tsujigiri

The editorial comments of Chris and James, covering the news, science, religion, politics and culture.

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Thursday, April 05, 2007

What punishment fits sex abuse?

Sex offenders rank alongside "terrorists" as popular targets for irrational justice. Like "enemy combatants", Americans often don't tolerate the possibility of innocence for sex offenders, or the that their crimes have been amplified by prosecutors as a form of public spectacle (e.g., a pair of Idaho teenagers find themselves on a sex offender registry for the crime of fornication). The menace of sex offenders is so terrifying that we demand a complex web of regulations beyond the punishment dealt for the crime itself. Even after a jury has convicted, after a judge has ruled on a suitable punishment, after the person is released -- for the rest of their lives we demand that they be watched and regulated and exposed to vigilante punishments.

I don't really mean to defend child sex abusers in this post, but I am disturbed by Americans' unwillingness to acknowledge the true punishments that sex offenders receive. The combination of all policies and regulations can lead to inhumane compound punishments that we would never see written directly in a law. No law would say "upon release from prison, the felon is required to sleep outside on the beach under a bridge until the court rules otherwise." This is exactly the cumulative effect of sex offender regulations in Miami.

According to CNN, five child sex offenders are forced to "reside" under a bridge in Miami because there is no building within the city where they can legally live. The conditions of their parole also prevent them from leaving the city. The group had been living in a vacant lot, but they were evicted due to its proximity to a childrens' clinic. Conditions for the men are far worse than typical prisons.

So here's my question: If we're going to be hysterical about sex offenders and punish them in this way, shouldn't we spell that out in our laws? Shouldn't we be honest with ourselves about what we're doing to them? If we're going to banish them forever, why don't we make a nice labor camp for them and give them life sentences? It is deeply inappropriate that the effective punishment is so far removed from what the law appears to prescribe.

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