[Vision2020] Reponse to Jackie and Wayne

[Andreas Schou]

On 9/16/06, Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Jackie,
>
>  It is legally possible to defend child molesters AFTER a conviction. They
> go to trial and visit a judge later after their conviction, for early
> release and the ability to get in a car unsupervised, and go to work,
> church, a doctor, etc, their lawyers are the ones that get them those
> rights. I don't think they should be able to travel or be released
> unsupervised. You are free to disagree.
>
>  Second, Sunil and others do defend convicted child molesters. They admit so
> much.
>
>  Wayne,
>
>  Perhaps you can outline for V2020 what rights you think convicted child
> molesters should have? Perhaps you can explain why an unsupervised release
> of a convicted child molester takes precedence over that of the safety of
> the general public? And why these rights of self admitted and convicted
> child molesters get support and public dollars while millions of other poor,
> elderly, and disabled plights for justice go unheard?

The rights of child molesters get support and public dollars because
without a justice system, imprisonment has no more moral authority
than kidnapping.  Sunil has a job as important as the prosecutor, and
unlike a private criminal defense attorney, there's not an enormous
economic interest in what he's doing. No public defender likes letting
guilty people free -- but without an effective defense, even an
effective defense for the guilty,  the categories "innocent" and
"guilty" are perfectly meaningless.

This applies even to appeals. Especially to appeals. Because when we
convict someone innocent, it's a crime in which we are all complict.

Because I work in the legal system, and am generally in agreement with
the people sitting at the other council desk, this is not a
meaningless thing to say. Juries are insufficiently educated and
prosecutors are timid when it comes to sexual assault. Sexual assault
is a difficult crime to prosecute, and Sunil's job is to make it more
difficult. Though I've never worked with the victim of someone Sunil
defends, I'm sure that, in that situation, I would only appreciate
Sunil's efforts in the most abstract way possible -- but I would still
appreciate them.

-- ACS