PROTECT NH’S CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL PREDATORS
Almost every morning, when I open the Concord Monitor, there it is again — another child’s future stolen by the lowest, cruelest, most depraved and dangerous individuals: sexual predators who are allowed, by inadequate laws, to continue destroying children.
I am pleading with New Hampshire legislators to immediately rescind all misdemeanor laws pertaining to sexual predators. It is never a minor offense when a child is sexually assaulted. The law must mandate immediate detention for protective reasons, with offenders held until trial. Any sexual contact with a child — by any person, regardless of relationship — must result in immediate detention and prosecution as a serious felony, never pled down to a misdemeanor.
Common sense must prevail. If society is ever to protect innocent children from the worst among us, sexual predators must be held fully accountable from the moment of arrest. It is negligent and irresponsible to continue allowing children to suffer at the hands of the most despicable offenders.
A child who has been sexually assaulted suffers lifelong consequences beginning with the initial assault. Such crimes should be viewed as equivalent to manslaughter and punished accordingly.
New Hampshire legislators, attorneys general, lawyers, judges and police officers must recognize this truth — my truth — as a survivor of child sexual assault between the ages of 3 and 11. This atrocity cannot be allowed to continue. Do something.
See the front-page story on Oct. 29 of a couple charged with the sexual assault of a child from ages 6 to 16.