We have the tools and the means to stop this now.  Child molesters belong in jail after a first offense against a child for the rest of their lives.  Treatment, even according to treatment professionals, does not work.  Child pornography investigations, which track child sex offenders on the Internet, do work.

Quite simply, we need to increase first-time offense jail sentences to life in prison, and we need to fund our Internet Crimes Against Children task forces in their mission of taking dangerous child sex predators off the streets.

We can catch many of these offenders before they rape, maim, and/or kill again.  What are we watiting for?

I admire Diane Sawyer tremendously, and was so gratified to see her achieve such prominence as anchor of ABC’s World New Tonight.  That’s why I tuned in so closely to Oprah’s interview of her yesterday.  Gravely, when the topic of Chelsea King came up, following all the pain we San Diegans have been bearing the last week, I hoped that she would help educate the public on the true nature of sex offenders.

But I stood aghast as Diane told the American public that only 25% of sex offenders re-offend.

There are many studies of recidivism rates, and they track offenders anywhere from 6 months after release to 25 years or more after release, so recidivism rates can fluctuate wildly based on the time period used. The only study to follow sex offenders for 25 years after release finds that 52% are caught re-offending (“Recidivism Rates Among Child Molesters and Rapists: A Methodological Analysis”, Law and Human Behavior, Volume 21, Number 6, December 1997 , pp. 635-659(25) .)

However, it is important to note, that very few sex offenders ever get CAUGHT a second time – that does not mean they do not offend a second time.  In fact, a taste of prison the first time around does wonders for a sex offender’s ability to learn how to be very careful when molesting children from that point onwards.

Even the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), whose members often advocate treatment instead of incarceration of child sex offenders, states, “It is important to recognize that official recidivism statistics are always lower than actual re-offense rates, because…less than 10% of all sex crimes results in a criminal conviction.”

Using ATSA’s math, each released sex offender has 5.2 victims in the 25 years after his release.

A study by ATSA in 2007 of its own members shows that they don’t even believe treatment works.  63% of their member professionals reported “little hope for a cure”, and 88% “feared recidivism after treatment.”

By stating to millions of people worldwide that only 25% of released sex offenders re-offend, a tremendous disservice to the children who suffer heinous sexual abuse has been done and a substantial gain for child molesters, who will continue to try to convince the public that they are not a danger to society, has been delivered.

Please, Diane, we need your help to educate the public that these offenders are extremely dangerous to children, and we must never assume that even a small percentage pose no risk to our most innocent members of society.

Without these brave and courageous officers, we would not enjoy the great American society that most of us take for granted every day.  Please join us in offering our condolences to Officer Vogt’s family and the small, 14-officer Chattahoochee Hills Police Department.

According to San Diego’s 10 News, Alarcon’s arrest was the second in just over a month involving a one-time physical education instructor with Poway Unified School District. On Dec. 4, 2009, former Westview High volunteer wrestling coach Ryan Paul Carnell was jailed on suspicion of molesting an underage female student.  Carnell, 28, had pleaded no contest to lewd behavior three months earlier for sending a picture of his genitals to a 16-year-old female student.

We thank San Diego’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force for the amazing work they’ve done in capturing coaches who move into positions of trust in order to prey upon the children they are supposed to care for.

According to Tampa Bay Online, he was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1993 after three years and nine months as an infantryman. He received several citations, including the Army Service Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal and Overseas Service Ribbon. Before joining the Army, he lived in Maine.

He also reported in his application that he had worked in schools in Pasco and Polk counties.

Sands told federal agents he had child pornography on his laptop and said his wife didn’t know anything about it, documents state.

If convicted, Sands faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

It is an ironic and cruel twist that many of these heinous and brutal crimes are being discovered thanks to the dimwitted perpetrators’ use of video cameras to document their sexual assaults of innocent babies and children.

Bradley, 56, is accused of raping at least nine baby girls – the youngest 3 months’ old, and the oldest only 13 years old.  Only one girl, a two-year-old, told an adult about the abuse, prompting the investigation.  As the seized digital evidence of the assaults is analyzed, more child victims are being found.

According to Courier Post Online:”Forensic evaluation of seized video files and software has to date discovered 15 more unidentified victims,” state police Detective Thomas Elliott wrote in an affidavit Friday seeking a search warrant for BayBees Pediatrics, the name of Bradley’s practice.

“Due to the slow and meticulous process of computer forensics, [police believe] more victims will be discovered in the electronic files of Dr. Bradley and the patient records will help confirm the identity.”

The videos were filmed between Aug. 7 and Dec. 13, police wrote. Several videos allegedly showed the doctor wearing his blue scrubs and barking orders at babies and toddlers, some of whom were crying or trying to run away. In one video, Bradley had a “violently enraged” expression on his face, police wrote.

Officers found six hand-held video cameras in the BayBees complex, which included Disney-themed examination rooms, a basement toy room and an adjoining garage, where he often took children to give them candy, ice cream or other treats — all places where police said he committed and filmed sex acts.

People often tell me that they simply cannot imagine in their worst nightmares that a respected pediatrician would rape little babies.  However, 96% of child rapes, according to the Department of Justice, are committed by trusted people, and often include teachers, coaches, clergy, pediatricians, dentists, day care providers, babysitters, psychologists, relatives, and even police.

In fact, Bradley is not the first pediatrician to be caught this year.  Fairfield, Ohio, pediatrician Dr. R. Scott Blankenburg, 53, was charged earlier this year on 22 counts of child sex crime and child pornography charges, and was recently arrested again in December on additional counts of sexual abuse, bribery, and complicity to deception to obtain dangerous drugs (heroin). His twin brother and fellow pediatrician, Dr. Mark Blankenburg, was found guilty earlier this month, on 16 sexual abuse charges involving three former patients and five counts of drug trafficking and one count of money laundering. He had a longtime practice in Hamilton, Ohio, and still faces a trial on 12 counts of child pornography in May.

Under no circumstances should a parent ever leave a child alone in with a doctor, dentist, teacher, coach, clergy or other adult.  In fact, Darkness to Light, a respected non-profit working to stop child sexual abuse, has stated that minimizing one-on-one interactions between adults and children is a key way to prevent child sexual abuse.

As in the case of Aaron Zendejas, a San Diego babysitter who sold a 3-year-old child to a child molester, and then filmed the rape of the child, there are precious few completely “safe” one-on-one adult/child situations for children anymore.  Although we have the ability to track down many of the offenders who trade in images of child sexual abuse, our ICAC task forces only have enough funding to capture less than 1% of known offenders.

Parents must wake up to the realities that child molesters look just like everyone else, and seek professions where they may gain the trust of adults and children.  Parents must be vigilant in minimizing the one-on-one interactions of their children with adults and even older children as much as possible in order to keep their children safe.

Author:  Heather Steele, President & CEO, Innocent Justice

Ohio ICAC Commander Frankie Goldbery warns, “Individuals that have this sick interest in viewing and collecting child pornography can be your next door neighbor, a family member or individuals in the community. As parents we have to educate our children and be vigilant,” according to WKYC.com.

If the ICAC could pick up 50 offenders in one county in Ohio at one time, how many are there in your county, in your town, in your neighborhood?

According to the Journal Times, Becker has been out on bond since the days after his arrest. He spent several weeks at a sex addiction treatment program in Pennsylvania. Since his return he has been wearing a GPS monitoring device which allows officials to track his whereabouts. He was allowed to leave the county for therapy and group sessions.

We certainly hope Judge Stephen Simanek and Racine County District Attorney Mike Nieskes understand that sex offender treatment has not been proven successful in stopping child molesters, and that a study from Butner Federal Prison has shown that most, if not all, child pornography possessors had raped at least one child before being caught with child sexual abuse images.