Sex blotter

Yesterday's local newspaper made for some depressing lunchtime reading.

You had the guy who was accidentally shot and seriously wounded by his brother-in-law during a hunting expedition. Fortunately, the guy is expected to pull through despite injuries to his kidneys, liver and intestines. On the upside, we now have a potential replacement if Vice-President Cheney ever resigns.

Then you had the guy who was arrested and charged with molesting a one-week old baby. Talk about something to make you lose your appetite.

You know there are going to be idiots and scumbags out there but you sort of hope the justice system will take care of most of them. I hate to sound like The New York Post but this article really left me scratching my head.

A Warrensburg (NY) teen pleaded guilty to a series of sex abuse charges and will spend five years in prison. The Post-Star notes that he could have faced up to 25 years in prison on one of the rape charges alone, as well as consecutive sentences for the other charges. The deal was opposed by the Warren County district attorney's office. The teen's brother also faces sex crime charges.

The short five year sentence is disturbing. The charges alone are serious enough. According to the paper, they include multiple felony counts of first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and first-degree sexual abuse for sex acts with 5 young girls ages 9 to 14, as well as restraining and threatening the girls during the assaults.

We're not talking about an 18 year old having consensual sex with a 17 year old here.

And it wasn't simply a one time lapse in judgement either.

The now-18 year old plead guilty to all FORTY-NINE charges against him which cover acts committed 'over a several-year period.'

A psychologist concluded that the teen (and his brother) were 'likely to reoffend.'

Yet for admitting to serious sex crimes perpetrated repeatedly against pre-teen girls over a several year period, he gets only five years in jail.

I know that sometimes the hysteria over sex abuse allegations can get out of control and drown out rational discussion of this problem. But five years for serious, violent and repeated sex crimes against pre-teens is obscene by any standard.