Don't let a tragedy chill civil liberties

A tragic sexual assault on a child is a tough case in which to question public safety measures. But a case reported last week raises issues that should be examined, from a proposal to bar the public from entering a library, to reporting that casts blame on judges and assumes that prisoners should not be released after serving their full sentences. According to an article in the Boston Globe (2/1/08), a sex offender released in 2006 was charged with raping a child in a library in New Bedford. While the facts alleged are disturbing, the public would be better served by a more in depth explanation of civil commitment proceedings and the specific "sexual dangerousness" standard that was not met at the offender’s 2006 hearing after he served his sentence. Instead, the judge will now be vilified.

The following day's article (“Despite objections, many sex offenders freed” Boston Globe 2/2/08) further alarmed the public. However, it failed to question the practice by some prosecutors of seeking last-minute civil commitments based on decades-old information to keep offenders locked up. Are we now so used to the idea of indefinite detention that we expect it to be the norm after a prison sentence is served?

This week the rape charge led the mayor of New Bedford to call for blocking the public from the public library, unless we submit to carrying special, barcoded IDs (Boston Globe 2/6/07). Are we again willing to give up privacy and public access for the promise of security?