Posted on 08/27/2003 2:20:40 AM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - The leaders of two support groups for victims of clergy sex abuse don't think last weekend's murder of former Catholic priest John Geoghan will have any major impact on other priests serving prison time or facing accusations for wrongdoing.
The death of Geoghan, who was strangled Saturday by convicted killer Joseph Druce, leaves many unanswered questions about his life as a priest and the nearly 150 people he was accused of abusing, said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests.
"The only real impact this will have is keeping more of the truth hidden ultimately," Clohessy said. "Had there been two more criminal trials [involving Geoghan], which were in the works, more of the truth about this case and cover-ups in general would have been made known."
Advocates for sex abuse victims said the pending cases against the 68-year-old defrocked priest from Boston would have served as a means of healing for victims and also helped the Catholic Church cleanse itself of the scandal, which spread across the country after Geoghan's trail in January 2002.
"There's disappointment with a lot of the victims that there won't be any more hearings where his illness or any information about the church will come out in the open," said Sue Archibald, president of The Linkup, a support group for sex abuse victims.
Clohessy and Archibald said they doubted Geoghan's death would resonate in prisons or trigger copycat acts. Despite the large number of accusations Geoghan faced, other priests have been convicted of worse offenses. But Geoghan, they said, was the face behind the scandal.
Catholic League President William Donohue, whose organization has butted heads with victims' groups in the past, agreed that Geoghan was one of the most vilified priests accused of sex abuse. While some priests have sexually abused teenagers, Donohue said Geoghan targeted children.
"This made him to be the biggest monster in the Catholic Church in the entire scandal," Donohue said.
Only the Rev. Paul R. Shanley, also of the Archdiocese of Boston, has faced as much scrutiny for his alleged actions, Donohue said. Shanley was indicted last June on four counts of rape.
"If there's anybody who might be trembling a little bit today behind bars," Donohue said, "it might be Paul Shanley because he would be the closest to Geoghan as someone who inmates might want to target."
Donohue, who has a doctorate in sociology and formerly taught criminology, also noted that there is often a hierarchy of criminals in prison, with sex offenders always at the bottom.
Even though Geoghan's case received more attention than most sex abuse crimes, Archibald said she didn't necessarily think other priests would encounter the same type of revenge.
"There's a recognition that these guys may be attacked, and there is special attention given to make sure they're protected," Archibald said. "It seems as though that's become necessary for these priests who have been convicted because their cases and the whole issue has been publicized."
Clohessy added that Geoghan's murder was likely an isolated incident.
Geoghan's attacker was a convicted killer serving a life sentence for the death of a homosexual man 15 years ago. A prosecutor looking into the case said Druce considered Geoghan a prize because of his hatred for homosexuals.
Since Druce is already serving a life sentence and Massachusetts doesn't allow capital punishment, he might only face the prospect of spending the rest of his life in solitary confinement.
From his experience teaching criminology, Donohue said states without the death penalty face difficulty creating a deterrent for criminals serving life sentences. Such circumstances create terrible dilemmas for security guards in particular, he said.
Kent S. Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, said circumstances like Geoghan's death are reasons some states adopt capital punishment laws. While it might not serve as a deterrent in all cases, Scheidegger said studies have shown it does have an impact.
"Whatever you can do to punish [Druce] within the Eighth Amendment still isn't enough for murder, even if the guy he killed was a pretty contemptible criminal himself. Nonetheless, he was a human being," Scheidegger said. "[Druce is] effectively immune from punishment for the murder."
Geoghan isn't the first to spark a debate about the violence among inmates. A fellow prisoner murdered famed serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in 1994. Dahmer was serving time for killing 17 men and boys.
"If you get these extraordinary cases, then you're going to trigger an extraordinary response behind bars," Donohue said. "They don't regard these people as being one of them, they regard them as being an outsider."
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Go figure.
So, if we now know that it IS a deterrent, what is the argument against capital punishment??
Druce grew up in a broken home and had been sexually abused by men as a young boy...
From this article.
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