By now hopefully most of you have heard about the horrific Halloween beating trial, which concerned nine black youths attacking three white women in Long Beach. And most of you know that the defendants’ sentence was frustratingly lenient, only warranting house arrest, probation and community service. Many people are outraged, but this is certainly not the first case where light sentences were given out to heinous crimes.
Take, for example, the various sex offenders that were recently on the NBC show, “To Catch a Predator.” There were 35 men captured in Long Beach as part of the Dateline show, many with respectable jobs and seemingly normal lives. One of the men was a math teacher, another a law student, another was a Nickelodeon employee. One of the men brought lubrication and a vibrator to use on what he thought would be an 11-year-old girl, while three of the other men were seeking sex with 13-year-old boys.
Those are just a few examples of the horrific sex crimes these men were about to commit. They are obviously sex offenders, right? Wrong. There is dispute in the Long Beach Superior Court as to whether the men should be defined as sexual predators or not.
They are certainly not getting the type of punishment a predator should receive. Most of the men are being sentenced to probation instead of prison, which is unsettling, to say the least. Yes, the men will have to complete 60 days of community service and register as sex offenders, but usually Dateline predators throughout California face between six to 12 months in jail, plus hefty fines.
But Long Beach Superior Court Judge Bradford Andrews stands by his lenient sentence. “These people are basically socially inept,” he told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. “None of them I would classify as a ‘predator.’ With a couple of exceptions, every one of them has no record at all, not even a traffic ticket,” Andrews said. “It just looks as if we have people who will never so much as enter a courtroom again. They are really scared by this process.” Are we supposed to pity the sex offenders now? Just because these disgusting men have never broken the law before doesn’t make up for the horrific acts they were about to commit. Since when does the law think in those ridiculous terms?
Obviously, this entire controversy has many people outraged, including the Long Beach police officers who fight long and hard to capture criminals. “It is unfortunate that these guys are getting some very lenient sentencing,” said LBPD Sgt. Lee DeBrabander, who headed up the Long Beach sting. “You put so much work into something, and nothing seems to happen to it.”
This is a reasonable plea, and one can certainly understand where DeBrabander is coming from. But what can he do about it? The judge seems to have made up his mind, and in a few months, those same, revolting men will be roaming our city, clicking away online until they find another innocent young victim to sexually abuse.
But who knows, there’s probably more to the story than we know. But the cold hard fact is that these men wanted to abuse children. They are criminals of society. And they should be punished accordingly. Let’s hope that the next time we “catch a predator,” we find a judge to lock him up for a long, long time.
