16 of the 28 cases. But none of the 16 cases
involved offenders who established victim contact near a school, park, or
other prohibited area. Instead, the 16 offenders typically used a ruse to
gain access to their victims, who were most often their neighbors.
But wait a minute, you will say if you are a normal, sex-haunted American,
child molesters are walking time bombs that cannot be deactivated. They will
go off again if we are not eternally vigilant. They never reform.
This is the whole assumption underlying our savagely punitive laws on the
sexual abuse of children.
(Digression: an immigrant day care worker in New York faces 25 years in
prison for her conviction yesterday in the rape of a four-year-old boy.
How - physically how - did she do that? Come on. The prosecutor and the cops
and the judge and the jury went Salem on her. Read the story [3].)
..And that whole assumption is wrong. Only a small fraction of released child
molesters go out and do it again. In fact the rate of recidivism for
non-sexual offenders is a lot higher than that of child molesters. Don't
believe it? Go read this report [4] from the Justice Department's Bureau of
Justice Statistics.
If the citizens of Stafford want to do something useful to protect their
children from harm, they should forget about the pervs in the parks and
think about putting seat belts in their school buses. Only three states
mandate seat belts for the kiddies; Connecticut isn't one of them.
If only one child is saved, it will be worth it.
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson