Forum editorial: Keep sex predators behind bars
The Forum - 12/04/2003
Politicians are falling all over themselves this week in an effort to close the barn door after the horse has galloped off.
The fallout from the Dru Sjodin abduction has been knee-jerk and predictable. Its even been extreme, with a visibly angry Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty calling for imposition of the death penalty for specific heinous crimes, a sanction which has not been used in Minnesota for nearly a century.
Sjodin, a University of North Dakota student, was abducted from a Grand Forks, N.D., shopping center parking lot on Nov. 22. Earlier this week Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a man with a history of violent sexual crimes, was arrested in Crookston, Minn., and identified by authorities as the prime suspect in the abduction. The search for Sjodin was continuing.
The suspects criminal history has fueled public outrage. He had either been charged with or convicted of rape, assault and kidnapping. He was acquitted twice. Eventually he went to prison for a 1980 assault.
He was identified years ago as a dangerous sex offender who was likely to offend again. Yet, the judicial system -- constrained in part by legislative mandates -- put him back on the street after hed served 23 years behind bars.
Now hes been charged with kidnapping (thus far) in connection with the Sjodin abduction.
Is that what it takes to see the pattern? Another abduction? More tragedy?
That having been said, it must be stressed that Rodriguez is a suspect. Hes not been found guilty of anything regarding the Sjodin disappearance. His history might make a compelling case for conviction, but under the law, hes paid for those past offenses.
And therein lies the problem facing communities in North Dakota and Minnesota. The system has failed the test of public safety. A sincere attempt to reintegrate so-called level 3 sex offenders into civil society looks to be a failure because it appears those most dangerous and habitual offenders cannot be fully rehabilitated.
There are provisions whereby county prosecutors can seek civil commitment for sex offenders after they have served prison sentences. Clay Countys Lisa Borgen, for example, has been aggressive in using the civil commitment option to keep sex offenders locked up in a state security hospital.
But the process is a patchwork. When Rodriguez was released from prison last spring he settled in Crookston. No civil commitment was sought by Polk County authorities. No one requested it, said Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth.
No one requested it? Given the serial nature of Rodriguez violent sex crimes, maybe Widseth should have requested it.
Not all sex offenders are destined to offend again. Most, in fact, do not. They pay the penalty for their crimes, return to society and rebuild their lives. But the most serious repeat offenders -- the level 3 criminals -- tend to be unrehabilitated predators, a classification which seems to fit Rodriguez. Changes must be made to better protect communities from such criminals. A stricter application of civil commitment provisions is a logical step. A universal standard for commitment that would apply in Clay County and Polk County and all counties makes sense.
It might mean more work for prosecutors, psychiatrists and corrections officials. But the public is demanding that sexual predators be removed from their neighborhoods. Thats not an unreasonable demand.
Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspapers Editorial Board
