It's Time For Kristen's Law!


     Kristen's Law would have saved lives. The sheriffs, police chiefs, and prosecutors who are sworn to protect citizens failed to do so because it would have meant extra work, or so they thought. Not only were they incorrect, but their failure demonstrates precisely the flaws in a system that values protecting criminals over potential victims. 

   Introduced in Ohio way back in 2007, this controversial law was named after Kristen Jackson, a 14-year-old who had been dismembered and murdered by a sex offender in 2002. She was lured into his vehicle at a fair and suffered an indescribably-horrible fate. Then came the law named after her, which would have required sex offenders to have neon green license plates.

     Parents were all for it. Had the man had a neon-green license plate on his car, she would have known to stay away from him. It would not have prevented small children from being taken, but it would have warned teenagers like Kristen to stay away. The police, on the other hand, were worried about harassment and vandalism of sex offenders and their property. Besides showing concern for child rapists, they seemed to think that taking a report on a busted window would be more troublesome than fishing pieces of a child from the bottom of a marsh. Anyone who would harass sex offenders would clearly see their RSO status, which is public in Ohio, and do so anyway. The bill even had bipartisan support, as a Democrat and a Republican co-introduced it.

     Try speaking with Kristen's family, having to imagine her suffering when they fall asleep at night and feeling the guilt of not being able to save their loved one. A few honks at a sex offender on the way to his job as a night custodian were enough for those in power to defeat the bill, and they wonder why their kid gloves failed to strangle the problem.

     As I stated last week, laws against sex offenders have improved markedly, and it is time to finally give Kristen the peace of not having died in vain. On the bright side, said child molestor died in 2019 after his stomach literally rotted while he was alive, and he suffered enormous pain. He was 50.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Catch A Predator Update: Darke County

Image
        Kevin Westerbeck was convicted in November 2006 of luring a child in Darke County and had 9 months added to his sentence of 11 months for soliciting a police decoy in Fairborn in 2005. He was also convicted of molesting his niece and sentenced to another 10 years as well as lifetime sexual predator status. He was released in December 2016, and he has been spotted stocking shelves at a Kroger store.       Jeffrey Stacy was convicted and sentenced to 6 months in jail, forfeiture of his car, probation until 2010, and sex offender registry until 2017. He was removed and later got married in 2018, his wife an ugly brute who apparently has no problem with child molestors. He was recently fired from a position instructing children at a karate dojo after his TCAP appearance was uncovered.       Timothy Isaac was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 8 months in jail and RSO status until 2017. He was removed then, and little is known about his life since then. He, unfortunately, did not
Read more

The "Jesus Rocks" Predator Is Telling Lies Again

Image
     Matthew Clifton Cogburn was born on July 22nd, 1984, in Gray, Georgia, where he was raised and ultimately spent his life. Apparently, his childhood was fairly normal for a kid in Georgia: he spent eight years flattening out a pile of dirt near his home, enjoyed playing with LEGOs, was an average student in school, and was raised as a very religious child, attending church camps every summer. He graduated Jones County High School in 2002. Around 2004, he began chatting with strangers online, later attributing it to "undiagnosed OCD," a subpar explanation at best.      Cogburn worked and attended college in 2006, bouncing from apartment to apartment during the school year, and his employer had enough faith in him to actually give the man his job back after a minor setback occurred in the form of Cogburn's appearance on To Catch A Predator in July of that year. He earned a pair of handcuffs in Fortson, Georgia, just outside of Columbus and two hours from his home. Howev
Read more

Every "To Catch A Predator" Ever

Image
Bethpage, Long Island (2004) Herndon, Virginia (2005) Riverside, California (2006) Greenville, Ohio Pt. 1 (2006) Greenville, Ohio Pt. 2 (2006) Fort Myers, Florida Pt. 1 (2006) Fort Myers, Florida Pt. 2 (2006) Fortson, Georgia Pt. 1 (2006) Fortson, Georgia Pt. 2 (2006) Petaluma, California Pt. 1 (2006) Petaluma, California Pt. 2 (2006) Long Beach, California Pt. 1 (2006) Long Beach, California Pt. 2 (2006) Murphy, Texas Pt. 1 (2006) Murphy, Texas Pt. 2 (2006) Flagler Beach, Florida Pt. 1 (2006) Flagler Beach, Florida Pt. 2 (2006) Mantoloking, New Jersey Pt. 1 (2007) Mantoloking, New Jersey Pt. 2 (2007) Bowling Green, Kentucky (2007)
Read more