sexual predators

[spursfan101]

Sexual Offenders
How could a career criminal with 13 arrests be out walking the streets?  My prayers go out to the family of that young Florida girl, I couldn't even begin to fathom their pain.  My question is, did this guy have any prior sexual offender convictions??  If so, why the hell was he out of the street.  I think that laws need to be changed.  If someone has a history, say 2 convictions of sexual offenses against a child, the death penalty should be automatic.  These people are sick individuals that will never change.

Why 2 Convictions?

And I say TWO convictions because I have this fear.  This fear of you can be dating somebody, say in college, and they cry rape even though you know that wasn't the case. Your now labeled a sexual offender, and you have to have a sign in front of your house. And your marked for life.  It's a double edged sword really.

Racism and Prejudice
This topic also brings to mind that case in Illinois I believe, of that 18 year old black man who slept with that almost 17 year old white girl.  It was consensual, but since he was older, he was labeld a sex offender and they sentenced him to a long prison time.  There basis was that an "assualt" did occur because she was a virgin and her hyman had been broken.  Racism at its best people. Still in America?  Oh no, never, that went away in the 60's, right?  Do away with Affirmative Action many people say?  Make it a level playing ground for all. In a perfect world, I think that could work, but as long as people still have these deepset racist feelings, its not a level playing; unless your a minority who has felt the sting of that prejudice, I don't think you would understand.

[gaither]

Sounds like he's been charged with battery, abduction, and various other offenses but not sexual offenses or murder (see excerpt below from cnn.com).

My heart goes out to the family. There's nothing worse than losing a child...and to lose one in such a brutal manner has to be doubly painful. There's no telling what pain and torture Carlie Brucia had to endure before she ended up a corpse dumped behind a neighborhood church. Just horrible!

Smith's criminal record in the area dates to 1993, when he was convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to probation.

In November 1997, Smith was arrested on a charge of kidnapping and false imprisonment in neighboring Manatee County. He was acquitted of those charges a year later.

According to records from the Manatee County Sheriff's Department, a woman accused Smith of grabbing her as she was walking along a street and threatening to "cut her if she failed to remain quiet."

 
Authorities have charged Joseph Smith. 37, in the girl's kidnapping and death.  
A passing vehicle stopped and intervened, allowing her to flee, records said.

The records also said Smith told authorities "he had been in an altercation earlier" that evening "and wanted somebody to walk with."

A few months before, Smith was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon -- a knife, according to his arrest record from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Smith has faced numerous drug charges. In 2001, he was convicted of heroin possession, possession of controlled substances and attempting to obtain controlled substances by fraudulent means. He served a little more than a year in prison. He was on probation when he was arrested Tuesday.

 

[Randy]

Sexual predators is becoming an increasing epidemic in our society.  Anyone want to weigh in on why that is the case today?

I will state that this "addiction" is never treated in such a way that it goes away -- it is always there -- just like any other addiction (alcohol, drugs, etc.).  One must remove himself from being around the temptation.  However, the problem is that most sex offenders and predators haven't decided that they WANT help and they want to quit -- they have been found guilty but that doesn't mean that they want to stop.  One of the basic facts of any addiction is that you have to WANT to stop and you have to admit that you have a problem (a problem you want to stop).  Most sex predators and offenders never make it to this step -- most don't ever want to be caught again but that's not the same thing as wanting to stop.  It's one of the reasons that laws have been enacted to make sex offenders register -- because the odds of them repeating the crime are so much better than them not repeating the crime.  Treatments, for any addiction, will never help someone who doesn't want help -- most of the "treatments" have no objective standard for completion anyway and are simply based on time.  What most people don't stop to think about is if you haven't had something that you loved for years -- you spend MORE time thinking about it -- not less.  

I, personally, think sex offenses should be one of the highest crimes in our justice system.  Even hardened criminals have a problem with sex offenders (isn't that amazing) and it's the reason they have to be housed in separate housing (at our expense).  The penalty for sex offenses in our country isn't NEARLY high enough -- that needs to change, IMO, or this is going to get out-of-control.

[spursfan101]

Why is it an epidemic now than in previous times?  

Because of communication. When I was a kid growing up in the 70's, we would stay out late, take shortcuts on the way home home, the topic of sexual predators was never an issue because frankly, it was never talked about. Not by our parents, or publicized by the media.

I think the problem has always been there. It always will sad to say. But things just were different back then. Now everything is out in the open. Being gay. Sexual offenders. Abuses in the Catholic church, etc...

 

[Randy]

Of course, it has always been there -- but do you believe it has always been here to our present proportion?

[spursfan101]

Yes I do. People are coming out of the woodwork now, going through therapy claiming they were sexually abused as children.  Hell, even OZZY claimed he was molested, and is now going through therapy.

We were taught to not be tattle tales, we were intimidated by authority, that's just the way it was back then. I think it's just as prevalent as it was then.

Now when you talk about the desensitizing of teenagers and young children, it's much more prevalent NOW than then.  School shootings, gang violence, we didn't have any of that when I was growing up.  We would fear getting jumped, not shot to death. :ph34r:  

[jn]

Yes the problem has been there all along.  Heck two of my great aunts were molested and it was just quietly pushed aside by the police.  I do think there has been a massive increase in the premature sexualization of children in our country through the images we see, most especially advertising.