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Court ruling hurts efforts to protect children
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The protection of a child
On the heels of the arrest of celebrated Hollywood director Roman Polanski, for the 1977 sexual abuse of 13 year-old Samantha Geimer, The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled a 2006 state law limiting where convicted sex offenders could live unconstitutional.
The two events, completely unrelated, bring the issue of pedophilia to the front page of newspapers across our great nation and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Unfortunately, the message to the masses is nothing less than slapdash on such a cut and dry issue.
Pedophilia cases are often in the news as the details of such travesties against children cannot go unreported. The accounts, regardless of pretense, yield stiff penalties for the abusers and a lifetime of turmoil for the abused. Just ask Mr. Polanski.
Originally jailed in 1977 for his drugging and forced sexual intercourse with Mrs. Geimer, Polanski fled to France when it became obvious that a Superior Court judge might not honor a plea deal in which Polanski would plead guilty in return for time served.
His flight from justice was nothing more than a guilty man eluding just punishment.
When he was arrested in Switzerland in late September many pedophilia victim advocates finally got their man. A sexual predator, which France had protected for 22 years, was coming home, ultimately held responsible for his heinous crime against Samantha Geimer. Twenty two years was not enough time for California prosecutors to forget his crime even if numerous Hollywood celebrities thought otherwise.
Polanski’s offense against Geimer, like so many other convicted pedophiles, should be worn as a scarlet letter, so that parents, teachers, and other adults responsible for children know what evil lurks in their mists.
That brings us to the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a 2006 law prohibiting convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet from schools, day-care centers, and playgrounds as unconstitutional. The 5-2 decision only applies to those convicted of their crimes prior to the July 12, 2006 implementation of the new state law yet the decision’s ripple effect is vast enough to allow roughly 200 convicted sex offenders to move back within a stones throw from a school, day-care center, or playground.
Regardless of the legal logic of the bench, the Kentucky Supreme Court failed to realize the effect their decision will have on our children. Allowing registered sex offenders to live within 1,000 feet of the places children frequent is an infringement on the liberties of all law abiding citizens. Placing a known sexual predator within arms reach of a heavily trafficked children’s area is irresponsible regardless of when their crime was committed. It is simply a lack of good judgment and an act of raw judicial power.
In a civilized society, one’s actions have consequences. Sexual predators, Polanski included, should know the consequences of their actions prior to committing their crimes. The fact that these crimes are committed anyway shed a disconcerting light on the nature of the pedophile and their uncontrollable impulse to offend again.
Aggravated assaults on children top the list of crimes one should pay for life long. Striking down a law that acted to protect children from prior convicted predators is legally irresponsible both to the children occupying these common spaces and the parents who need the peace of mind that their children are safe.
Roman Polanski may have found safe haven in France and favor amongst the Hollywood elite but he is not excused from his decision to sexually abuse Samantha Geimer. If he was, and justice was not sought on her behalf, the American justice system would have failed, not just Mrs. Geimer but all of us. Conversely, the Kentucky Supreme Court did manage to fail all Kentuckians when they decided the rights of convicted sex offenders supersede the rights of the innocent.
The message on pedophilia should be clear; if you abuse a child, you will wear your scarlet letter for life. Anything else constitutes a gross injustice for all.
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