July
2007
Ungood Thoughtcrime
It seems that, contrary to the old Frank Loesser song “Standing on the Corner (Watching All the Girls Go By),†you can go to jail for what you’re thinking. Or at least what you tell your parole officer you’re thinking.
Yes, Michael Monyelle, on parole for a sexual offense, is to be tried as a sexual predator, with the possible result of lifetime commitment, because of the deviant fantasies he confessed to his parole agent.
Before anybody jumps in and accuses me of defending child molesters: I’m not. I’m as disgusted and alarmed by the fantasies attributed to Monyelle in the Journal-Sentinel article as any non-pedophile would be. I don’t want him ever to hurt a child.
But there are a couple of things to note here. Monyelle was in prison not for molesting young children, but for having consensual sexual contact with two girls, one 16 and one 14, when he was 19 and 20. Illegal, yes, but not in the same category as pedophilia. Also, the J-S reports that in 2005 he was taken into custody for parole violations three times for not reporting deviant thoughts to his treatment group and delaying reporting them to his parole agent. Sounds like a fine Catch-22 the state has created.
Remember that Monyelle has not been accused of acting on any of his evil thoughts, merely of having them. Then the state’s psychologists come in with their Minority Report-esque predictions of the likelihood that Monyelle will engage in sexually violent behavior, and before you know it we are actually locking someone up, possibly for life, because of his thoughts.
It’s hard to look at Monyelle, to read about his fantasies, and not to think, “Yes, please lock him up and never let him out!†But we need to keep in mind the precedent that’s being set.
If we could really predict, with 100% certainty, who would commit a crime and who would not, we’d be living in a very different world. But we’re humans, with a limited understanding of our own minds, and we have no business imprisoning people for theoretical crimes we think they’re likely to commit when they’ve done nothing else to warrant punishment.
Janice M. Eisen
Janice M. Eisen, Watchdogging Criminal Justice
As a mother of 3 young boys, every day the thought of these creepy sickos in the world crosses my mind because every day the media bombards us with a new story of a sexual predator snatching a child from their family right in public, or stealing them from their bedrooms,and so on.
Now if I could get in trouble for expressing my thoughts to my therapist (I don’t have a Parole officer)about what I would like to do to these sickos in the world for harming and killing our children…well I would be in jail too. A lot of us would. I think the fact that this guy can come forth and at least admit that he is thinking these things…but so far being able to walk away before perpetrating a crime says a lot. I would say in my non professional opinion it is his “cry for help”…and he should get that help. He should be constantly monitored, given extensive and intensive therapy for years to come. But to lock someone up JUST because they think something is going to set up a whole bunch of problems down the road for American people…criminals or not.
Janice,I agree with you, sort-of. However, I understand the reasoning. What if, he gets out and ACTS on those thoughts.
Are you ok with someone you know being attacked by this man? Sure, it’s crappy and should be illegal. But if people in positions of power KNOW something and do NOTHING about it they are liable for the actions of the person they failed to act on. It’s a HUGE catch 22, but not just for the subject, everyone involved is in the bag on something like that. If you have a good, safe way of handling this one let us all know what the solution should be. Personally, I’d rather he be locked up than molesting some minor.
I don’t believe this is a slippery slope by any measure …
It could be YOUR daughter, neighbor, niece or friend - it COULD be. What would you say to that girl something like: “Sure, we knew, but he had not DONE anything wrong YET.” Do you think she’ll feel like she won the lottery? Or, that God chose her to suffer such a fate???
Society just can’t make a judgement call anymore????
This is about mental illness. By confessing to extremely deviant behavioral thought patterns, he represents real danger to at least one innocent girl out in the populous.
It IS better to protect him and the targets as best we can, until these thoughts no longer occur … Right?? Right??
Or, how about castration? Let him choose??
Is this comparable to someone talking about suicide? I am not sure we should stand down on either of these issues, even if they “might not” happen.
The thing to remember here is that despite what he was convicted of, he’s admitted to having deviant thoughts about young children. Now granted, he hasn’t acted on those thoughts, which is obviously a good thing, but if he’s having those thoughts it’s probably just a matter of time before the opportunity presents itself for him to act on those thoughts. The important thing to remember here is that the common belief is that once a pedophile, always a pedophile. In fact, sex offender treatment isn’t so much about “curing” sex offenders as it’s about risk abatement. Sex offender treatment is all about helping teach sex offenders to recognize their triggers and urges, as well as teaching them coping mechanisms to deal with those urges.
Another important thing to remember is that if a guy like Mr. Monyelle is telling his parole agent he’s having deviant thoughts, that agent is obligated to act on that self-report. The primary duty of probation and parole agents is to protect the community from the folks they supervise, and failure to act on something like Mr. Monyelle’s admission would be a failure on the part of that agent to do his or her job.
Also, it’s worth noting that Mr. Monyelle also had sexual contact with a 9 year-old boy when he was 16, so his sex offenses are not simply isolated to two incidents when he was 19 and 20.
Bill Stocks: We don’t commit people for talking about suicide, though it’s a good idea to encourage them to seek help.
The rest of you: I repeat, I hold no brief for child molesters. I have children myself, and when one of these guys is convicted, I sometimes think about killing him in particularly cruel and nasty ways.
I agree with Zach that there’s no evidence that pedophilia can be cured, though pedophiles can be treated. If the state wanted to force Monyelle to get treatment, I’d be supporting that. Instead, they are pressing to commit him as a dangerous sexual predator, when he has not been convicted of any such crime.
Lori wants to know if society can’t make a judgment call. We make judgment calls all the time in our justice system, both in deciding cases and in sentencing. But never before has it been possible to be locked up for life because of your thoughts instead of your actions.
Sexual abuse of children is such a terrible crime that it tends to make people lose all perspective. (As soon as the argument turns into, “What if it was YOUR child?” you know the time for discussion is over.)
There are certainly lots of people out there with fantasies similar to Monyelle’s, the vast majority of whom don’t have parole officers to confess them to. Some of them may be more of a threat to children than Monyelle. How do we protect the children from them?
There is no such thing as a one-time case. You may be thrilled to see Monyelle locked up and the key thrown away. Long-term, you may not be so happy with a legal finding that a person’s thoughts can be the basis for imprisonment.
Something needs to be done BEFORE a crime is committed, to keep it from happening. Sitting idle is not a good thing.
Janice,
WE DO and CAN commit someone for saying they want to commit suicide. It’s called Chapter 51… where as you are a ” threat to yourself or others.” I also find your comment about when conversation turns to ” what if it’s your child” funny ..well…… answer it! YOU let this guy out, he shows his appreciation by raping your 9 year old daughter and leaves her for dead in a field somewhere. What is YOUR recourse? Will your daughter forgive you when you say your sorry? Will you forgive yourself…EVER? I should hope not. Society is CRUEL and steps NEED to be taken to protect out young.
Deputyinsider: No, we don’t commit people for saying they’ve fantasized/thought about killing themselves. That’s not enough to meet the test of “dangerous to self.” You have to go farther than thinking about it.
Second: OK, I’ll answer the question. If anyone did anything to harm my child, I’d want to cut his balls off, make him eat them, and then bash his head in until I was sure he was dead.
But that’s why we have a justice system, not a revenge system. And it’s not really relevant.
We simply cannot lock people up because we think they are likely to commit crimes. The state is not psychic. We imprison people based on what they have done.
You say, “Something needs to be done BEFORE a crime is committed, to keep it from happening.” A wonderful idea in theory; in practice more difficult. What would you have us do?
Shall we force every man to be tested for sexual attraction to children — there’s a way to do it, with certain special measuring apparatus — then lock up the ones that show one? All of them? For life? (That’s not even taking into account the possibility of female abusers.) Or do we only worry about the people who have parole officers to confess their fantasies to?
The fact is that, despite all the scare stories, your children are at much greater risk of being abused by someone they know than by some creepy stranger like Monyelle.
I shed no tears for Michael Monyelle. But I worry that our fears are leading us down paths we will come to regret in the future.
Janice:
I appreciate your point of view, but it’s important to remember that Michael Monyelle has already been convicted twice of Second Degree Sexual Assault of a Child Under 16, with a third case having been dismissed and “read in” with the other cases. So knowing his criminal record, a Chapter 980 commitment isn’t out of line. As for your comment that, ‘if the state wanted to force Monyelle to get treatment, I’d be supporting that. Instead, they are pressing to commit him as a dangerous sexual predator, when he has not been convicted of any such crime,’ I’d just like to note that sex offender treatment is a standard part of any parole plan for a sex offender. I say that as someone who works in that line of work, so I know that paroled sex offenders are mandated to attend and comply with sex offender treatment. But as I said in an earlier entry, sex offender treatment is really more about risk abatement than ‘curing’ sex offenders, so someone who willingly admits to having deviant sexual thoughts about children in his target victim group is a definite and serious risk to reoffend.
Chapter 980 commitments exist exactly for this type of situation, and it’s important to note that Chapter 980 commitments are not forever; if a judge is presented with evidence that an individual no longer poses a threat to the safety of the community, that individual can be released to community supervision.