Some monsters shouldn’t be allowed to live among us

I guess we get to add another name to the list.

It’s a sordid and sorry list, but it’s one we’d better keep – if only to remind ourselves of how much protection our kids still need.

It’s a list that already includes individuals like Richard Allen Davis who, on the night of Oct. 1, 1993, made his way into the bedroom of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, tied up her two sleep-over companions, and then abducted her. When Polly’s body was found, it was determined that she’d been brutally raped and strangled.

It’s a list that includes Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, whose recent arrest led to the discovery of written records allegedly detailing thousands of cases of child molestation dating back more than 30 years.

It’s a list that includes John E. Couey – a registered sex offender – who confessed to the recent abduction and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford.

And now we get to add Joseph Edward Duncan to that list. He’s the individual who has been charged with kidnapping Dylan and Shasta Groene after allegedly murdering their mother, their mother’s boyfriend and their older brother.

By the time Duncan was captured, 9-year-old Dylan was dead but, by the grace of God and with the help of two restaurant workers, Shasta was rescued. Police report that, while being held, both Dylan and Shasta endured a nightmare.

These are only a few of the most recent names on that list and, for sure, it’s going to grow.

I don’t know how many more children have to die before we decide that we’ve had enough, but with all that’s happened, you’d think we’d be demanding more by now.

I know that we’re supposed to be thinking along the lines of “learning” what makes these individuals tick. I know that we should be trying to understand the cause of their “behavioral” problems and making “every effort” to find a “cure” and reintegrate them into society.

I know all of that, but I just don’t feel it. That’s because we’ve been there, tried that, and the T-shirt stinks.

What my gut tells me is that we should come down on these folks like a ton of bricks and if there’s any rehabilitation to be done, it should be done while they’re behind bars. The bottom line is that children keep getting abused, molested, and – worst case – raped and murdered while we’re trying to understand the wiring diagram of these perverted minds.

I don’t think that we’ve reached the point where we’re about to grab our representatives and snatch them bald if they don’t change some laws, but there’s a case to be made that we’re getting close. Parents are fed up. They’re tired of excuses and programs that don’t work. They’re sick of news reports noting that yet another sick and twisted lowlife has hurt yet another child.

If you listen closely, you’ll start hearing proposals that if anyone abuses or molests a child, 20 or so years of breaking big rocks into little ones sounds like a damned fine idea. You’ll start hearing proposals that if these individuals re-offend after getting out, then they should be put back in jail to sit in some cramped cell contemplating their sorry lives until the day they die. You’ll start hearing proposals that if someone rapes and kills a child as a first offense, a life sentence should be imposed immediately. No time off. No chance for parole. End of story.

For certain, things need to change. For too long, these individuals have taken our unwillingness to deal decisively with them and turned it into an opportunity to satisfy their twisted sexual needs.

If there’s any doubt that we need to act, I’d ask you to watch the next news report regarding the molestation, abuse, rape or murder of a child at the hands of one of these individuals.

I’d ask you to look into the faces of the parents and then, close your eyes and imagine taking their place.

Then I’d ask if you still think our highest priority should be “rehabilitating” or “understanding” these individuals.

Keep looking at that list.

It’s one hell of a reminder.

Larry Simoneaux lives in Edmonds. Comments can be sent to larrysim@att.net.