Anyone else hear about a movement in Arkansas toward reforming the nature and extent of sexual-offender laws and consequences of conviction?
Understandably, few legislators--if any--care to bite a big ol' chunk out of that politically toxic issue.
If I were a politician, I certainly wouldn't want to have to cast a vote on whether to lessen the restrictions on where and how convicted offenders can live in society. A vote for more reasonable changes could easily be made to appear like I was supporting the criminals' actions.
Yet I also can understand that, when it comes to sexual offenders, the nature and extent of their crimes do vary widely.
An extensive story in a recent Northwest Arkansas paper about proposed reforms explored the pros and cons of making changes.
One example that highlighted the point was the story of 32-year-old Rome Swan of Fayetteville who, through poor judgment, learned a lesson about legalistic sexual offending and its indelible consequences.
The story said that, after being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, Swan's life and future seemed bright. He was married, a graduate student at Arkansas Tech University, and had ambitions to become a high school teacher.
Then came December 2007, and all the promise and hopes his life held unraveled. Swan was arrested and charged with Internet stalking of a child, sexual indecency with a child and enticement of a child.
Talk about a nightmarish scenario for most anyone, and an object lesson for those who peruse the Internet seeking human interaction. Rome said he'd initiated a relationship by chatting online with a person initially identifying herself as a 19-year-old woman (in other words, considered of legal age).
Well, wouldn't you just know, it turned out the supposed young woman was an undercover police officer. Rome concedes to sending hundreds of pornographic pictures to the presumed woman.
Then the person on the other end of his computer screen told him she was younger than she'd claimed. In fact, "her" age began dropping from 19 to 17, then 15 and finally, 14. Rome said he then felt certain his partner in banter was an undercover officer. So he said he declined an invitation to meet and cut off communication.
Too late. The trap had been sprung and he was arrested. "If you just looked at the wording of the charges, you would think I was a child molester. The reality is I never looked at a child or talked to a child," he said.
Swan said he fought the charges for more than a year before taking a plea agreement that included 36 months in prison and designation as a Level 2 sex offender.
His wife had left their marriage by the time he was released in October 2011, and a friend from college encouraged a move to Fayetteville. Those dreams he held not that long ago are forever gone.
"The first year was about stabilizing--getting a car, finding employment," Swan told a reporter. "And now the bigger issues are the ones that keep me up at night. I'm never going to be a real member of society. I'm forever going to be on the outskirts."
Today, Swan works up to 60 hours per week waiting tables and bartending. The doors to lot of employment opportunities are closed or very hard to come by because of his sex-offender status, he said.
He believes the existing sexual-offender laws in some instances are unnecessarily harsh and offer little hope for redemption.
"The laws are designed to drive you to the fringes of communities and then drive you back to incarceration," Swan was quoted as saying. "I get it, nobody wants to see children hurt or raped. But there are a lot of people out there not committing sexual violence against children and they're getting caught in the net."
His story is one of a man who certainly appears to have been trapped through his own poor decisions. And I didn't write this today to defend convicted sex offenders. But Swan's story seems a good example of his point.
And heads up, valued readers: In today's world one need not talk with or even meet with a potential victim to find their lives flipped upside down by exercising poor judgment on their laptop or home computer.
More unmarried
It was reported last week that, for the first time, our nation has more unmarried than married people.
I'm not wise enough to know just what that statistic means for preserving the fabric of our politically and socially divided nation, but it's for certain that this kind of radical change in our demographics will have meaningful impact for each of us, our children and theirs.
Military strategy
Anyone else as confused as I am about why our president felt the need last week to reveal military strategies for combating the evil Islamic scourge Islamic State at a worldwide press conference? I'd have been plenty satisfied with him telling us our country is taking substantial and calculated action against the evil.
Just not sure I needed to know specifics that equally inform Islamic State. Did you?
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.
Editorial on 09/14/2014