Take Back the Night

Representative James Fagan, Democrat of Massachusetts, spoke during a debate on the House floor. He is not in favor of harsh punishment for sex offenders, and said this about Jessica's Law, which proposes at least 10 years in prison for sex offenders:

"It's so wrong because in these situations... that 6-year-old is going to sit in front of me, or somebody far worse than me and I'm gonna rip them apart. I'm going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined, that when they're 8 years old, they throw up; when they're 12 years old, they won't sleep; when they're 19 years old, they'll have nightmares and they'll never have a relationship with anybody. And that's not because I'm a good guy. That's because when you're in court, and you're defending somebody's liberty, and you're facing a mandatory sentence of those draconian proportions, you have to do every single thing you can do on behalf of your client. That is your obligation as a trial lawyer."

People like Fagan are allowing known sex criminals to escape punishment, oftentimes in order to move on to repeat offenses or commit other crimes.

For example, let's look at the recent case of Brooke Bennett. It is my understanding that her uncle, Michael Jacques, kidnapped her the morning of Wednesday, June 26 with the intent of involving her in his child sex ring.

In 1985, prosecutors dismissed a case in which Jacques was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl over 100 times. In 1993, he was arrested and imprisoned for aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. He was sentenced six to 20 years in prison but was released after four years for "good behavior." In Bennett's case, investigators discovered a 14-year-old girl who has been repeatedly assaulted by Jacques and other adult men since she was nine, and she informed them that Bennett was supposed to be "initiated" into the sex ring that day. A week later- Wednesday, July 2- Bennett's body was found in a shallow grave a mile from her uncle's home. She was twelve years old.