Andare, Partire, Tornare ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Moral ponderings Y'know, I forgot I had written about the neighborhood trouble with the young girl, and the possible attempted seduction via erotic letter of her by the much older neighbor. After all the hue and cry, all the charges against the man were dropped - apparently the girl lied to the police about a whole bunch of stuff, and in the end, there wasn't enough evidence to even indite the neighbor. It's not against the law to write down illicit thoughts and feelings (the neighbor admits he wrote it, and has been in counciling ever since the arrest, but denied ever wanting the girl to read it) but the crime was in whether or not he attempted to show it to the girl in order to attempt to lure her into a sexual relationship. When I related this to my friends, C, the schoolteacher, promptly said that she hoped the girl wouldn't be reluctant to seek help if anything like this ever happened again, since the charges were dismissed on this particular case. The statement vaguely irritated me, although it took me a few minutes to figure out why. I believe it's because it does presuppose that the girl was an innocent victim in all of this, and that the neighbor was guilty of attempting to seduce her. It also seems to indicate that the girl might have been "hushed up" by the neighborhood. In fact, the opposite was true. The girl was fully supported by the majority of people in the neighborhood, and the accused neighbor (who hadn't been tried yet) was subjected to graffiti and harassing signs posted on his door. Another neighbor took it upon herself to tour the houses, telling everybody to beware. My friend C's remark seemed to indicate that the only good ending to the whole matter would have been the neighbor being put in jail - guilty or no. I know she didn't mean it that way, but she is highly sensitized to being protective of the children in her care, and that probably influenced some of her thoughts on the matter. It is human instinct to protect kids fiercely, but my other good friend A, during this discussion, said fiercely that anybody even suspected of an offence against a kid needed to live in an area where there were no kids around to be threatened. Where this area might be, she didn't say. Siberia, perhaps?(note...A is the only one with a kid among my friends, so to her this is far more than just an intellectual exercise) I suppose this might be a problem with no real solution. Recidivism rates on child molesters are fearfully high, but the problem is that some of them do get therapy, and don't pose any danger anymore. I personally know two who fall into this category (neither of them had comitted great crimes, but they had both set one foot on that path). I think I need to start coming up with nicknames for my friends...A and C and T are rather boring, after all. I'll think on't. 1:20 p.m. - 2001-08-16 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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