There is little doubt that our society is unforgiving when it comes to sex crimes, especially those involving children. The physical, emotional, and psychological toll sexual abuse takes on its victims cannot be overstated.
Nevertheless, not everyone agrees on the appropriate way to punish sex crimes. In particular, the relatively low rates of recidivism among sex offenders have led some to question, including sex crimes lawyers in Dayton and state-wide, whether we should rethink our approach to sentencing and put a greater emphasis on treatment.
Penalties for Sex Offenders
The United States has the greatest incarceration rate in the world, with 20% of all incarcerated people right here in the U.S. In fact, nearly 1% of the American population is in jail or prison. By far, the largest percentage of these people committed drug crimes. However, more than 10% have sex crime convictions.
Various federal laws enacted over the past several decades have taken a hard line when it comes to sex crimes through things like federal sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimums, and the national sex offender registry. But does the punishment actually fit the crime?
In comparing federal sentencing guidelines for various crimes, it turns out that they can impose greater sentences for lower-level sex crimes than for serious crimes of violence. For example, the sentencing guidelines recommend a prison sentence of 10–13 years for taking a pornographic photograph of a 17-year-old. On the other hand, the guidelines recommend sentences of only 6–7 years for assaulting an adult or child with intent to kill and only 2-3 years for accidentally killing someone when assaulting them.
Child pornography is a particularly difficult area. Each individual photograph possessed by a person can constitute a separate crime. This can result in hefty sentences for those who possess multiple images. Some claim that those who view child pornography are not directly harming children. Others point out that supporting the industry at all contributes to child exploitation.
Are Long Prison Sentences the Best Way to Go in Ohio?
Legislatures justify harsh sex crime penalties as a means of keeping offenders off the streets. But in Ohio, like the country at large, sex offenders are actually less likely to re-offend than those imprisoned for other types of crimes. In fact, a study of Ohio sex offenders found that 10 years after release, only 8% of offenders had been recommitted for a new sex offense. Further, psychological treatment can be very effective in reducing further offenses.
This broken record has been played out. It is white noise to those who want to believe all sex offenders are the offspring of Satan. Hello Q anon…………
“The physical, emotional, and psychological toll sexual abuse takes on its victims cannot be overstated.”
It possibly can be. While sometimes used, wrongly, as condoning CSA, the Rind paper found evidence that children were not necessarily traumatized for life and the harm was overstated. Here is a fascinating paper on the politicization of science, and it’s worse now, e.g. QAnon.
When Worlds Collide: Social Science, Politics, and the Rind et al. (1998) Child Sexual Abuse Meta-Analysis
[Controversy And Scholarly Publishing]
Although the points made by Hunt could be illustrated by any number of events, I focus on a recent and widely publicized incident, namely, the reactions of the political community, media, and general public to a 1998 Psychological Bulletin meta-analysis (Rind, Tromovitch, & Bauserman, 1998) on the psychopathological correlates of child sexual abuse (CSA). This review, which was authored by Bruce Rind, Philip Tromovitch, and Robert Bauserman, yielded the conclusion that the relations between CSA and later psychopathology were small or negligible in magnitude. Approximately one year later, by means of a tangled sequence of events that in retrospect seems as convoluted as any Rube Goldberg contraption, the article and its authors ended up being overwhelmingly condemned by votes in both houses of the United States Congress.
http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ls39/peer_review/Lilienfeld.htm
Harsh sentence may be needed in cases of any type, Not Only For Sex.
After the sentence for the crime is over, Monitoring of a person, “The Hit List” & Punishment after the sentence is the issue. Lying, Corrupt, complacent and idiotic politicians and those who are “connected” (i.e. the Books).
Good article. I found this especially interesting:
“Ohio has over 20,000 registered sex offenders. Registration is based on the offense for which the offender was convicted…. . Tier I offenders must register annually for 15 years, Tier II offenders must register every six months for 25 years, and Tier III offenders must register every three months for life.”
This sure sounds like punishment – just like Cali’s new Tiered Registry – because they are based on offense, not on current risk/”dangerousness”. Increasingly harsh punishment for something that may have occurred 30 or 40 years ago. 😣 Yes indeed, just keep on punishing. 😒
According to the logic of safety to the community, a registry of people who committed murder should be made to keep the community safe from being killed.
A registry of people who stole should be established so the community is safe from burglary.
And on and on.
In case you are not aware of this in Ohio…DUI Registry
Search the Ohio Habitual OVI/OMVI Offenders Registry …https://publicsafety.ohio.gov › what-we-do › our-services
Feb 1, 2019 — Ohio’s Habitual Offender Registry is a searchable database of people who have been convicted at least five times of driving under the influence …
America’s immensly screwed-up priorities in two sentences:
“For example, the sentencing guidelines recommend a prison sentence of 10–13 years for taking a pornographic photograph of a 17-year-old. On the other hand, the guidelines recommend sentences of only 6–7 years for assaulting an adult or child with intent to kill and only 2-3 years for accidentally killing someone when assaulting them.”
one count of CP misdemeanor was not my intention to support CP industry NEWS TO ME why are they putting words in my mouth , it was a deletion on a floppy disc forgot it was even on that disc, it took forensic to find it and my stupid lawyer did not even argue to the state to prove it was under 18, it was a thump nail click on it and I was directed to an adult web site,
I took a plea deal ( well at least I think I did, I was so messed up on zanax i remember nothing of court that day)to avoid a 18 yr prison term for two F4 counts of possessing obscenities involving a minor in 2012. The reason I possessed these images was because my uncle raped my minor daughter,took pictures of him doing this to her then put those pictures on the internet. Using the computer that I stole from him to find these images also gave me access to the sites he had visited. Little did I know, these sites were being monitored by the internet crimes against children. They tracked me down and arrested me for viewing child porn. This was the same Police department that had arrested my uncle for raping my daughter. I never lied to the police about me being on the computer and what I was looking for but of course I was not believed. To make a long story short I am now a registered tier 2 sex offender for 25 years I also received 3 years probation and 3 years of sex offender treatment classes. So I agree that the United States being obsessed with sex because they f****d me out of my life.i will also ad that I am a survivor of sever childhood sexual abuse for 6 years of my young life. From ages 9-15 yrs old.( By a neighbor guy)My daughter was a victim of my uncle’s for yrs of her young life. Do not even suggest that I should have been a better father and protected her better. My uncle was so good at molesting that he did this for years to many other kids. My daughter was the brave one that came forward and put that bag of snot in prison. My attorney told me to take extra meds before court that day so I wasn’t so distraught standing in front of the judge. This was my only time of being in trouble with the law in my life. I knew nothing of the law or court prosess at the time so I trusted my attorney with my life. Serious life lessoned learned. The police made a huge mistake and actually gave me back the computer used in the crime 3 months before going to court. That was the only phyicall evidence they had against me. Someone told me that my attorney should have ask the judge to make all computer evidence inadmissible because it was back in my possession before we went to court. (It was now tainted) He never did though and I don’t know if he could have done that or not. So now I am just being revictimized by the state of Ohio and have to carry this tattooed label of sex offender until I die. My abuser tattooed my penis with his initial which I’ve carried since I was 11 years old. I guess that wasn’t enough so the state of Ohio wanted a tattoo me with their own label “sex offender”for trying to delete the pictures of my daughter being raped by that scumbag uncle of mine. Not for having contact either physically or any other form of contact with anyone but for trying to save my daughter from anymore shame or guilt. At the time I did this search I believed I could delete these images, I wasn’t very computer smart at all. My doctor suggested I go find an delete these images and my daughter and I could have some kind of closure from our abuse.That sure didn’t work no did it? my life sucks even more now. I’d like to see these laws changedsooner than later for the good of registrants who live like desert rats. This is ridiculous.