Letters to the Editor	Letters Archive

Got Enough

I have gotten 14 response to my MaleBox personals ad. I do not need to renew my ad.

C.R.
Bermuda

Made Canadian Friend

Thanks to your magazine's MaleBox personals I met lots of guys from different countries. I am especially glad about meeting a special guy from Canada.

M.P.H.
Cuba

Sign Me Back Up!

I had no intention of letting my subscription expire; please find enclosed my money order to renew my lapsed subscription. I am almost 80 years old and can barely keep track of bills. I may have trouble with m-a-i-l, but I am still hot for m-a-l-e!

D

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.F.
Lexington, Virginia

Life Sentences 'Too Lenient'?

I am a 32 year old gay man, fairly liberal, and a survivor of years of molestation at the hands of my biological father and his evil hearted cohorts. After reading Jim D'Entremont's article "Sex Offender Registries: Invitation To Vigilantism" [July 2006, available at www.guidemag.com], I was shaking with rage. This man sounds like a supporter of NAMBLA, or at least a part of what I call America's PC Taliban. Is he for real?

A federally standardized system of sex offender registration is absolutely necessary. All persons found guilty of serious child molestation should be in prison for the rest of their natural lives! As his article states, New Jersey's 1994 Megan Laws mandate a life sentence for second time sexual offenders, and this is absolutely right, if not too lenient.

Stephen A. Marshall's murder of registered sex offenders is also appalling, as I find murder for any reason morally abhorrent, however that does not invalidate the necessity of having a national sex offender registry. The registry does indeed serve a grand purpose: How many children were saved from abuse due to their parents' diligence in finding out where and what to avoid? How many parents who do the right thing and look up sex offenders in their neighborhoods are asked what they found, and what steps they took to protect their children?

One can find studies to support any harebrained theory, but your author did not one bit of research in his sex offender recidivism statistics. Check out the US D.O.J. website www.csom.org.

The author of this article also calls Dateline NBC's series by Chris Hansen " entrapment." Wow, this guy is writing an article for an international magazine and doesn't even know the definition of entrapment? A person is "entrapped" when he/she is induced or persuaded by a law enforcement official, or their agents, to commit a crime that he/she had no previous intent to commit; the law as a matter of policy forbids conviction in such a case.

I am still, and have been for years, a big fan of The Guide, and thank God every day that I live in a country where all opinions are allowed to be publicized. I disagree with the author, however I applaud him for voicing them! I will read your magazine every time I find an issue, and thank you for your time.

M.J.H.
cigani74@comcast.net

You would like 'serious child molestation' dealt with harshly. That suggests you recognize that there are 'less serious' kinds of child molestation. Indeed, it would be an advance if courts/laws would distinguish between real rape and 'less serious child molestation,' but prosecutors, along with press and Sex Offender Registries (SORs), trumpet every boy scout circle jerk as though it were forceful, violent sodomy; until our culture can imagine 'less serious child molestation' (try floating that phrase out loud and see how you're treated...), there will continue to be travesties of justice.

The article's recidivism statistics are accurate. But recidivism can be a tricky concept; does re-arrest for a non-sex crime count? Does accusation, without conviction, equal a repeat 'offense'? Does report of activity that is legal in one state, but that would be illegal in another state, count as 'offending behavior' even though no law was violated? No matter how recidivism is defined, is it wise or just policy to lock up people for potential crimes that some government agents predict might possibly be committed?

When government agents, or crusading vigilantes, pose as teenagers in chat rooms, flirt and entice men into sex discussions, and offer to meet-- all with the intention of arresting and prosecuting their 'targets'-- that is entrapment. You are right to note that convictions in such cases should be legally impermissible, but civil liberties are routinely ignored when sex crimes are involved. Years in prison is a manifestly unjust punishment for someone who never touched a non-existent 'victim.'