When Shasta and Dylan Groene were kidnapped, no one had any idea who could have possibly taken the children. However, new cries for law enforcement to monitor the web more closely have arisen out of the ashes of their kidnapper’s blog.
One commenter asked this question, which I mean to answer, “How can a registered sex offender even have a website like this. Shame on law enforcement for not monitoring him better.”
He can have a website like that, because he has a right to free speech. He served his time. Being a sex offender does not deny or even imply a denial of his rights as a citizen of this country. Yes, sex offenders are scary people. Yes, sex offenders, with only extremely rare exceptions, re-offend. But, here’s a simple fact of the matter. His debt to society, up to the point where he committed a new crime had been paid.
Unless you’d like to live in George Orwell’s 1984, I think you need to grow up and realize that rights are equal, and they even apply to people you don’t necessarily like. I think this guy is scum. I think his website could have many clues for law enforcement, but I don’t expect law enforcement to watch every single blog on the face of the planet. There are far too many to track. All they can do is watch the people who have offended in the past. I also think the guy had his rights and they should be respected. If they are not, then respect for everyone’s rights is at risk.
All of this aside, I feel that sex crimes, particularly those against children, should be treated with the same level of scrutiny as murder on all ends of the equation, from investigation to trial to sentencing. The penalties for convicted child molestation should be brutal, particularly when one takes into consideration the fact that some eighty percent of sexual offenders will commit their crimes again. Murderers don’t often get off Death Row unless they can prove their innocence or for some reason have reformed and won public sentiment. Given the current circumstances with respect to how our society treats sex offenders, it is impossible for these people to be assimiliated back into society, because once society identifies someone who has brought harm to a child, it refuses to be accepting of that person.
Don’t get me wrong, I support Megan’s Law. I just don’t think child molesters should be let out of prison to begin with.
