Posted on 08/25/2005 12:32:52 PM PDT by newgeezer
Megan Kanka, Jessica Lunsford, Shasta Groene.
These girls, all believed to be sexually molested by men and two of them killed, have generated headlines, prompted states to stiffen penalties against offenders and caused many parents to fear their child could be next.
Yet gut-wrenching as these high-profile cases are, they don't tell the whole story of sex offenders in America. They don't reflect the surprisingly good news: Sex crimes against children have dropped dramatically in the last decade. An online national sex-offender registry was launched in July. And recent research shows doctors can better predict which offenders may strike again.
"There's a success story here," says Roxanne Lieb, director of Washington state's Institute for Public Policy. She sees a "trickle-down effect" as famous cases raise public awareness and legislatures toughen public policy.
The headline-grabbing cases tend to be anomalies, because kids are rarely abused by strangers, and even less often killed.
"It's not the creepy guy who moves in next door you need to be most concerned about, but family, friends — people who have access to your children on a regular basis," says Pamela Schultz, author of Not Monsters: Analyzing the Stories of Child Molesters. She says most kids are abused by people they know.
And only a tiny fraction of abuse cases end in murder, says David Finkelhor, director of Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Of the 60,000 to 70,000 arrests each year for sex crimes against children, he says about 40 to 50 involve homicide.
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Dramatic drop in cases. Government figures show the rate of sexual assaults against adolescents ages 12 to 17 plunged 79 percent from 1993 through 2003, and the number of substantiated sex-abuse cases involving kids of all ages fell 40 percent in the same time period. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at 159.54.227.3 ...
In August alone, Alabama and New Jersey passed laws requiring extensive satellite tracking of high-risk sex offenders. At least three other states -- Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma -- approved electronic monitoring this year, and North Dakota, Georgia and New York are considering similar measures.
Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed lifetime satellite-tracking devices for paroled molesters. His proposal faces an uncertain future. The state Legislature's annual session ends early next month. Questions have been raised about the program's cost.
Beginning this month in Iowa, more than 500 convicted sex offenders will be required to wear electronic-monitoring ankle bands. The law was in response to the March abduction and slaying of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage. James Bentley, who once dated her mother, is charged with sexually molesting her over a three-year period. His older brother Roger is charged with kidnapping and killing her.
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Longer prison sentences. ... The number of inmates convicted of sex crimes is rising more quickly than that for all other crimes except drugs ...
Why are we even letting these demons out of prison?
A dramatic drop in sex crimes since Clinton has been out of office. One of those things that makes you go hmmmmmm....
Then why are there all of these news stories lately about teachers and underage students.
Why are we even bothering with prison? There's no cure for these people and it is not right to decent people to have such evils inflicted on them. Child sex crimes worse than 3rd degree (I'm being generous) should carry the death penalty. The rest of them should be exiled from the United States. Send 'em to Mexico, maybe, that would be a nice irony... or send 'em to France, where they seem to have a fondness for molestors.
Too bad the sex-offender-in-chief isn't in prison where he deserves to live the remainder of his days in agonizing hard labor.
Unfortunately, it's the rest of us who are in hard labor, working off the consequences of his "legacy".
Because we need to make room for drug users. C'mon now! Get with the program.
Because the teachers are young and hot and the "victims" (for lack of a better word) are horny, teenage boys. Makes for great copy!
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