Sex Offender Sentences - Enough is Enough

When on earth are we going to learn? Reading today about another case of a sex offendergetting let out on bail early only to offend again . The case i'm talking about is that of Richard Ewing who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison. In 1995 he was convicted of raping a mother-of-three in 1989 as well as a woman who was out walking her dog in Devon.

He was sentenced to 18 years and let out on license after 10. He has now admitted 2 accounts of rape and 3 other charges. How long are we going to let this go on?

Now first of all, it's worth noting that this is not the fault of the courts or the probation office. They follow strict guidelines that are set out to them and this if this guy behaves well during his stay in prison and completes the necessary courses, he gets released early.

Where we have went wrong and where we have let down both the 17yr old girl and the mother who would've known that he'd been released, is that this guys should never be released from prison and especially not into a situation where he could easily offend again.

Our laws have let these people down and it really is time that something was done about it.

The first question that I want answered is what we are hoping to acheive by imprisoning rapists for 4yr and 10yr jail terms. I can only assume that someone somewhere thinks that by taking someone's freedom away for this period, they will learn their lessons and not have any uncontrollable sexual compulsions ever again? In short, we've got it all wrong.

It's quite obvious that a our methods of punishment (which haven't really changed for hundreds of years) just weren't really designed for this sort of thing. If I steal something, you lock me up (well, if i did it 50 times or so), I learn that if I steal, my freedom gets taken away and I don't steal again. Society believes that I can reform my character and I may have been driven to this by a set of circumstances such as poverty or drug addiction but again I can clean up my act and integrate into society, go into shops without stealing things...

Now, if I molest a child or rape someone, can I clean up my act, can I learn my lesson? After four years in prison would you let me live next to your kid's school or live next door to you? Go on, i'm a reformed character! Exactly, I didn't think so.

I think the first step that we have to take is to acknowledge that not all crime is the same. By that I mean that not all prisoners deserve the "second chance" that we as a society currently afford them. I think that we have to take a stand and say that if you commit one of these crimes, you will not be given a second chance and you will be removed from society permanently. Alternatively, you can release these people in a state that doesn't allow them to commit the crime again. If that means through surgical mean, so be it...

It sounds extreme but really it's just common sense. The world has a massive population and society has a massive burden in providing for everyone. Is it really right to ask the tax payer to fork out £37,500 plus maximum security costs to keep these people?

I know that this country is compassionate in it's nature and I think it's admirable that we choose not to have the death penalty. But again, it comes down to this idea of different levels of crime. I do believe that someone can commit murder, be fully rehabilitated and never come into contact with the courts again. I've read quite a bit of the background of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson who abducted Jamie Bulger. I know that it must be unbearable for the Bulger family but we, again as a society have to accept responsibility for the boy's rehabilitation and hopefully we won't hear about them again. However, I don't believe that people charged with certain types of sexual offence can be reformed. If there's a 1% chance that they will reoffend, they should never be allowed out again. We are compassionate but we have to realise that we owe more to society than we do to them.

Enough is enough, there have been too many of these cases. It's time to put an end to it.