W.W. e-mails a comment on The Other Charlotte’s kudos to California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his ballot initiative that would toughen state laws against sex offenders. (See “Sex Offenders: Send Them More Than a ‘Message,'” Oct. 14).
Right now, believe it or not, convicted sex offenders are actually a protected class in California,
and landlords can be sued for refusing to rent to them (yes, you read that right). So when and if the creep who allegedly murdered 17-year-old Taylor Behl in Virginia gets out from behind bars (where he is right now on an unrelated charge connected to child pornography), he can move to California right next door to your kid!
Writes W.W.:
“We need to design a community where sex and other violent offenders can be allowed a quasi-normal life without contact with children and under constant surveillance. Devil’sIisland or something.”
I dunno about the “quasi-normal life” for people who have committed quasi-unspeakable crimes, but I do like the idea of Devil’s Island. Here’s a description:
“The prisoners were forced to work in water up to their waist, assaulted by malarial mosquitoes, baked by the sun. They were underfed and overworked.
“Their daily work task was to cut one stire of wood (one cubic meter). Failure to meet the quota resulted in their being fed only dry bread that day. The next day the prisoner was confronted with the same quota he’d been unable to meet the day before.”
Bring it back!