Ron Book’s opinion piece in USA Today
Nobody doubt’s the pain Ron Book must feel. His daughter was sexually abused by the family nanny under his own roof. The pain must be compounded by guilt over the fact that it was committed by someone who he and his wife brought into their home to care for their children. The pain must also be compounded by anger and fear – that this was taking place for years while he was oblivious to it.
The desire to “do something” to prevent the same from happening to another family is a noble one. One that all of us who are parents can understand. But Book’s mission took a very misguided turn. Instead of focusing on prevention, his desire to “do something” was to forever torture everyone charged with any sexual offense as a way of punishing, by proxy, the woman who harmed his daughter.
Whether it’s to deflect his own culpability or assuage the guilt – he deemed all persons required to register as sex offenders as “monsters” and lobbied for measures like residency restrictions to prevent people from sleeping 2500 feet from a school (ironically, when schools are closed), He publicly called registrants “monsters” and spewed false recidivism statistics (100% will re-offend, it’s not a matter of if, but when).
Which is why I was surprised to read his opinion piece in USA Today last week, which actually showed some insight. He wrote, “The person who destroyed my daughter’s childhood was not a stranger, not a man loitering around the playground or someone claiming a lost puppy…. in 91 percent of sex offenses against juveniles, the perpetrator is someone the child knows and often trusts.” and “rigorous vetting, references and a background check couldn’t protect Lauren.”
Book seems to acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are not strangers hiding behind bushes or names on a sex offender background check, but people known to their victims. While sexual abuse will never be completely stopped, the only real way to help prevent it is by focusing on prevention instead of punishment – and that involves educating children and parents on what to look out for and fostering open communication where children know they should not be ashamed or afraid to tell.
Another message contained in Book’s piece is healing. There needs to come a time where the anger and hurt is replaced with healing. That certainly needs to come for the victims of sexual abuse, but it also needs to come for Ron Book and whether anyone likes it or not, also to those on the registry who have paid their debts.
We all want to end the cycle of abuse. Hopefully 2019 can be a year we find some common ground with the Books.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2018/12/10/child-sex-abuse-parents-prevent-sexual-predator-column/2201803002/
Sorry, but I’m not buying it either. These statistics were obviously provided to him or inserted by USA Today since he can’t cite anything when interviewed live. He continues to demonize with the term “Monster,” much like the courts, he offers a diagnosis of pedophilia (for Waldina) with no clinical evidence, never mentions the registry or the ordinance he crafted to create homelessness and then make it illegal, and states: “The fury, guilt and sadness will never fully go away, but we can channel our anger to create sustainable change and protect other children from abuse.”
And how does he channel his anger? By feeding ideas to his perpetually victimized offspring so she can create more onerous legislation that drooling sycophants pass without debate.
My takeaway is that this piece is an opportunity to bilk money from sympathetic people on a national level for blondie’s racketeering scheme.
I find it a little hypocritical and beyond stupid that not one single law Book has ever bought does one single thing to prevent sexual abuse. They’re all about retaliation.
If I had to guess, I would say this piece is nothing more than an effort to curry public favor. As the registry grows and more and more non-registrants are adversely affected by it, Book and his daughter are bound to get increasing blowback.
Frankly, I’d like someone to do a little investigating into the Books’ other legislative ventures, outside of making registry life a living hell. Willing to bet most (if not all) of them are less than ethical, to say the least.
Also, kudos to Sex Offender Truth for calling the Books what they really are – shameless opportunists. Between Ron’s money and the legislators too cowardly to oppose any insane proposal from Lauren ( the doll thing being the latest)- who cries victimhood whenever anyone disagrees with her about anything – Florida may as well secede and rename itself Book’s Kingdom.
facts are facts…Not pleasant but TRUE anyway. few thoughts in random order.
1st. Books daughter IS a victim NOT Book., Book is at fault and complicit in what happened to his daughter. It was not one time it was repetitively from what I have read on it. At what point in time do you comprehend lack of parental supervision and alertness comes into play? So now he has hate for the world because he messed up?
2nd. How many more victims has book created some of them children,compared to how many crimes has he stopped? Non-stopped..thousands created with many being children.. That makes Book the monster he has purported others to be. Someone needs to bring this clown a mirror.
3rd. I dont advocate criminal behavior and I do not minimize it. BUT unlike many other crimes the sex offender crimes often are crimes by those who were first victims. This is a point that at almost no point in time is being addressed or comprehended. Everything Book does and most imbeciles are doing (including many proclaimed counselor/shrinks) is worsening a problem and making a curable concern terminal.
Unfortunately, I believe the whole piece was just Book taking advantage of free national publicity to promote his and his daughter’s cause, the centerpiece of which is demonization of registered sex offenders.
” 100% will re-offend, it’s not a matter of if, but when ” He makes it sound like we’re all (100% of us in unison ) are planning a secret massive apocalyptic sexual attack on society. sigh Oh Ronny, Ronny, Ronny. lol
….so he has a human side. I wish him and his family a happy and joyous Christmas. Only through Christ can change for the good happen.
He’s Jewish
In that case, we might revise to, “only through Torah can change for the good happen!”