MORE ACTION NEEDED: Editorial — Say it out loud in Colorado — Sex Offender!
I am one who tends to defend journalists and values the opinions of editorial staff members. What I have found is that they tend to be knowledgeable about a topic before writing on it. So, what on earth is happening with the Colorado Springs Gazette?
Oncefallendotcom and FAC have commented. We need more people to comment on this absurd opinion piece, all based on emotions and myths.
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I was planning to comment until I read through some – only some – of the BS political comments and obviously uneducated right-winged craziness. I do not know anything about this gazette nor their editorial staff with their GED style education.
To comment on that particular article only gives the author’s opinion relevance instead of what it is – trash.
Right wing craziness is no different than left wing craziness.
I disagree. A falsehood unchallenged gains unbearable strength.
Veritas.
I agree with you Ed. I would hope that a rational person person would see the editorial as an unhinged rant, but as I am learning, people listen and believe the unhinged rants.
Most people believe what they see and read without researching on their own. This is what we get when people can’t think critically and be independent thinkers.
Have there been any studies to show the % of those on the registry that have no victims. I’m sure it is quite high. Also many on the registry are also victims themselves , and are a product of a broken system. Those in prison are not on a registry and the fact that some on the registry continue to offend shows the process doesn’t work.
Yet the writer of this is trying to promote a process that they are admitting isn’t and doesn’t work. So they want to make changes that make it even less effective. Great idea?
The writer of this article is totally clueless.
I believe that I saw that the vast majority of new offenses are from people not on the registry and not re-offenses by persons on the registry.
By persons that ‘have no victims’ I assume you mean sting operations and porn charges. Stings are big business in the public relations department. Departments can toot their horn that they are doing something, even if it’s not solving other crime problems.
Done. Thank you for making us aware.
I am a SO living in Colorado Springs. I need to find the article but had I a bird and lined the cage floor with the Gazette, my bird would no doubt take its little life.
I can’t get the comments to load. Number one sign of someone who doesn’t want the flaws in their argument pointed out, turn off comments. All the spammy ads are loading just fine though.
For those who can’t access this article, here it is. It is the most absurd OpEd I’ve seen in a while.
EDITORIAL: Say it out loud in Colorado — sex offender
The Gazette editorial board Dec 24, 2021 Updated Dec 24, 2021
(Note, here are the five folks on the Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board: Ryan McKibben, Chairman; Christian Anschutz, Vice Chairman; Chris Reen, Publisher; Wayne Laugesen, Editorial Page Editor, Pula Davis, Newsroom Operations Director)
Kudos to Gov. Jared Polis for nixing the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board’s vote last month to substitute silly, “person first” wokeism for sound policy.
Readers might recall that the obscure board, which writes the rules for rehabilitating and monitoring convicted sex offenders, made news a few weeks ago with its 10-6 vote to bar — ironically — the term “sex offender” from board use.
Board members decided instead to call sex offenders, “adults who commit sexual offenses.” Precious, right? To say nothing of absurd, pointless and insulting to the many Coloradans who have been victims of sexual assault.
Last week, the board voted again — to reverse its decision and table the new policy — after a timely trip to the woodshed. The governor appears to have felt putting the person first when it comes to convicted sex offenders could be interpreted as putting the victims last.
“We must be wary not to normalize violent acts of sexual aggression or even give the appearance of normalizing such unacceptable behavior,” Polis wrote to board Director Kimberly Kline the day before the vote.
“I hope that the board will reevaluate its previous decision to allow for additional discussions with the wider community, including carefully examining potential trauma to victims. …”
Which, of course, is diplomatic gubernatorial parlance for, “Are you guys nuts?”
Just plain bad policy aside, the board’s vote also was tone deaf amid public alarm over Colorado’s skyrocketing crime rate. Violent crime in our state soared 35% from 2011 to last year — it rose only 3% nationwide — and among the grim stats was a 9% jump in rape.
It can’t have escaped Polis’ attention that his fellow Colorado Democrats have been dogged lately by a soft-on-crime reputation. So the timing of the board’s ill-advised decision last month couldn’t be worse.
Actually, it could be worse — and in fact is. As reported in The Gazette on Thursday, courtesy of Denver’s 9News, a man who had been sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2014 for sexual assaults — and served only a fraction of that time — has been accused of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl in Aurora this month. Just 18 months after his prison release.
Kenneth Dean Lee was arrested Dec. 10 and faces charges of sexual assault on a child and first-degree burglary. Aurora police officers were told a man, later identified as Lee, entered a residence around noon, identified himself as an immigration official, and assaulted the victim.
A quick search for “sex offender” in The Gazette’s archives turns up a trove of tragic and unnerving headlines just from recent months. Here’s a sampling:
“Sex offender gets 48 years for kidnapping, sexually assaulting Douglas County woman”
“Repeat child sex offender sentenced to 126 years in prison”
“Aurora man who sexually assaulted a teenage boy is sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison”
They don’t need to be coddled with kinder, gentler labels. They urgently need help — and they should be getting it behind bars, preferably while serving out their full sentences.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board could use a little therapy, too. Members who voted for the change should be required to repeat the words, “sex offender” aloud 100 times. Acknowledging who they truly are is the first step toward helping them.