According to today's Boston Globe, Middlesex County District Attorney Gerald Leone is going to encourage the Legislature to make it easier for sexually dangerous predators to be committed to prison.
Right now, offenders have the ability to unilaterally waive their right to a trial by jury when the court decides whether or not to commit them to custody on the basis of their dangerousness and likelihood to reoffend. Under Leone's proposal, prosecutors would have to agree to a jury-waived trial before sending the case to the judge. His rationale is that Middlesex County juries have been almost twice as likely as judges to find reason to commit sex offenders to custody over the past decade, so giving prosecutors the power to keep cases in the hands of the jury increases the odds that dangerous offenders will be committed.
I'm encouraged that there is renewed attention being paid to this issue, because I think we need better protections in place to deal with sexual predators. To start, I think we need better monitoring of convicted sex offenders, and we should require judges to make written findings relative to all sex crimes and GPS monitoring requirements. That would make the process more accountable and transparent to the general public. I also support Melissa's Bill, which is the subject of a compelling letter to the editor in today's Boston Herald. Additionally, we should have prison sentences for first offenses of rape of a child or sexual assault, which is something I have advocated for the past several years.
I find DA Leone's statistics alarming, especially in light of the recent case involving David Flavell and his alleged sexual assault at Mass. General Hospital. It's clear that we need better ways of dealing with sexually dangerous offenders. I look forward to hearing his arguments in favor of this bill and I hope it will be debated by the Legislature soon as part of a broader initiative.
We need to start taking decisive action against sex offenders to prevent them from reoffending. When people like David Flavell, Michael Gentile and Corey Saunders demonstrate an inability to function in society because of their strong likelihood to commit another violent sexual offense, I think we have a moral imperative to take them off the streets and put them behind bars so as to protect the public.
That's my opinion. What do you think? Feel free to post a comment below or to e-mail me at karyn@karynpolito.com.
