Stopping Sex Crimes: The Real Problem and Real Solutions

One of the biggest problems with sex offender registration (and indeed, almost any other punishment for any other crime you can think of) is that the problem being addressed is always viewed from legal or public safety standpoints exclusively. Everyone, in their arguments for or against this and that, fail to both discuss the true underlying concerns that spawn the discussion as well as discuss real solutions that will address those concerns.

The reason criminal laws exist is to exact corrective measures on a person or persons that cause harm to others. That's why it's called a "Department of Corrections" and not a "Department of Punishments." The objective is to rehabilitate the person, helping them to understand why they committed a wrongful act and the fact that it IS a wrongful act, and what their other options were. Our corrections systems in the USA are a dismal failure at this, because over the past century our focus has slowly crept from correcting a criminal's actions and behaviors to meting out more and more punishment and labeling those punishments as the corrective measures instead. All that has done is bred a huge class of Americans that are locked in a box for years to simmer in their own hatred, not giving two cents about the wrongful nature of their act in many cases because it's never really addressed--and why would it be? All we care about is punishing the bad guy, and we don't stop the mental mechanics that trigger the unacceptable behavior because it's easier to just label them and file them under "10 years in prison."

The American corrections system falls so far short of the goals of a real "correctional" system that no one even talks about it anymore. Prison doesn't stop crime for a lot of inmates, it only delays the next one, because we as a nation lock too many people up for too long of a time and ignore what got them in there in the first place, effectively sweeping it under the rug. So if the DOC can't correct them, what's the solution?

The problem of crime (including sexual crime) is not a legal problem. It is a social problem. This is the key, and this is why things like sex offender registries (which are only a new creation of the past decade or so, by the way!) do not accomplish the goals that are used as the premises to establish such additional punishments. Putting someone's personal information and picture on the Internet doesn't make anyone safer, because the people on the Registry aren't the only sex offenders. The vast majority of sex offenses are first-time offenses, which means the perp wasn't on the Registry to be identified in the first place, but I digress.

Registration won't solve the problem because it is an answer to a different question. SOR's are one answer for "How can we help to prevent this person from committing another sex crime when they're released?" when the real question we want an answer to is "How can we prevent ANY new sex crimes from being perpetrated in the first place?" The only reason we fear a "sex offender" is because they were caught. We fear them because they've shown that they are less resistant to performing an unacceptable action: a sex crime.

However, it is not the offender himself or herself that we are really concerned with, but rather the chance they'll offend again, and that means we need to create solutions to sex crime perpetration in general rather than wasting time creating more and harsher punishments. After all, when it comes time for a sex criminal to pay for his crime, THE CRIME HAS ALREADY BEEN COMMITTED! Adding more and more punishments doesn't STOP the crimes from happening; it only makes you feel good and vote for the politician that enacted the law.

When you were a kid and sneaked a cookie from the cookie jar, were you thinking about the punishment you'd get if you were caught, or did you only think about it AFTER you got caught for it? This is where the lay person's fundamental understanding of things is tossed aside in favor of an emotional response: "punish more, that'll teach 'em!" But by the time the cookie thief is punished, they may have already eaten three cookies first.

I propose that people shift their discussions to solutions for preventing new sex crimes, rather than pumping more and more Draconian laws and punishments into the system and settling for that as a solution. Did you know that if someone seeks treatment for inappropriate sexual urges, they are reported to the authorities and possibly arrested or even committed? WHY? If someone seeks treatment to help themselves, our answer is to lock them up? Why not take that cash for the Registries across the nation and use it to set up low-cost or free therapy for people who are concerned and feel they need help, or for convicted offenders who want a little straightening out if their urges start to return two years after they complete sex offender treatment and are off of probation? That's just a start; I'll leave it up to you to think up more.

Questions? Comments? E-mail the Offender and let him know what you think!

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