This decision has drawn sharp criticism on both sides.

While one side argues that it’s unconstitutional and un-American to permanently detain people after they’ve officially served their time, it’s a well known fact that violent sex offenders, especially those who prey on children, cannot be rehabilitated. So, the real question is — why aren’t these types of offenders given truthful sentences to begin with?

The post Holding sex offenders indefinitely appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

He will be known as a sexual predator who used his riches and fame to escape the hand of the law.

Yes. It is a shame that such a brilliant talent will go down like that.

A bigger shame is that he’s gotten away with it for so long.

As a survivor of sexual crimes, it makes me ill to see that he’s never fully acknowledged his crime or served the penalty for victimizing a 13-year-old girl.

As a mother of a 5-year-old girl, it makes me sick think that we have not eliminated people like this from society. I constantly worry about someone taking her innocence as mine was.

As a citizen of the world, it makes me nauseous that France and Poland are asking the United States to turn a blind eye to this man’s crimes because they occurred more than 35 years ago.

While time gives us perspective on life, it may not heal all wounds, especially these kinds of wounds.

The irony of the situation does not escape me. Polanski’s mother died in a concentration camp. Would the crimes against his family been more forgivable if they had been at the hand of a brilliant German artist? Are the crimes of the Holocaust any less heinous because they occurred more than 75 years ago? How can he and those that defend him not see this? Of, if they do see it, ignore it and claim that hampering Polanski’s artistic potential is more important than justice for his victim?

Does it matter that Polanski used drugs and alcohol to coerce his victim instead of a gun or a knife?

I’m sorry Whoopi Goldberg and Martin Scorsese. Rape is rape. He took her innocence. He’s gotten away with it. He needs to serve his time.

The only thing that’s more disgusting than people defending Polanski’s actions is the energy that’s been expended on this particular case. How many other children are voiceless victims of sexual predators?

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics:

• 67 percent of all victims of sexual assault were juveniles
• One out of seven victims in reported sexual assaults are under six
• Convicted rape and sexual assault offenders serving time in State prisons report that two-thirds of their victims were under the age of 18, and 58% of those–or nearly 4 in 10 imprisoned violent sex offenders–said their victims were aged 12 or younger.
• In 90% of the rapes of children less than 12 years old, the child knew the offender.

That should make you sick.

If you’re a parent, think of your child’s class. There are probably 30 or so kids in that room. By the time they finish high school, how many of them will have their innocence stolen by someone they trusted.

We have a choice here. We can keep the spotlight on Roman Polanski and hold him accountable, or we can focus our energies on protecting out kids from people like him. As much as I’d love to see him pay his price,

I have to choose prevention over punishment. One more victim is one too many.

Learn more about what you can do to keep our kids safe at organizations like Prevent Child Abuse America or The Child Abuse Prevention Association or an organization near you.

The post One is too many. appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

Yes, Drew Peterson is engaged. Remember him? He’s the former cop from Illinois whose wife vanished last year. He’s been in People and on Dr. Phil, two staples in my household, so I’m familiar with his case. 

There are no details about his fiancee other than she’s young (23) and lives about 15 minutes away from Mr. Peterson.

Since you’ve probably been out getting those last-minute holiday gifts under the tree, let me refresh your memory. The dude has been married not once, not twice, but four times. He cheated on wife #1. He started dating wife #3 while still married to wife #2.  Then wife #3 dies in the bathtub, her death recently being re-classified as a homicide. And now wife #4 has gone missing, and he’s a suspect.

If you think this gentleman would be a good catch, raise your hand. I didn’t see any up.

I have no idea whether or not Drew was involved in his wife’s disappearance, and no charges have been filed. But, he’s had been three other marriages that didn’t end well. Isn’t the best predictor of future behavior past behavior?

Perhaps I’m getting pickier as I’m getting older, but when I think about a potential mate, infidelity and disappearing spouses aren’t desirable traits.

Are women so afraid to be alone they will date and/or settle for people with questionable backgrounds? On the flip side, can people change? Could marriage #5 be the “happily ever after” for Drew Peterson and his wife-to-be?

The post Drew Peterson Getting Re-Married? appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

For those not familiar with the term, CASA is an acronym for Court Appointed Special Advocate. The short version is, when a child has entered the SRS system for anything ranging from neglect to abuse to behavioral issues, the Court will appoint a CASA to independently research the case and present their views on what will be in the best interest of the child (when a volunteer is available, which is sadly not always the case).

Yeah, I know it’s going to break my heart on a daily basis. But that already happens everytime I read the news, and I’m sick of just feeling sick about it.

Even before I found an established religion that resonated with me, I prayed. A lot. Even when I proclaimed myself to be a cynical hard-ass bitter atheist.

I rarely prayed for myself, aside from the occasional, “Oh, just . . . thank You.”, and those were a lot rarer back then than they are now; I’ve been sending that bleep out into the universe multiple times daily these past few years. But when I read of a child victimized, something in me just screamed so hard it ruptured something in my psyche and set it bleeding, like a small ulcer. Always. Every single time. And it wasn’t just a “help them”, it was more visceral than that, more to the effect of, “I’ll take their pain if you’ll spare them from it. I can handle it; they can’t.”

But I’ve begun to realize that prayer isn’t the email to the impersonal webmaster I once thought it was, that it isn’t ignored or responded to with a stock PR reply. I’ve begun to recognize that I’m getting answers to those prayers, and it isn’t in the form of a divine hand of mercy miraculously lifting said child out of its mire of desperation and into the sort of childhood every human being deserves. I’m not getting a sense of “peace, my child, all will be well.”

Instead, I’m getting a firm kick in the ass.

Maybe it’s the experience of parenting a child of my own that’s awakened this awareness. Maybe it’s something much less defineable.

Maybe I went and grew a social conscience when I wasn’t looking.

Now, when I get that feeling like I’m going to vomit and cry and punch something all at the same time when reading of yet one more horror in an endless stream of atrocities against innocents, it’s inextricably mixed up with a combination of guilt and passionate activism.

Someone is trying to tell me that I’m ready, now, to quit just feeling sorry for these kids, but instead do whatever is in my limited power to make any miniscule difference I can.

I don’t believe that G-d has every detail of every human life planned out, and that His plan will inevitably guide every person to fulfill their purpose in His creation. Reading the Old Testament as an adult has purged that delusion, if common sense hasn’t.

I do, however, believe that G-d put me here to make the word a better place than it was when I arrived. I believe that’s His wish for all souls, but for reasons beyond my fathoming, He lets us make the decision to do that, or not, as we will.

So I’ve begun to think that just writing rambling memoirs about my experience as one of the earth’s biggest scumbags, and consort to more of the same, isn’t enough to fulfill that intention.

I quite adamantly believe that my unique voice is the gift I was given this time around, and that how I use it will be my single most important contribution to mankind, small as it may be.

But I’m beginning to think that the written word, serving my own ego, isn’t the vehicle that’s going to accomplish that.

Instead, I think that I’m meant to use my experiences and insights in a much more direct manner.

I used to think that my own story was the only one I was meant to make heard.

I now realize that this was narcissistic bullshit.

People like me who were given the gift of extraordinarily moving expression aren’t necessarily given said gift just to tell their own stories. There are those much more important than us, whose voices have been stolen from them, and we have a duty as decent human beings to use this talent to aid them.

And I have experiences that I believe are uniquely suited to this sort of work.

It’s time I expanded my repertoire.

The post Social conscience says WHAT?! appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

Around the same time, the idiot parents of poor little 15-month-old Ava Worthington of Oregon were indicted in Ava’s death for their attempts to “faith-heal” the baby of her bronchial pneumonia–which led to a blood infection that could have been treated with antibiotics. 

As the article about Ava notes, laws were passed in the 1990s that struck down legal shields for faith-healers after the deaths of several children whose parents were members of the fundamentalist church.  The Worthingtons were indicted on Friday on manslaughter and criminal mistreatment charges, but it is unclear whether the Neumanns will be charged.  According to a Chicago Tribune report, Wisconsin law says that a parent cannot be accused of abuse or neglect of a child if “in good faith” they selected prayer as a basis of treatment for a disease.  An investigation has begun into whether the Neumanns had a “a good faith belief” that their daughter could be cured through prayer.  

My thought is that if Madeline was FUCKING BEDRIDDEN, there’s no way in hell the parents could have had a good faith belief she would be fine if they lit some candles and said a few Hail Marys.  Fucking assholes.

I believe in God, and I pray.  I pray more when I need or want more, which sucks, but you can bet your sweet ass that I’d be praying to my God, everyone else’s God, the real doctors and the people that play them on TV if my babies were that ill.  If my babies were lethargic and wanted to stay in bed for a few days, and they appeared to be getting thinner, and they just wanted me to hold them, I would probably have a Civil Protection Order against me to stay AWAY from the doctor’s office because I’d been there too many times.  

My son had a five-day fever last year and the doctor’s office staff was probably referring to me as “Norm” from Cheers I had been there so many times.  I’m not saying I drugged him up with everything under the sun, but I wanted a professional medical person overseeing my child and informing me thoroughly so that I could make proper decisions about his care.

My son ended up losing five pounds with that fever and looked so thin that I burst into tears when I put him in the bath at the end of that week.  I called in my husband so I could run out and buy milkshakes. 

What about the Worthingtons and the Neumanns?  I wonder what they’re feeling now.  Milkshakes aren’t going to bring back their beautiful daughters, and I hope all their asses get locked up for so long they forget what ice cream tastes like.  

The post Sickos just praying for the sick is SICKENING appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

Man jailed for microwaving baby

A jury in Texas has sentenced a man to 25 years in prison for severely burning his two-month-old daughter in a microwave oven last year.

The jury rejected Joshua Mauldin’s defence that he was insane when he placed his daughter Ana in the oven.

Prosecutors said Mauldin had a history of violence, lying about being mentally ill and was angry about his marriage.

Ana, now aged one, suffered second and third-degree burns to her face and left side and required two skin grafts.

Part of her left ear had to be amputated.

Her foster mother, Heather Croxton, told the court of the painful daily treatments Ana has had to undergo since being left in the microwave for up to 20 seconds.

“There is no excuse for your actions and I hate that one day you will be set free and allowed to move on with your life while Ana continues to pay for your actions,” she said.

Mauldin’s lawyer, Sam Cammack, said his client would not get the treatment he needs for mental illness in prison.

— BBC News

The post 25 years just isn’t enough appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

So, I must ask, how can anyone oppose the death penalty in a cases such as these? How??

The post Justice served appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

Photos have emerged of the poor, nerdy boys who were probably crapping their pants in worry over a charge that could have ruined their lives. The boys were required to apologize and ante up $250 in damages to the four girls. Charges were dropped because, well, the whole thing was ridiculous.

They were originally charged with felony and misdemeanor sex abuse charges in February. Amid growing public opposition to sending the boys to prison and putting them on a sex offenders’ registry, prosecutors dropped the felony sex abuse charges and added misdemeanor harassment charges, then later dropped all sex abuse charges, leaving only the harassment counts.

The judge dismissed the final charges following negotiations between prosecutors and the defense, and discussions with the four girls about whether they wanted the case dismissed.

Picture of Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison, the scary, “felons”

The post Butt slappin’ justice appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

This article names a few people who believe the restraining order violated McClellen’s first amendment rights and assert that until he actually molests a child (or is caught — it wouldn’t surprise me if he already has), that his taking pictures of toddler girls, posting them on his website, and explaining to other pedophiles where to find them and observe little girls (which they refer to as “LGs”) for sexual gratification is all perfectly legal.

As a result, his case has stirred debate, particularly since his arrest on Monday, over whether attempting to restrict unseemly behavior that isn’t criminal violates a person’s constitutional rights.

“There is no law against someone making you feel uncomfortable,” said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and a Loyola Law School professor. “There’s a line to cross and I don’t think he has yet. He’s tiptoeing around the law.”

My question is…what about the rights of a toddler or a child? Don’t they have any privacy rights? Don’t they deserve to be protected from sexual depravity and exploitation?

Why isn’t this behavior illegal??

Why do pedophiles have more rights than small children? What makes a pedophile more important than a baby or child? I just don’t get it.

I mean, why should a 3 year old, or a 4, 5, 6 year old, or any child be aware that there are creepy men that lust after them and if they want to take their picture, put it up on the internet and/or sit next to them and sexually fantasize about them, then they just have to deal. If a man wants to sit underneath a playground set and look up a small child’s skirt, is society obligated to protect that right???

That should be unacceptable to any human being with any decency.

We need law makers to act. Unfortunately, our laws are not adequate for this new internet threat. Our founding fathers could not have had the foresight to imagine a loophole would exist to make the exploitation of children legal.

This is not okay. It should never be okay.

The post Why isn’t this illegal? appeared first on Imperfect Parent.

Three Canadian boys, ages 7 – 9 years old, stripped a 6-year-old boy naked and pushed him into a lake where he drowned.

In Canada, nothing can be done to prosecute the boys, since they’re all under 12 — in my opinion a gross injustice. I’m not saying to throw them in maximum security prison, but really, nothing? No punishment at all? They will get away with it and in my opinion, since most bullies have parents that are also bullies, this will be the first of a long string of abuse and violence they will exhibit throughout their lives without proper intervention.

The boy, Adam Keeper, drowned because he didn’t know how to swim. He was only 6 years old and now these bullies will feel no consequences for what they did.

What makes a child so evil? What turns children into cold blooded murderers?

We are well past the days of telling children to simply “suck it up” when teased and tormented by other kids. You cannot “suck it up” when you’re dealing with sociopathic children. Even in America, we need much stiffer laws regarding bullies and the management of bullies. In my opinion, bullies should be removed from their homes as any child of neglect would be as it directly reflects a parents ability to manage and nurture their child. Parents have an obligation to teach their child empathy and to make sure their anger is directed properly. Plus, bullying can manifest itself from other emotional problems the child is suffering, but it is never appropriate to displace those emotional deviancies on other children. I have to wonder if these bullies are not being abused themselves.

Or, are there children that are just born “bad”?

The post Bullying turns into murder appeared first on Imperfect Parent.