How to stop child predators!

By Doug Hagin

In our world, there are many, many things that are complicated. There are issues, which demand serious debate and examination. Fixing the disaster that is Social Security is a very tough problem. Replacing America's current tax code with a new system will take a lot of work and careful thought. Exactly how to conduct the war on terror and secure our borders are tough, tough decisions.

Indeed, there are some mind-numbingly hard issues in our nation today. What to do about sexual predators, however, is very simple. Yes, yes, you read that last sentence accurately. The ultimate no-brainer is what we, as a society, ought to do to tackle the problem of sexual predators.

Now we all know the problems with these scumbags. They viciously victimize innocent children and women. The recidivism rate for these monsters when released after serving their sentences is extremely high. So the issue is how do we prevent them from committing such heinous acts again?

Well we all know the inane solutions, which are constantly batted around, don't we. Our politicians, who are supposed to be smarter than all of us and the so-called experts on these crimes, and the solutions they come up with are predictable and, frankly, useless and mindless.

They offer us two-strike laws, which put the predators away the SECOND time they rape a woman or molest an innocent child. They offer us lists where we can go online and find out where the released predators are residing. This is supposed to protect our children? They say perhaps we ought to force these sexual predators to place a sign in their yard announcing the crimes they committed.

Are these the best ideas our supposedly brilliant leaders can think of? If so we had better start electing a better brand of idiots and we better do it fast.

The answer is so obvious and so very simple that you might think some of our political thinkers would have immediately grasped it and run with it. So what is this solution to sexual predators getting out and preying upon society? I will type slowly so the experts and politicians can keep up, we sentence child molesters, rapists, and their ilk to life in prison the first time they are convicted.

Got it? No second chances for rapists and child molesters. They cannot rape a woman or harm an innocent child if they are locked away forever can they? Tell me why this very obvious solution is never put forward. Why isn't legislation changing the sentencing guidelines for sexual predators being proposed right now all over America? Are our political leaders so brain-dead they cannot figure this out?

Consider the recent cases of children, precious, innocent children, murdered by sexual predators that were caught, tried, sentenced and then released to victimize again. These animals were locked away where they would never touch another child and our justice system released them. Now little girls like Jessica Lunsford have paid the price for that inexcusable hole in the system.

Jessica Lunsford was nine-years-old She was raped, bound, brutalized, and buried alive. The man police have arrested for the barbaric crime is John Evander Couey. He was a convicted sex offender, and he was able to kidnap and brutally kill this little girl, thanks to lax sentencing guidelines.

Jetseta Gage, like Jessica Lunsford, recently became the victim of a convicted sexual predator who the system had allowed to walk among us again. She was 10-years-old and mentally challenged. She did not deserve to suffer and die because our politicians are too gutless to put these monsters away. Sadly, though Jessica and Jetseta are not alone. Far, far too many children have been raped, kidnapped, and killed by predators that should have been locked away. Sadly, not many people in the position to really affect a change in sentencing seem to grasp the need to never let sexual predators out of prison.

Consider the reaction to the Jessica Lunsford's murder in Florida. Public outcry has been deafening and rightly so. Such An outrage has of course led Florida lawmakers to introduce new legislation to hopefully prevent such barbarous acts from being committed. Charles Dean, a Florida Representative, has introduced a bill called "The Jessica Lunsford Act." One of the bill's provisions calls for convicted sex offender to wear electronic tracking devices.

The question screaming to be asked here is would a tracking device have stopped John Evander Couey, who has confessed to murdering Jessica Lunsford, from kidnapping, raping, and killing her? The answer is no! So why is Rep. Dean wasting our time? Is he serious about preventing future incidents of sexual predator recidivism? Sure does not seem like he is does it? "It's a matter of us doing the job right. We need to find the loopholes, find the cracks," Dean told FOX News.

Really Mr. Dean? Maybe you might open your eyes and bother to see the loophole is that our laws allow sexual predators to be released to strike again! Maybe you and your fellow politicians might bother to write new laws that address the problem instead of wasting our time with tracking devices. Here is a clue for you Mr. Dean if child molesters are in prison we can track them and actually protect children as well.

Couey, as stated earlier, was a convicted sexual predator. Even he was aware of the danger he posed to children. He told authorities he needed help, and that he was a danger to children because he could not stop himself from sexually abusing them. Yet he was released and Jessica Lunsford paid the price.

Therefore, we see that even when these predators tell authorities they will do it again they are still released because the laws do not call for life sentences. How many innocent children have to die until we figure out that these laws need to be changed? My goodness how hard is it to get right?

© Doug Hagin