Posted on 04/30/2008 9:09:27 AM PDT by XR7
SNOHOMISH — The patch under the bridge is closed in by brambles. Rodent tracks crisscross in the dirt. It may be dry, but still it's not fit for human habitation.
Unless you're a sex offender, that is.The underside of the 88th Street bridge, near this river town's greenhouses and horse farms, is where state government last week assigned a released rapist to sleep.
David J. Torrence, who assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 1995, had completed his latest prison term (for failing to register as a sex offender.) He had no place to go. So officials gave him a sleeping bag and a rain poncho, then told him to stay under this bridge, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., until further notice.
"We're not proud of it," says Mary Rehberg, parole officer for the state Department of Corrections. "We did it because this is what it has come to. Under a bridge is the best of the options we had left."
That we're now storing sex offenders under bridges is hardly the worst thing to happen in the long struggle over sex crimes. Not compared with what happened to the victims.
But it is a sign of a looming breakdown. There's got to be a better way.
Nobody wants sex offenders around. It can be infuriating to see taxes spent on their treatment or care. But putting them under bridges, like trolls? Set aside whether that's inhuman. It's about the worst outcome possible, for public safety.
Torrence was released from state prison at Monroe on April 20. He is a Level 3 — high risk for reoffending. He is not deemed so dangerous, or his crimes so serious, that he qualifies to be locked up longer.
Rehberg tried for months to find him a place to live.
He's barred by local ordinance...
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Common sense from a left-wing rag?
But putting them under bridges, like trolls?
LOL
Why not?
Wow. That sounds really complicated.
Brilliant. They got three squares, a cot, heat and running water when serving their sentence. Turning them into street people sounds like a motivation to reoffend—traumatize another girl for life and get better living conditions.
Just brilliant.
Why not???
“So officials gave him a sleeping bag and a rain poncho, then told him to stay under this bridge, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., until further notice.”
What...did they make him promise to stay there or did he have to sign a committment card.
Lock them up and throw away the key!
...sort of like flushing the toilet...
If the premise is that these pieces of human flotsam are too dangerous to live amongst us (and for the most part, they are), then why not make it a mandatory life sentence for their crime? Which is cruel and unusual, life incarceration or life under bridges and in the woods?
Do you supose they made him wear a Promise Ring?
Arm 16-year-old girls and maybe his next victim will simply blow his brains out when he attacks her.
“He is a Level 3 — high risk for reoffending. He is not deemed so dangerous, or his crimes so serious, that he qualifies to be locked up longer.”
Good Lord....where does one begin?
He’s at high risk for reoffending-but it’s a crime not so serious or dangerous,so let’s let him out again-to reoffend.
It’s a not-so-serious crime-unless you’re the young victim.
It’s a not-so-dangerous crime-unless the young victim’s father or mother finds you and sends you to hell where you belong.
There....that’s better. NOW it makes a little more sense.
Promise ring.....ankle bracelet..same thing.
“But putting them under bridges, like trolls?”
The trolls in fairy tales were good reasons for the characters to stay away from the bridges, maybe these fairy tales can be part of real life now with real life trolls!
I see a chance for a slum lord who can buy a dumpy house out in the middle of nowhere to charge the state a fortune to house these things.
Of course I am also all for tattooing a big letter P on their forehead as a caution to others they meet.
Agreed! Unfortunately, this comment: He is a Level 3 — high risk for reoffending. He is not deemed so dangerous, or his crimes so serious, that he qualifies to be locked up longer. seems to be the norm for this type of offense.
If they are a Level 3, they shouldn't be released back into the community. If the judge or the parole board want to release him, they should board him at their house with access to their family instead of putting everyone else at risk.
Putting a troll where it belongs.
Reader David, did you read the entire piece? That the guy’s own family in another state didn’t want him? That he’s fitted with a GPS tracking ankle device?
That sex offenders are the new ‘lepers’ of society that nobody wants? The only alternative is taxpayer expense to house these offenders in group homes.
build an enclosure, toss them into it, and let them sort things out.
> SNOHOMISH — The patch under the bridge is closed in by brambles. Rodent tracks crisscross in the dirt. It may be dry, but still it’s not fit for human habitation.
Why are they giving this perfectly-good habitation to a child molestering troll? For homeless folk, under a bridge is prime real estate: very dry, quite warm and usually pretty safe.
That’s just what the homeless folk need: another predator to watch out for. Sanctioned, no less, by the local government. What did the homeless folk ever do to deserve that?
If they can’t find the child molesterer proper quarters, stick him back in gaol amongst the general population.
The ACLU will sue and the perv will get a nice condo.
Maybe he’ll meet Maddie Dullbite under there and they can trap some billygoats together.
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