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Should we be compelled to act if
any of us suspect someone is mentally ill and are unsure if there has
been an intervention? If so, what measures should we take? What laws
pertain to treatment of the insane? How should our lawmakers be engaged
as regards this matter? What difference can be expected if tax money or
private contributions fund needed resources?
ANOTHER THING: While researching case histories of massacres and serial killers, I ran across the following:
CASE HISTORY #1
Do you remember Jessica Lansford?
In 2005, longtime sex offender John
Evander Couey, kidnapped, battered, raped and suffocated nine year old
Jessica Lansford. Her body was found in a shallow grave under the porch
of the Florida home belonging to Couey's sister. The Lansfords lived
across the street. It didn't take police long to discover that a
newcomer to the neighborhood was a pedophile. Couey confessed. A jury
recommended the death penalty, but Couey died of colon cancer in 2009,
before the execution could be carried out.
This man's sick sexual behavior
went back at least to 1978. First, there were warrants issued for
"flashing;" sexual exhibitionism. Then, during a burglary, he grabbed a
girl in her bedroom and held a hand over her mouth, but she escaped. In
1991 he was arrested on a charge of fondling a five year old child.
Laws were lenient at the time and though he was to spend 10 years in
prison, he was paroled early and little or nothing was done to keep
track of his wandering whereabouts.
Jessica's law was subsequently
enacted in the State of Florida. Among the provisions adopted,
conviction for molestation of a child carries a mandatory sentence of
imprisonment for life...in Florida.
In 1995 a much more stringent bill
was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. If it had passed,
the law would have required that sex offenders wear Global Positioning
System devices. Other provisions would have stiffened supervision of
sex offenders. All States would have been required to mail - at random
times within each six months time period, a form that would have
required an immediate response from every sex offender registered
within their jurisdiction. They wouldn't have been floating around from
place to place, State to State, like Couey did - and other sex
offenders of his kind still do.
If passed, the bill would have
greatly reduced grant money available under the Violent Crime Control
and Enforcement Act of 1994 to any State that failed to conform to each
State's Sex Offender Registration laws.
The bill was referred to a
subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. It never was voted
upon by either that subcommittee, by the Judiciary Committee, nor by
the whole Congress and it died when the 109th Federal Congress
adjourned.
Why do you suppose it wasn't even voted on?
Ought we be concerned?
Granted, the charge of sex offender
is broad, and many persons who are identified as such are what
investigators identify as "Romeo and Juliet" offenders; situations that
fall under the statutory rape provisions in many States, but are not
always prosecuted to the fullest extent.
There is also no doubt that the
criminal justice system fails when people are unjustly charged and
convicted of all kinds of offenses.
I still believe there are other
John Coueys in our midst. They can be identified as such and ought to
be put on a very short leash.
73,
Phil Richardson, Observer and Storyteller
Phil's current post can be read at: http://www.imrightagain.com
If you wish to comment, Phil can be reached at: k7os (at) msn (dot) com