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On Monday August 30th, California’s state assembly passed Chelsea’s Law unanimously, 72-0. Chelsea’s Law calls for mandatory life sentences for violent sex crimes committed against children in California. The bill will now be sent to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has already agreed to sign it.
The law received its name from slain San Diego teen, Chelsea King, who was murdered and raped by John Gardner III in late February of this year.
Back in February, I found out from a bagger at my local grocery store that the body of Chelsea King had been uncovered. For days before, her picture had been splashed all over the local papers and her story was a staple on all the local news stations. She had been missing since going for a morning run at a local park.
My daughter was searching for the perfect candy bar when the pimply-faced teen asked the cashier “Did you hear they found Chelsea Kings remains near Lake Hodges?” In unison, the cashier and I let out a sigh. The woman behind me voiced her disgust with a colorful array of words. My instinct was to reach down and swoop up my daughter, as if to protect her from some unseen and menacing force.
Within the next few weeks, the body of another girl, 14-year-old Amber Dubois, a teen who had been missing for over a year, would be discovered. We would learn that John Gardner III was the killer. Gardner was a sexual offender who had recently been paroled, his monitoring device removed despite 5 parole violations. He was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting and beating a thirteen year old girl. Of the six years, he served only three, receiving 5 years of probation instead.
By far the saddest part of this story is that the deaths of Chelsea and Amber could have been prevented, as most deaths of this type are. Luckily, Chelsea’s Law will be helpful in preventing similar cases.
Chelsea and Amber’s story haunt me, adding fuel to my already intense paranoia of something similar happening to my own children. Being the victim of a childhood sexual assault, I still carry the wounds with me. I’m not sure it’s something I will ever recover from. While most people are afraid of things like heights, small spaces, and spiders I am afraid of sexual predators. So much so that back in high school I was scared to death of walking down the empty corridors of my school’s hallways, to walk my dog alone around the block, or worse, eye appointments in which all the lights in the room would be off, the only light coming from the eye chart across the room. I once cried during an eye exam to the bewilderment of my optometrist. I couldn’t help it, with the doctors face so close to mine and the room so dark I was certain something terrible was about to happen.
It probably goes without saying that I view Chelsea’s Law as a victory, and I take a very personal stance on issues of this type.
Chelsea’s Law is something that will let me heave a sigh of relief. While the Kings no longer have their daughter, I admire them for protecting other children in their daughter’s name. Kelly King, Chelsea’s mother, was quoted as saying:
“My personal promise to all the children, all the mothers and all the fathers is that I will do all I can to protect other daughters and sons and other mothers and fathers in going through this incomparable nightmare that I’m walking through.”
I appauld the King family for having the strength to turn their tragedy into something remarkable.
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Agreed. I also applaud you for being able talk about your nightmare on a public forum.
I agree that *something* must be done to keep violent sexual predators away from children, but is incarceration in a prison the best way to do it? It’s expensive, especially with the advent of for-profit prisons. It creates unproductive members of society who are burdens of the state (and therefore taxpayers). Wouldn’t making these people productive while still keeping them away from children be a better solution? I’m not advocating for their complete freedom here, just pointing out that this is another feature of an American Criminal Justice system that is broken and hemorrhaging money.
Why can’t these people be sent to a child-free zone in a work environment like they have in Norway? They will learn skills and make products. The sales of those products will go towards the cost and upkeep of the campus (I’m calling it a campus to differentiate it from an actual prison, again keeping the Norway model in mind. It would basically be set up like a college campus surrounded by a tall, impenetrable wall). People inside the campus would not be confined to cells, but rather confined to the campus.
I just feel that locking these people up in a prison the way we do now is a totally unsustainable model. Given the fact that many California prisons literally have revolving doors, with felons being processed and sent home within 24 hours due to severe overcrowding, I just don’t see how mandatory life sentences like this are feasible with the way things are now. I see this law being ignored if California’s budget problems continue, and more violent offenders being released en masse.
Yes there are massive flaws in our criminal justice system, but allowing these monsters to “play” in real life scenerios just without children involved is not something that I could stand behind.
Give these predators a “college campus” to work in to support their upkeep? To give them any thought of a “normal” enviroment as reward for abusing and killing children? Not a solution to me.
Making them productive? They had their chance of being a productive part of society. I would much rather they be in a constant state of lock down in a small cell with no exposure to the outside world at all. Cruel and inhumane? So be it. Maybe people will seek out help and think twice before committing such henious acts.
But then again, prisons aren’t such a raw deal for most of these people. Yes they are away from kids, but they are also a free meal ticket and a free place to sleep. You can have money and barter for items. You can even get married while in prison and have conjugal visits with your wife (which there are crazy women out there who have a fetish for that thing). You are given time outside and the freedom to read, watch movies, create art, exercise… it actually sounds a bit nice. Okay, okay, I’m being facetious- but prison is no longer the worst place to be. Our system of punishment and rehabilitation in this country *SUCKS*. We have no idea how to balance punishment with practicality while maintaining a sense of “dignity” in how we treat prisoners. Its a freaking mess! Really Shannon’s idea is the same model of a prison except the prisoners aren’t locked up at night and they have to work. Plus shannon has a great point- often these people are let go becasue of overcrowding, which is a result of not having funds to build more prisons.
It is a weird thing with child molestation. Because these people clearly have mental issues which they (arguably) can’t control but they commit crimes which they could have abstained from. In conventional prisons they aren’t given medical treatment/thrapy. If we treated them medically, put them in this prison campus which perhaps had lockup/isolation for the first few years of their stay, but kept them working the whole time, put them through treatment, and then had them graduating to having access to the campus once they have gone through the initial stages of therapy and punishment I think that might be a good plan. A large portion of the money their work (whatever that may be) generates could go to charities which help children, the other portion supports their stay, and some is given to them for spending on the campus when they have further rehabilitated.
I am very supportive of rehabilitation, but rehabilitating sex offenders is tricky business. There is no widely accepted therapy, and studies have shown that sex offenders who engage in relapse prevention activities are actually more likely to offend again. It’s difficult because you are trying to change a way that they automatically think, and their behaviors are positively reinforced because they gain sexual gratification. In most cases with therapies that are currently available, rehabilitation is difficult at best and sometimes it’s impossible. We just don’t currently have the research available on therapies and rehabilitation for sex offenders because it’s not often studied and it’s a very difficult population to study.
Like I said, it is an interesting situation. I’m not advocating that they ever be released back into normal society, but taking a different approach to their incarceration could prevent them from just that-being released back in to society.
Chemical castration always seems like a viable option to me.
You girls come back and talk to me when your mother, sister, brother, or child is raped and murdered.
My sister, my best friend and the closest person to me, was raped when she was four. So I guess I’ll just talk to you now.
Ok. Sorry if I appeared like an ass, but with some issues I cannot have intelligent coversations with people who haven’t had the life experiences to qualify thier opinions on. A soapbox for human rights doesn’t interest me when dealing with unhuman behaviors, and pollyania attitudes just infuriate me further.
Even witnessing such an event do you really think that these offenders can be rehabilitated? I will agree with you about our current prison system for the most part, but so far studies have proved that these predators cannot be fixed.
I would gladly pay more tax dollars for their correct incarnation. What I object to is the high salaires of top management, TV rooms, rec centers, and extras in life that these predators can get when some hard working people in life do not have access to.
Allowing them to live like a “free” person with all of the amenities to pay for their crimes? Nope. Chain them to an assembly line within the prision and manufacture mundane parts, maybe. Then put them back in a 8 x 10 cell to sleep. Basic food, no recreation. And castration as squeezie said. Even if the thoughts cannot be stopped, maybe these predators would think twice before commiting the crime.
I haven’t been this pissed off by an internet post in a long long time. Again, sorry girls, you just pushed a button that I feel very strongly about.
LOL, I just reread your posts and you both are saying the same thing about the American prison system, just offer different options as a solution. Again, I apologize, I was blinded by rage from the very beginning and didn’t even comprehend your entire posts. Still disagree, but can do so respectfully.
I think there are some crimes a person can be rehabilitated from. Child molestation is not one of them, and neither is rape, whereas something like multiple DUIs can be overcome with rehab. I can see why vchilds is so adamant about incarcerating these kinds of offenders; they have destroyed the lives of at least one person, so it’s unjust that their lives should not be ruined as well. However, I also agree that they should at least be productive and be contributing to society, even if it’s just by standing in an assembly line.
Believe me, one of my greatest dreams is to find the man that raped my sister and personally castrate him. It really is just a blinding white hot anger which I’m not sure what to do with.
But I am not a perfect person.
I think the system should be as close to perfect as possible.
This isn’t about optimism, it is about doing what is right.
I wouldn’t give a shit if that man had an epiphany and realized the error of his ways, I would still want him hurt as much as possible, because he hurt someone I love very much permanently.
I do believe that there should be justice, but blind justice does not help anyone, does not solve anything, and potentially causes more damage. That is why I could never be given charge of deciding that man’s fate.
The system has to take a better approach, and if that approach could turn a devastating action in to something which benefits society in some way then I would rather that over a man being put in a prison and then simply being let out again, or a man being given life in prison and just chilling there, having a decent time and sucking up tax money.
Well, I have been raped. So yes, I do understand the rage you’re feeling, to some degree. But making policies out of emotion is never a good strategy for longterm success of a program. As tempting as it is to throw these people into a dungeon and forget about them, history shows us that this doesn’t work. What happens in 10 years when California hits another recession and new legislators are in place? Suddenly, this law is old and clunky and quietly taken off the books because there’s no way to adequately enforce it. And the sexual predators are freed. Not a good scenario. This is why their incarceration *has* to generate income. Right now we pay more for prisons than schools, even though paying more for schools results in fewer criminals across the board. Great for the prison guards, but the rest of society? Not so much :/
Agreed that our prison system is terrible. How about we rehabilitate the pot dealers, drug addicts, and other non-violent criminals, not the violent sex offenders. I’m all for letting them serve life sentences.
I realize that Chelsea’s Law is not the solution; it is merely a step in the right direction.
Sadly, sexual assault is still something that people tend to stay silent about. There is tremendous shame involved especially when the victim is a child. Part of the answer is teaching children to be vocal about it and letting them know that if an adult touches them an inappropriate way it’s not their fault. Children need to feel comfortable enough to speak up about this kind of thing. It’s important for parents and educators to speak openly with their children about sexual assault.
Anyway, I could on and on about this. To sum up, in my opinion a large portion of the solution of this problem hinges on educating children about assault so that they will speak up.
Yeah, I had to agree to disagree.
I’m all for the “campus-like” scenario with one proviso:
they must all be castrated. And I don’t mean chemically.
I am dead serious. Give them the option – regular prison – life (hard time) or “campus-like” and castration, again Life sentence.
I think the overlooked focus of several of the posts above was that the idea of said ‘colleges’ was to get the inmates to generate funding. Which is a fantastic idea if you ask me. Why shouldn’t these people have to work like the rest of us? They should be paying for the cost of incarceration, and having them learn a trade increases the chance of employment following release, and reduces the chances that they will become repeat offenders and cost the system more money.
In terms of the rehabilitation of sex offenders, it just seems to be such a difficult topic to form a solid opinion on. Obviously people paint sex offenders as a special breed of demon released from hell, but in reality, all of them are just people, and many are not too different from you or I (save one major obvious flaw). If you look at sexual dysfunction as a disease (which I am not saying it is, but many do broach the subject in this way), then it becomes a tragic scenario with no optimal solution for anyone.
I watched some trashy, fearmongering show on TV a few weeks ago that had ‘reformed’ sex offenders on the show. One was a very old man, who outwardly admitted that he couldn’t be trusted around children, but that he had tried every treatment available, and nothing gave him a sense of total power over his urges. Now I put myself in this guys’ shoes (because if it really functions like a disease or mental disorder, it could be me), and think of how frustrated and upset I would be, knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop these feelings, but not wanting to be killed, or spend the rest of my life in prison for something involuntary. The man described that he used all of his will power and training he had received in prison to not act on his urges, but he could never be sure that one day he wouldn’t snap.
I don’t really want to sympathise with a child molester, but it is just so outside of my realm of experience to be able to pass judgement on this man’s mental situation. Of course his dysfunction is in no way an excuse, freedom, or a forgiveable reason to hurt another person, but it just seems much more complicated than ‘lock them up forever, or burn them all’.
It’s just tragic for everyone.
Locking up a person who’s going to be a danger to society, particularly the most defenseless segment of society, for life is not hard for me to accept.
What about that is hard to form an opinion on?
If I was a pedophile and I had no desire to hurt children, I’d willingly chemically castrate myself for a start.
These are people who “don’t want” to hurt children, but clearly aren’t that opposed to it, because they keep doing it.
I’m for protecting children, not coddling pedophiles.
You have entirely removed the human element from the issue, . These are people, with flaws and the ability to make mistakes. It’s so easy for an outside party to suggest that some sort of psychological issue should just stop whatever troublesome behaviour afflicts them; it’s like telling an anorexic to just eat, the OCD to stop counting, or an alcoholic to just stop drinking. It’s just not that easy. Chemical castration isn’t really a solution; these problems are largely psychological, not physical. Castrated dogs still hump, don’t they? The man I am speaking about was specifically told by a doctor that it wouldn’t help- he would still have the same sexual thoughts, regardless of what happened to his genitals.
I am in no way suggesting that we should free all the pedophiles because they’ve got a real sob story to tell. Of course children should be protected from harm. However these people shouldn’t be subject to forced mutilation, and as some would suggest, marched off to the slaughterhouse. That is the complexity to the issue; the lack of black and white in defining people and their actions.
I honestly view serial pedophile offenders no differently than I do serial killers.
These are people who will persist in offending, whatever their intentions. Obviously killers don’t leave victims, and most people would rather survive a sexual attack than be killed during the commission. So I’m not suggesting they’re the same offenses.
But we lock up serial killers for life not only as a form of punishment but to protect society. Society does not deserve less protection from repeat sexual offenders.
Exactly. I really do believe it is a mental disorder. They can not prevent having their sexual dysfunction. It doesn’t change the fact that many pedophiles act upon their urges and should be punished for the crimes they commit- but we do need to accept that these people have problems, they aren’t just simply evil, they have a mental issue.
There are people who commit violent crimes simply because they wanted something out of it more than they feared the consequences, but those who are mentally stable are *so* few and far between. If we can see the physical differences in the brain which control how disgust is experienced in regards to gore and pain, and can diagnose these people as having a mental disorder which they can not control because their brain is screwed up, then we do have to accept that for some people it is almost impossible to control what they do. We already know how psychology can be used to explain most crimes, so why do we choose to simply categorize people as evil of their own choice? Again, it is not that you discard that they have committed heinous crimes, but it should certainly effect how you punish them- not in the sense of severity, but in the sense of the simultaneous treatment.
Okay, so now you can’t tell who is replying to whom…
oh wait, nvm, I didn’t see someone else had posted- threading confuses me sometimes :S
I am all for life sentences and having them work to pay for their own incarceration.
I agree Alzaetia. The fact that they have a mental disorder that causes them to commit the heinous crimes they commit is of no consolation to the victims and is, at this point at least, uncurable. While I do have some sympathy(very little) for the offenders that can’t control their desires/actions, it doesn’t make them any less of a threat to society.