Brace yourselves, folks, because we've been down this path before. I repeat myself because I fear I didn't make myself plain enough the first time. Here goes.
1. Fact: pedophiles are sick.
2. Fact: pedophiles, if caught, go to prison and get the same parole privileges other criminals do without regard for their state of health or propensity to re-offend.
3. Fact: pedophilia is a mental sickness. Men don't simply decide one day that they will molest children.
In that regard, I see that we have just released on parole a pedophile the doctors fear will molest again. Think on this. Under our system a child molester will be released long before his sentence has been served even though the medical evidence, far from saying he's cured, points to new crimes. This is only news because this guy is an entertainer. Release of pedophiles goes on all the time, accompanied by a warning to the neighbourhood to keep kids away from him! That's like releasing a rabid dog while telling your kids not to pet him.
Selective mollycoddling
Can't we see what we're doing here?
We're putting sickos into the justice system which has rules that, sooner or later, will release him just as ill as he was when he went in.
Suppose this same man had a compulsion to burn down houses with people in them. There are such people, I assure you. He would be found not guilty by reason of insanity or "diminished capacity" and -- please pay attention to these words -- detained at Her Majesty's pleasure. In other words, he doesn't get sent to jail where, after a bit of his sentence is served he's released. He goes to hospital where he is detained until it is determined that he is no more likely to offend than anyone else. If, after time and treatment, he does get this clearance from a panel of experts, it must go before a Cabinet Committee, which has the last word. I sat on just such a committee for five years and the case I mentioned is a real one.
Now would anyone seriously suggest that we mollycoddled this dangerous firebug? Because we hardly did that. Instead of him getting out, after a prescribed period of time, usually long before his sentence has been filled, without any regard as to whether or not he would do the same thing again, he should have to be certified as safe to release by a medical panel and an administrative committee.
Just before I go on, what is it we all consistently say when we hear of children molested and too often killed? We say the guy is a sicko! And we're right. They are mentally ill. Very ill indeed. If they're sick, why the hell are we letting them out of custody before they're well?
A proper policy
Here's what we must do. We must change the law so that in every case involving molestation of a child, the judge must make a finding as to whether or not the accused is a pedophile. In most cases I assume that this would be found. The judge then says, in effect: "You're sick so I'm not going to send you into the justice system where you'll get out just because some time has passed. No, sir, I find you not guilty by reason of insanity and you will be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure until it is determined by the appropriate procedure that it is safe to release you back into society."
Again, is this mollycoddling? Which is the easier way? Prison for a set time? Or detention until it can safely be said that you should be released, which could mean life?
I have seen the "Queen's pleasure" system at work and while any system involving humans can go awry, I can say positively that this system is tough. There must be a certified cure so that some of the best minds in psychiatry lay their reputations on the line -- as do the cabinet ministers -- when they make their decisions. With this process it is the state of the offender's mind, not the mere passage of time, that is the determining factor.
It is to me unbelievable that we haven't done this. Instead we let sick people back on the street, hoping that by warning all and sundry that he's out, the community will be safe. This makes our kids guinea pigs in a failed public process.
In short, we should be treating the illness and, in effect, quarantining the offender until he is certified cured.
Rafe Mair writes a Monday column for The Tyee. His website is www.rafeonline.com.
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