Another Loss Due to a Sexual Predator

In the headlines today, another young woman's body has been found. Amber Dubois disappeared a little over a year ago while walking to her high school in Escondido. She was only 14. Her family had held out hope that somehow, somewhere she was still alive. Jaycee Dugard's story, while tragic, made them feel that it was possible that Amber could be alive. On Saturday, those hopes were dashed when her body was found in a remote area of San Diego County. Just days ago, the body of Chelsea King was found in a similar area. A registered sex offender, John Albert Gardner III, was arrested in connection with Chelsea's murder and is currently being investigated in the disappearance of Amber as well. He lived with his mother in the same area during the time Amber went missing. Gardner lived recently in Lake Elsinore, California, a community in the area in which I live and work. Over the past few months, we have been periodically called with the Lake Elsinore Unified School District warning that there was a predator lurking around schools and accosting girls. A few times, abductions were attempted and one time he exposed himself to students waiting at a bus stop. The picture provided looks remarkably like Mr. Gardner.

When will it end? This is such an easy fix! If someone qualifies as a registered sex offender, they should not be on the street. We need to be considering chemical or medical castration for these individuals, as well as long-term incarceration. Some may call that "cruel and unusual punishment". However, what those girls endured went beyond that. If we can save one child from these predators, then it would be worth all the tax dollars we spend to keep them in jail for life. There are murderers on death row who killed in a fit of rage or vengeance. They are a lot less dangerous to society than the ones who kill for their own selfish pleasure. And yet, sex offenders get a couple of years and a slap on the wrist and out they go to do it again and again. The recidivism rate is higher in sexual crimes than in another other type of crime. In the case of Mr. Gardner, a psychologist had recommended he not be released because it was felt that he would re-offend. So it was known that he was a danger. And one, two, or possibly more families are paying the price for the bad judgment that put him back out on the street.

How important are our daughters, our children? Our representatives need to know. They need to be bombarded with demands for legislation that will castrate and commit these people for life or for long enough that they could never again endanger a child -- your child, my child, anyone's child. Please take a moment and write one letter, and then encourage everyone else you know to write at least one letter to the people who are supposed to protect and serve us.