Forty-seven-year-old Kirk Fugelseth is being recommended for release from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program in St. Peter, and Moose Lake, Minnesota. This man admitted to molesting more than 30 children between the ages of 3 to 14. After his first conviction for molesting two Oregon boys, he was convicted again in 1997 after admitting to molesting his girlfriend’s 9-year-old daughter. Studies show that repeat sex offenders are more likely to repeat the offense even after going through treatment programs, and having jail time, and Fugelseth is just another example of someone repeating criminal activity even after prior convictions and jail time. Most rapists also have a 46 percent conviction rate for new, non-sexual crimes, as well as repeat offenses according to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.
There have been a lot of cases in which a guilty person was let free, or once they were released from jail time, they repeated crimes. Now, I know we can’t be fully sure what someone is going to do, but by seeing statistics we know it’s a pretty high chance that a criminal will have repeat offenses.
Personally, I am a strong believer in second chances, and I understand people make mistakes. But the mistake of sexually assaulting someone? That isn’t a mistake. And it doesn’t deserve a second chance. A criminal could know “If I do this, I may get a few years in prison- but I will get out.” And of course they don’t want that- but they do know the punishment isn’t permanent. If we had the strongest possible punishment from the start, people would be stray from committing the crime in the first place. If you knew from the start, “If I commit this crime, I’m going to be in jail for the rest of my life,” you may be a bit more cautious about whether you should commit the crime or not.
A graph from Statistics from Justice Department, National Crime Victimization Survey: 2006-2010 and FBI reports shows the alarming percentages. The majority or rapes aren’t even reported, and then of those reported, hardly any are jailed. And of the jailed ones, a large amount repeat the act. If temporary jail time isn’t stopping the crime repetition, what will?
Proven rape convictions need a stronger punishment in order to deter rapists.
