Sunday, February 25, 2007

What is wrong with the child predator laws in the State of Texas

There is a convicted child molester that lives in my neighborhood. He lives three doors down from the main drag that all the elementary school kids walk on their way to school. In fact he lives directly behind the school. This individual was convicted in 1998 of one count of sexual contact with a 13 year old girl when he was 26. He was on probation for 7 years. His probation ended in 2005. He lives with his mother and his three children, two girls and a boy. Under state law, he is committing no crime. He may live next door to a school, he may live with his own female children. As uncomfortable as his proximity to my daughter's school is to me, there is nothing I can do to make him move. Pedophiles are incurable. The recidivism rate is almost 50% and I suspect that reason why it isn't 100% is that the other 50 percent just haven't been caught doing it again because the average victim does not report it.

• Recidivism rates range from 18-45%. The more violent the crime the more likelihood of repeating.
-Studies by the state of Washington.

• 3 in 10 child victimizers reported that they had committed their crimes against multiple victims: they were more likely than those who victimized adults to have had multiple victims.
-BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991.

• Like rape, child molestation is one of the most underreported crimes: only 1-10% are ever disclosed.
-FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin.

• The behavior is highly repetitive, to the point of compulsion, rather than resulting from a lack of judgment.
-Dr. Ann Burges, Dr. Nicholas Groth, et al. in a study of imprisoned offenders.

With statistics like this, I think I am reasonably justified in being concerned about this person. I astounds me that the state of Texas has no law specifying that child molesters must stay away from schools, playgrounds, day care centers, or any other place where children congregate, but yet it does not, and that needs to change.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Never had kids, so I just don't feel well enough equipped to comment on the topic. The fact that this man is a registered offender should offer you some consolation that you at least are aware of his presence in the neighborhood. If we sent every offender off to a separate country would you feel safer? Where should they go? Who's going to pay to relocate these pervs? The world is a scary place, but sometimes I wonder if the media hype doesn't blow some of this stuff totally out of proportion. I wager that most child molestation events are perpetrated by friends or family members of the victim. Maybe its the erosion of the family unit that has spawned these sicko's who stalk children. I just don't know!

Sad!

February 26, 2007 7:49 AM  
Blogger Rorschach said...

The only place these people need to be relocated to is about 6 feet down. As far as I am concerned, they forfeited their lives when they stole the childhood from another human being.

March 20, 2007 3:08 PM  

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