After reading the Phnom Penh Post today where yet another foreign national has been arrested for engaging in child pornography or child sexual abuse I am wondering, as I have for a while, why it is that someone who has committed a criminal offense is allowed to travel abroad to commit the same offense. It is known that the legal system in Cambodia is open to corruption and that being convicted of a crime does not mean justice will be served. I believe that the best way to deal with these types of criminals is for Western nations to renege passports for anyone who has been convicted of child pornography. http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index....ional-news/man-sentenced-over-child-porn.html This way there won't be stories like this every other month in Cambodia: "A twice-convicted Belgian paedophile who moved into a victim's home after being released from a Cambodian prison plans to marry the victim's mother, national media reported Tuesday. Anti-trafficking police said Philippe Dessart, who was released from prison April 4, proposed to his victim's mother shortly before he left for Belgium on June 3, The Cambodia Daily reported. Dessart was released after serving three years of an 18-year prison term for abusing the then-13-year-old boy after a successful appeal of his sentence. Police said Dessart travelled to Belgium to arrange documents for the marriage and would return to Cambodia in the next few weeks." http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2009/06/convicted-belgian-paedophile-to-wed.html Dessart was convicted in Belgium on child sex charges. Developing nations cannot deal with this issue and need help from nations that do not have less issues with corruption in their justice systems. Here is another one: "A 59-year-old Michael James Dodd is listed as a sexual offender on a Web site of the Department of Law Enforcement of the State of Florida in the US. The listing gives his last registered address as Syracuse, New York." http://www.gmanews.tv/story/130194/American-arrested-in-Cambodia-on-child-sex-charges The majority of sexual offenders discovered in Cambodia had already been convicted of such a crime in their own country so why should they be allowed to leave? Tracking systems like Megan's Law becomes irrelevant if the person is allowed to apply for a passport and leave the country. For the record I have a difficult time accepting Megan's Law as I think there should be no parole for someone who commits these crimes but if they are going to infringe on someone's privacy via this law after they have served their time then I see no reason why they shouldn't lose their right to travel abroad.
See, Lucy ...this is where I get kinda' confused and conflicted. I agree with your feelings about these convicted child molestors, reall I do. But at the same time that I'm reading about this, I begin to think about the 1,500 or more little kids in India that die every single freakin' day because they play in the open sewers right beside their homes!! Or, I think of the thousands of African kids who starve to death every single day ...8,000 or so I think, every single day. See? I begin to put those situations into perspective ...and when I do, the few kids who are harmed by the few pedos don't seem nearly as important as the thousands who die needlessly all over the world ...EVERY DAY! So, ...how do view such things? Should all issues be taken completely in isolation, without any other perspective or conditions to influence them? Isn't it a lot like what Stalin once said, "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic."? Or do we just isolate each case and respond without ever concerning ourselves with other situations? ...just say, "Oh, my god, that's terrible!" Then everyone thinks you're a nice, compassionate guy and everyone is happy? Was I just born without all that gushy compassion and empathy? Baron Max
Well its just that I think it would help put a stop to this problem if a convicted person just lost the right to carry a passport, I mean they aren't allowed to vote after being convicted of a felony so why should they be allowed to travel? We cannot solve all the worlds problems like world hunger but this one seems like it can be partly solved by a very simple solution.
How many kids are involved, Lucy? I mean, for that matter, how many of the convicted pedos are involved? I agree with you, Lucy, but I just don't think it's such a big issue ...and certainly doesn't seem to be anything nearly as big as starvation or even civil war deaths, etc. See what I mean? How can I get all riled up over that one little kid when there are gazillions of being killed just a few feet away?! Again, yes, Lucy, I agree. But please forgive me for not getting all worked up over it, okay? Baron Max
Too many there are always foreigners being caught with their pants down with young children. Its to the point where the pedo's on websites advise those of their ilk to go to Cambodia for these purposes. Its quite a problem there. I am not asking you to get worked up, I am asking why they don't just enact something as simple as reneging passports. The thread isn't about starvation or civil war.:shrug:
The law, Lucy, is what keeps it from happening. In the cases you've noted above, Dessart was convicted, served his sentence and was released from prison. Are you suggesting that he should be hounded for the rest of his life? I mean, even vicious murderers will often get out of prison on parole or finish serving their sentences. It's actually illegal to continue hounding them AFTER they've served their sentences. No, it's about harming children sexually. My guess is that starving a child to death is slightly worse than abusing them sexually ...just my guess, but... Sorry, Lucy, but my perspectives can often take many and varied forms so as to give me some balance in my thinking. Baron Max
No Dessart was convicted in Cambodia but before this he was also convicted in Belgium. I am not suggesting hounding I am suggesting that a convicted pedophile not be allowed to hold a passport so they can leave the country and continue to carry on the same behaviour elsewhere.
Lucy, isn't that holding someone prisoner? ..even if the cage is gilded, it's still a prison, ain't it/? Lucy, I know you're misunderstanding me. I agree with you to a point ...in fact I more than agree - I think we should just take them out an shoot the bastards, then no one would ever have to worry about them again. But it like that, is it? We have these stupid things called "laws". See, Lucy? Let's think of a different perspective ....in Afghanistan, if some stranger, some foreigner, came into an Afghan village and sexually abused a young girl, do you think they'd take away his passport? And would you agree with that Afghan approach to "the law"? If we're gonna' do this, Lucy, lets' just take the bastards out and shoot 'em and be done with it. None of this pussyfootin' around with "laws"! Baron Max
No its not holding someone prisoner. How is not allowing someone to have a purpose opposed to the law? Anyone who went to jail for a felony isn't allowed to vote, its the law. Legal permanent residents who commit a felony are taken by INS and held in detention for a year or two and then re-patriated even after serving their time in prison and its the law. I am not asking a foreign nation to take the passport of a foreign national I am suggesting that the country of origin deny them a passport after they have committed a sex crime against children.
Well Lucy, I think your idea has good intensions but will eventually lead to bad consequences. Some of these people will just move out of the country illegally and get fake ID’s and go underground because if they don’t abide by laws now what makes you think a passport law will stop them. Did you recently read the story about the change of heart regarding the sex offenders living under the Florida causeway? Read that story and see how that law was brought on with good intentions but has back fired, and I think this might also have a similar affect. http://www.newsweek.com/id/208518
