In My Words...: The Verdict Is In...

In My Words...: The Verdict Is In...: "Another day in favor of the villain, why do they always seem to win...the villain in this case is a child rapist (repeat offender)! I hate t..."

The Verdict Is In...

Another day in favor of the villain, why do they always seem to win...the villain in this case is a child rapist (repeat offender)! I hate the justice system!  It may not be the ending to my story I had hoped, but at least now I know I did all I could and my story has an ending.

 The State Attorney says....

"There are many complex issues involved in this case.  In the end, the consensus was there is not enough evidence to move forward.  We were hoping for something from the interview with your father but that yielded nothing helpful."

So wait my statement describing in detail events of abuse was not enough?  No one is supporting my statement and no one supported his, but yet he gets off and I get no trial?  I knew I should have saved those bed sheets when I was 7!  Silly me, why didn’t I think to do that?

Oh I am sorry, how many child rapist jump up and say they did it?  What do I have to gain by coming forward and admitting this?  Are there a lot of people who come forward stating their father raped them for 7 years?

Why is this ending so common? If you don’t think a case is winnable then no you won’t win it...I showed up to the ballgame too bad those who defend the law didn’t. Why do people who work in an office and have no connection to any crime they make laws for get to dictate when victims come forward?

Know the facts...too bad I didn't live in the bottom 6 on the list - but then again wouldn't a rapist who wanted to do what he does know this and avoid such states?

Statute of Limitations Fact Sheet

32 states have crimes for which there is no criminal statute of limitation, meaning that a criminal prosecution can be brought at any time regardless of how much time has passed since the crime occurred, including:

 7 states that have no statute of limitation on any felony

Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Virginia

 8 states that have no statute of limitation on the most serious felonies

·         Alabama crimes involving use or threat of violence

·         California crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment

·         Louisiana crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment

·         Tennessee crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment

·         New York Class A felonies

·         New Mexico Class A felonies

·         Indiana Class A felonies

·         South Dakota Class A or B or Class 1 felonies

 11 states with no statute of limitation on specific sex offenses

·         Alaska sexual abuse class A or B felony

·         Arizona violent sexual assault

·         Connecticut Class A felony sexual assault

·         Delaware any sex offense

^·          Florida 1st or 2nd degree sexual battery (if reported to police within 72 hours)

·         Nevada sexual assault (if reported within 4 years)

·         New Jersey sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault

·         Oklahoma certain sex crimes (if reported within 12 years, and DNA evidence applies)

·         Texas sexual assault (with DNA evidence)

·         Vermont aggravated sexual assault

·         Wisconsin 1st degree sexual assault

5 states with no statute of limitation on child sex abuse

·         Colorado any sex offense against a child

·         Idaho sexual abuse of a child

·         Maine unlawful sexual contact with a minor

·         Mississippi various sex offenses against a child

·         Rhode Island 1st or 2nd degree child molestation

Additionally, 6 states allow prosecutions of child sex abuse for at least 20 years after the victim’s 18th birthday.

·         Connecticut 30 years

·         Illinois 20 years

·         Louisiana 30 years

·         Missouri 20 years

·         New Hampshire 22 years

·         Wisconsin 27 years

http://www.corsal.org/06SOLNCVC%20Statute_of_Limitations_Fact_Sheet32%5B1%5D.pdf

Life is Like Paper

Life is like a piece of notebook paper, the lines help guide you, the color represents all things start out innocent, and the weight of it signifies freedom of burdens.  Often times we take for granted that piece of paper, much like our lives.  We spill things on it, screw it up, and write outside the lines.  How often do we keep it secure and safe from wet counters and dirty hands?  Think how often you have taken a risk that did not need to be taken.  Did you walk in a dark parking lot at night alone? Have you slept with your doors unlocked or windows open? 

I get tired of hearing how the world isn’t like it was in the 1960s. Fact is, the 1960’s and 70’s had bad people too; serial killers, rapist, murders, mobsters – the world has not changed only evolved and with it so have criminals. These are not new phenomena; they are ancient evils that have surpassed efforts to stop them.  But people are people and we will always struggle with mental stability and victimization. Just like the notebook paper our life is fragile, here this moment gone the next. So why do we take so many chances with it? Do we not feel it is laudable of protecting? Do we treat it with a pill and call it a day? Can evil be rehabilitated? So many questions so many ignorant answers.

I am not sure I totally understand the ability of the human brain, but I am sure I understand that evil lurks all around us. Waiting so patiently and preying so methodically on “the one.”  The one could be you.  I often have pondered if I have encountered a rapist, murderer, or child predator in my everyday errands – touched their hand, provided a hello, or a simple smile.  It makes me sick because it was not deserved and their victim(s) deserved better.  But I know it happens for my father is a child sex predator – I know he has had conversations with unsuspecting people, maybe even touch a child to give her a piece of candy, or opened the door for a woman whom he had thoughts of doing bad things to.  I think about how he conducts his everyday life smiling and laughing with those he meets along life’s journey – he is so undeserving for what he has done in his life – but yet has not paid his dues.  I feel bad for the women who saw good in him at one time – enough good to marry him.  They became his victims too. They did not deserve it.

I am not comforted to think that a serial killer could have been in a parking lot watching for his next victim and may have passed me over for another.  I am thankful that I think this way.  I think it keeps me grounded in the real world and a tad bit paranoid. That is it, we have all become less paranoid than we should be, less vigilant than we should be, and less tuned in to the evil.  In a way, we have grown to accept it.  It is not normal, it should not be something we watch on the news and say, “how horrible” then go take a bubble bath with the doors unlocked!

The piece of paper, if only for a moment, will fly and take on a different shape once grasped by the hands of the wind.  For a moment it will twist, turn, swirl about like a rodent being wrapped up by a snake, like a victim fighting back as their life depends on it. The paper had no choice in what it became.  But for many of us that are capable, we do have a choice.  Don’t let your life become the twisted piece of paper that drowns in the coffee spill or becomes destroyed by the sole of the shoe that ignores its presence on the ground.  Your life is worth something now even if you felt it didn’t a time ago.  Even if someone else didn’t think it meant anything a time ago.  It does. You do.