Zero tolerance

The other day I caught the end of a television news story, one that I have seen the likes of too many times before: angry neighbors roused into a lynch, mob-like mentality by the newly arrived presence of a convicted sex offender. The neighbors wanted to drive him out, but could do nothing but make him feel uncomfortable by making his presence widely known. He refused to leave and they demanded the institution of new laws to legally keep him out of their neighborhood.

Naturally, as a mother and a sane human being I understand these peoples’ rationale—that rapists and child molesters don’t belong in their neighborhood. It is a slap in the face to people who don’t realize that the vast majority of rapists and child molesters go uncaught, unconvicted and therefore unannounced and continue to live right where they always have: amongst everybody else.

These angry parents are offended, naturally, by the idea of someone like that living that close, so close that they can’t let their children roam the neighborhood like they normally would. In my deeply held opinion, children too young to resist or defend against an attack shouldn’t be let out of their parents sight, not ever, regardless of where you live or who you think your neighbors are.

That said, I furthermore feel we need to address the issue of telling people where they can live. We live in the land of the free, with the right given to every free person to live wherever they can afford to. I wish to stress the term “free” because that is the crux of my feelings on this. We cannot as a neighborhood or as a family or an individual say that so-and-so can’t live next door.

Therein lies my point. The people who commit these kinds of sex crimes should not be walking around free. I strongly believe we should execute child molesters and rapists. Not only do they have no place in our neighborhoods, they have no place in our society as a whole. Maybe if they were routinely executed the people that perpetrate these crimes would think twice. Need I mention how widespread and capitalized upon child pornography is in this country? It is absolutely sickening.

Maybe I feel so strongly about these things for personal reasons. Maybe because out of my small circle of close friends, nearly all of them were molested as children. Maybe it has to do with the time when I was 15 and I was assaulted on the street by a grown man. Maybe a lot of people reading this would think I have some unresolved anger. But I tell you, my anger is resolved. And it is targeted toward the people who like to hurt children.