https://www.gadsdentimes.com/news/20190613/our-view-message-to-naysayers---alabama-got-this-one-right
OUR VIEW: Message to naysayers — Alabama got this one right
Posted Jun 13, 2019 at 2:20 PM
Updated Jun 13, 2019 at 2:20 PM
We’ve never hesitated to chide Alabama’s lawmakers for actions that have been fruitless upraised middle fingers to the federal government, or have produced ridicule outside the state.
So to be fair, we’re going to offer them support for the latest thing that has landed them in the headlines, in cable news discussions and on partisan political websites or blogs.
Gov. Kay Ivey this week signed into law a bill requiring anyone convicted of a sex offense against a victim under age 13 to undergo “chemical castration” before he can be paroled from prison.
For every man who just winced at “that word,” no actual surgery is involved. The bill, by Rep. Steve Hurst, R-Munford, requires inmates to begin taking, a month before their scheduled release date, a drug that inhibits their production of testosterone, the hormone that powers the male sex drive.
They must continue taking the drug (and paying for it out of pocket) until a judge tells them they can stop. Otherwise, they go back behind bars to complete their sentences and could be charged with an additional Class C felony.
The idea is that reducing testosterone will make an offender less likely to repeat his crime. There is evidence — the director of the National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma Alabama shared some with the Washington Post — that the practice can lower recidivism rates.
Alabama is not out in the ether with this. Six U.S. states — California, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Wisconsin — and the territory of Guam also can impose the requirement as a condition of release, sentencing or supervision for a convicted sex offender.
However, it’s Alabama that’s being lambasted for “a return to the dark ages” in a headline on Salon, referencing a quote from a state ACLU official who opposes the law, saying it “presents serious issues about involuntary medical treatment, informed consent, the right to privacy and cruel and unusual punishment.”
Well, an inmate who doesn’t want to undergo the procedure absolutely can say “No.” He just doesn’t get parole.
The testosterone-reducing drug does carry side effects (anemia, bone loss, breast growth, depression, diabetes, hair loss, heart and kidney issues, and weight gain). We trust that will be stated up front — if not, it should be, and medical screening should be done before the drug regimen starts — so an inmate can balance those downsides against the upside of getting out of a cage when choosing what to do.
Anyone sentenced to prison for a sex crime against children generally goes on a permanent sex offender list even if he (or she, although this law is useless with that gender) serves every second of his term. Because society has judged that offense to be especially heinous and recidivism rates are so high, those folks basically forfeit, until death, any real right to privacy.
And again, nobody’s using a scalpel here, so we fail to see the cruelty and unusualness, unless someone’s going to stretch that definition to include inconvenience or not giving someone a break (who hasn’t exactly earned one — we’re talking about the convicted here, not the accused or suspects).
This isn’t a “give ’em the meds and be done with it” fix. The treatment only works on people who have a true sexual attraction to children — and that’s not everyone in prison. There are people with sick minds, filled with sick fetishes and fantasies that they turn into reality for assorted reasons, sometimes just out of sheer evil. This law won’t stop those types of predators.
The likelihood is that it will be applied judiciously if not rarely, given that the most vile sex offenders aren’t likely to have much success with the parole board.
Still, this could cut into some truly unacceptable numbers — the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network reports that more than 57,000 U.S. children were sexually abused in 2016, and we’ve reported the increased number of local cases requiring the James M. Barrie Center for Children’s services.
That’s why we think this effort is justified, even if the gains are small, and should be vigorously defended against the inevitable constitutional challenges. Alabama got this one right.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/vigilante-who-petrol-bombed-paedophiles-16518697
ReplyDeleteMan who Bombed an Offenders car
A vigilante who petrol-bombed a sex offender’s car has been jailed.
Paul McDaid, 37, was part of a mob who targeted paedophile Kenneth Long.
More than 100 people had gathered outside Long’s home chanting “beast” and “get him out”.
A court heard that McDaid, who had no previous convictions, turned up drunk and somebody handed him the petrol bomb.
He lit it and threw it into Long’s car in “a moment of madness”. Long was not in the vehicle.
But video of the Vauxhall Zafira in flames next to the bedroom window of a home with children inside was streamed live on social media. The blaze destroyed the car.
Paul McDaid (left) and Kenneth Long's car burning outside his house (Image: Daily Record)
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McDaid, 37, had earlier pled guilty to wilfully setting fire to it in Armadale, West Lothian, on June 26 last year.
Yesterday, he was caged for 12 months. And the sheriff blasted self-styled “vigilantes” who attack sex offenders.
Sheriff Douglas Kinloch said there were “significant risks of innocent people being targeted and serious mistakes being made” by people who take the law into their own hands.
He reminded McDaid he had travelled from his home in Lower Bathville, Armadale, to where Long lived because he had heard that about a so-called “Wolf Pack” trying to expose a then alleged paedophile.
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The sheriff said: “Under the noses of the police, you then threw a petrol bomb into a car owned by the subject of the Wolf Pack’s attention. Your actions were carried out deliberately and with malicious intent.
“This sort of vigilante action cannot be tolerated. The prosecution of crimes must be left to the relevant police and prosecution authorities.”
He added: “I also hope that this will send out a message to anyone who might be tempted to act in a similar way.”
Long, 53, was jailed for 18 months and placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years last November after he admitted sexually communicating with a man online pretending to be a 12-year-old boy.
http://www.wboc.com/story/40653225/pennsylvania-vigilante-livestreams-confrontations-with-suspected-child-predators-in-ocean-city
ReplyDeleteOCEAN CITY, Md. - A Pennsylvania man visited Ocean City this week trying to catch suspected pedophiles in the act, then publicly shame them through social media.
Justin Perry, or as he calls himself Mr. 17540, says he poses as a teenage girl in online chat rooms to lure men he thinks are child predators.
"So I'll post these dating ads, it'll be a picture of a young girl, tell them I'm 15 and once they go 'hey would you like to meet me?' or whatever, that's when I'll go and get them, I Facebook Live it and it's for the whole world to see," Perry said.
For the last year, Perry has made it his mission to expose these men from his home state of Pennsylvania. His vigilante video have sparked a following on social media.
"I look at it like this, if someone was arrested for a sexual crime or whatever, they go to jail and then they get out and it's done and over with. This is on the internet, everybody is going to see it. They're going to know and these are every day people we see all over the place," Perry said.
But Worcester County State's Attorney Kris Heiser says Perry's videos are not helping the cause.
"If you really care about protecting our children's safety online and otherwise, report credible information to the police, allow them to do a proper investigation and then my office can carry the ball forward when it comes to prosecution. As it is, this is not moving the ball forward with keeping children safe," Heiser said.
Heiser says at this point, the vigilantism is not illegal.
Perry says he would provide information to police, but has yet to do so.
It is important to note that Perry has faced challenges from law enforcement in Pennsylvania. Officials there are concerned about his practices, but Perry says those legal past entanglements have not stopped him.
Perry also says he's not done with Ocean City. He says he plans to come back to the resort town this summer for more confrontations.