Reply #57: It breaks my heart, but I agree

[Bucky]

They need to be quaranteened like any other disease. Sexual predators have somethink like a 95% recidivism rate. If they molest or otherwise sexually abuse children once, there's an overwhelming likelihood that they'll attack again, almost regardless of treatment or punishment.

My former minister, a pacifist Buddhist-Unitarian with almost predictably liberal inclinations, studied this problem and came out in favor of chemical or surgical castration of sexual offenders of minors. The problem is simply that irreversible.

I strongly disagree with anything that encourages vigilantism. We're a nation of laws and we need to stand by our values. But as a believer in the rule of law, I think the law needs to realistically respond to the crimes it seeks to curtail and punish. In this case the harshest traditional sentences, temporary incarceration for a very long time, is entirely ineffectual. Treatment for these poor souls is desireable, but the physical isolation of them is absolutely necessary if we're serious about protecting children from their crimes.