November 26th / 28th
"Society Too Quick to Forgive and Forget"
Life is all about second chances. That's why a lot of wives stay married
after their husband cheats on them. That's why many employers are willing to
hire non-violent offenders who have paid their debt to society. There are,
however, three crimes for which an offender always seems to escape doing
hard time, and from which he never deserves a second chance. They are: child
abuse, DWI homicide, and animal abuse.
Until recently the Vatican has been notorious for glossing over child
sexual abuse by priests who would usually receive no punishment, or were just
transferred to another parish. Fortunately we are making progress on the sex
offender front. The Pope is cleaning up his act, meanwhile communities
across America are maintaining sex offender registries which help to notify
parents when a sicko just out of prison moves into their neighborhood.
Personally I don't believe that a child abuser can be rehabilitated, so my
preference would be life in prison for confessed predators, but I'm not holding
my breath for that level of reform.
I have also written extensively about people who drive drunk and kill
someone in the process. For one thing there is no consistent approach to
sentencing, even from county to county, so often times, the guilty party only
receives a light sentence. Several years ago, a local TV anchor went bar
hopping one night, got sloshed, and refused to take a cab home. Instead he
decided to drive drunk and his deliberate decision resulted in the death of a
pedestrian. The drunk driver served less than two years in jail when he
should have been put away for life. But hey, he's a changed man now, right? And
society loves to give a changed man a second chance.
And that brings me to the sickening saga of NFL star quarterback Michael
Vick, who, together with his buddies, tortured and murdered animals at
Vick's Virginia dog fighting compound. As with child abuse and DWI homicide, the
penalties for animal abusers are a joke. Even the recent Susie's Law (so
named for a Guilford county dog who was tortured) will not deter serial
offenders because serious prison time is still not on the table.
For a brief moment after Vick's release from his very brief imprisonment,
there was a wave of protest about his return to the NFL. Then, Vick said he
was a changed man. He did all the right things. Spoke to youth groups,
even got the Humane Society to buy into his act. Last season when Vick
returned to the field it was only as a part-time player, and I was encouraged that
many sporting goods stores around the country refused to stock his #7
jersey. But guess what? This season, Vick is playing great football, and all is
forgiven. His jerseys are the number one seller again, his team is
winning, and TV commentators only mention his past problems in passing, never
elaborating on the nature of his heinous crimes. And after his super
performance against the Washington Redskins earlier this month, Vick is even being
mentioned as a possible MVP candidate. Fortunately I have a suggestion for
how that honor might be squashed. The NFL Commissioner should force
broadcasters to show video of the dogs Vick burned and hung every time they show him
making a great play on the field. Let's see how many MVP jerseys he sells
then.
To forgive and forget is a nice sentiment, but the problem with our
society is we tend to forgive the offender and forget the victims. That's why
until abusers and drunk murderers are given the punishments they really
deserve, we must constantly be reminded of what they actually did. Maybe we
could come up with a system of scarlet lettered shirts that former offenders
would be required to wear in public for the rest of their lives. Perhaps a
letter "A" for animal abuse. A letter "C" for child abuse.
And, a letter "D" for drunk driving homicide. Now those are some
jerseys I'd love to see in the stores.
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