I Sat on the Jury for A Pedophile Case Once

It was a long time ago but I remember it vividly. The defense was the same as Foley's - he too had been molested as a child, so that's why he had done it. Just couldn't control himself. That attorney tried really, really hard to convince all twelve of us that we should feel sorry for the ADULT who sat there with his head down, trying to invoke sympathy. It didn't work.

We held the defendant accountable for his crime against a young boy and sent him to jail for fifty years. I've never regretted the decision and I never will. What that man did could not be blamed on what happened to him as a child. As an adult, he was responsible for his own actions. Period.

that guy (48) raped a 15 yr old girl with a flourescent light bulb... the pity party failed.

the jury sentenced him to 40 yrs.

that we break the cycle when victims of sexual abuse are young. Far too often they end up getting no help and then paying it forward to the next generation. (I work in juvenile corrections so I hear the horror stories all too often.)

and it has NEVER CROSSED MY MIND to do such a thing to another child!!! This makes me furious!

and would NEVER inflict that kind of pain on another child. They have no desire for that whatsoever.

If you're hard-wired for abuse, it seems you're going to do it no matter what happened in your childhood,

There is no cure, and unfortunate to say, but they should be no where near children. ie: a facility or prison is where they belong.

Those sick fuckers prey upon EVERYONE'S trust. They are IMPOSSIBLE to deal with. They are full of every variety of SHIT.

If you think a lifetime in a prison is bad, watch what a bear will do when you try to mess with her cub.

They have to be locked up. Maybe someday there will be a cure or a way to rehabilitate these. :shrug:

I just know I wouldn't want them around my kids.

Though I think if we, as a society, would ditch our repressed, puritantical attitudes toward human sexuality and
give our children straight answers on the subject- maybe we could prevent the 'making' of a predator - or predator's victim. With more openess and studies, maybe we could even fathom why predators are as they are.

In the meantime, there being no cure - they shouldn't be allowed interaction with minors if at all possible.

(I wonder about the "I can't help it" aspect in general. Is it a true compulsion - or is it just an ploy?)

Can we pleeeeeeez understand this???

This is sooo frustrating!

(to someone not yourself) is soooooooo enlightening.

Reading for comprehension: my musings were about societal views on sex as a whole and the possible contribution of repression to sexual dysfunction of all kinds.

You may feel free to resume your posture of indignation.

from eating Pringles to voting Republican to stuffing gerbils up one's rectum. It's very possible that not all, but many of them truly "can't help it." But that's irrelevant, they're dangerous and have to be locked up. Not for punishment, but for protection of society.

Unfortunately.

evidence that he is actually a rapist, though it seems strange that he would be priming these individuals for sex and not ensnaring any of them.

...say he was molested as a child?

Pardon my ignorance, and thanks for your jury service sparosnare. I have served on three of them.

claims he was molested by a priest when he was young. The alcoholism excuse didn't work apparently. Thank you for your jury service too. :hi:

In 2000 I was finally asked to serve on a jury (my first time) and it was a case in which a middle aged male had attempted to use physical force to move an adolescent boy, who looked like a female, into a van, while soliciting sexual acts. The humiliated, terrified boy testified against the defendant in court, and the case against him rested on this testimony. I believed him, and so did about eight of the others. It was a hung jury, and probably the worst experience of my life. For years I had wanted to serve on a jury, and all I learned is that jurors are incapable of analytical reasoning, and don't comprehend the difference between a Reasonable Doubt and a Possible Doubt. Since that case, I have gone out of my way to avoid jury duty. Prospective jurors should be required to submit IQ test results as far as I'm concerned.

so the lawyers would be looking for low IQs if tested. Smart people always try to get out of it anyway. The whole jury system needs drastic overhaul. I doubt it really works for a lot of cases. Let Judge Judy decide.

Yeah, you are right, but it saddens me. I thought it would be so exciting to sit on a jury--to set justice right and make a difference--and I made no difference at all, and just left the situation feeling hopeless and depressed.

I found out the hard way too. The system is more or less dysfunctional and wastes a lot of taxpayer's money IMO. It does not serve the average American. 'Justice' is all too elusive. Many people do not realize how vulnerable we all are with this delusion of a judicial system. That's my message to others. Get info. Learn about this. Like the election system, the judicial system is not something you can rely on at this point. It's better to know the truth about this than live in delusion, but it's a hard truth.

Forget juries. A lot of cases would be better decided by those who are familiar with the law and the types of cases being heard. I would prefer to see professional (non-elected) judges hearing most of them, maybe more than one judge if the case is complicated. Know-nothing juries are so easily manipulated.

Not all of them go on to do it themselves.
It may open the door to such behavior, but that person still has to walk through that door.

nm

There seems to conflicting definitions. I remember the boy who gave testimony was probably 9 or 10 and terrified.

and I never molested a kid..
Child molesters are psychopaths,they have lost their conscience or never had one..

There are tons of people that have been molested as kids and NEVER grew up to molest kids,Kids beaten abused tortured by their own parents who NEVER Abuse kids.How can that be? Kids mistreated horribly and they do not repeat the violence? .Everyone claims child abuse creates adult abusers, like a mantra but this is NOT true..

Because if it was true. EVERY person molested or abused as a kid would repeat the pattern predictably and many child hood abused adults DO NOT abuse kids when they grow up,...but some do,just like some kids raised in caring good homes grow up serial killers and molestors even though they were never abused..How can this be?

..What is the differences about these people being overlooked?..The kids who grow up to abuse kids as adults are psychopaths to begin with...IN reality, child abuse does not consistently produce adult abusers, but psychopathy does,create people who are child or adult abusers regardless of their upbringing as kids .

Psychopathy is the factor that counts here.I think.

How come nobody has really studied the differences and reactions to the upbringing between non psychopathic kids and psychopath kids/adults?,and compare how they were treated as kids and how they treat people when they grew up?..I bet the study will find psychopath kids grow up to be psychopath adults regardless of how they are treated. Abused Non psychopath kids may be rough and have mile thick defenses but they will have a consience inside..

Psychopathy has no cure because it is the personality of psychopathy that is who a psychopath person IS ,the psychopath has no conscience.