It's Offensive All Around

Lately there's been some hullabaloo locally about sex offenders getting off (yep, that was a bad pun all right) lightly for offenses against children. I'm sure a few years in jail isn't a walk in the park, but bottom line it doesn't solve anything. After a few years of "deprivation" the offender is likely to pick up right where he left off, or worse.

How can there be justice for a ruined life? I've met lots of these kids and although many or most of them may eventually be "functioning" adults, they never really get over it - they aren't ever really the same person they would have been if it hadn't happened. There won't be anything even resembling justice for the victims, and nothing we can do to the offenders is going to help the victims.

We should be thinking about prevention. Let there be no future victims. A jail sentence will not do it. Counseling will not do it. Drugs will not do it - they can always stop taking the drugs.

You'll learn that I don't usually present a problem unless I have a solution in mind, or at least a suggestion. And my solution is going to seem outrageous .. but hear me out.

A permanent solution for pedophiles, in my opinion, would be to have them physically neutered. Yep, cut 'em off, or the equivalent .. get rid of the testosterone, diminish the inappropriate urges, etc. etc. Take a minute to be shocked, I'll wait .....

Is this violating the "inalienable human rights" of the offender? Maybe .. but what about the rights of the children he preys on? I say he gave up those rights the first time he victimized an innocent child. We can kill murderers (in most states) so don't start on the sanctity of the human body. If we can take their life away, why can't we take their "pair" away?

And don't try to tell me they can't live without them or can't be happy or blah blah blah. I've known guys who were celibate all their lives and didn't seem to be suffering unduly. Yes, it was their choice, but it doesn't change the fact that guys can survive without sex. Losing that aspect of their lives won't be any more detrimental to the criminal than losing their trust, innocence, and more is detrimental to the victimized children. Hey, maybe that would be a kind of justice.
Maybe it would be a deterrent, too. Maybe a few of them would manage to control their impulses better if being neutered were a potential consequence for their actions.

And as a taxpayer, I'd much more happily pay for that operation and maybe even some hours of counseling than years in prison only to have them get out and do it again. The present system is NOT working and a huge percentage of voters are parents. Get out there and lobby for it! If nothing else the very idea may scare the crap out of these predators!

And why am I focusing solely on child molesters and not rapists? Because, despite all the hoopla about rape being about domination and control and not sex, I disagree. In countries (yes Virginia they do exist) where prostitution is not only legal but regulated, the incidence of rape is much lower than it is in countries like the U.S. where it's not legal. If a man can pay a reasonable sum (price controls) and be pretty sure what he's getting is clean and healthy (health dept. oversight and frequent health exams), there's much less reason to take all the risks associated with rape.

That's an idea for the Oklahoma legislature .. we finally got rid of cockfighting .. at least legally.. how about legalizing prostitution? The taxes off that could probably pay for the road improvements we so desperately need!