Published: October 12, 2008 01:28 am            

JOHNSON: Don’t let anger cloud judgement about offenders

I met “Matthew” while he was still serving time in a medium-security prison. He was the worst of sex offenders; he had molested a child. Matt was tried, convicted, and sentenced and only had a few years left to serve by the time we met.

Matt's wife had turned him in. She had confronted him with evidence she had found, and he confessed. The police were called, and justice took its course. Matt was guilty and freely admitted it. He went to prison.

There's a big difference between “jailhouse religion” and truly seeking and finding God. One of those differences is true repentance; a repentance that is not merely verbal, but motivates the repentant person to take action. True repentance does whatever it may take to change. As the Apostle James wrote, “faith without works is dead.”

Some people may be angry when they hear that someone like Matt claims to have “found Jesus.” Sometimes it still bothers me, even after all these years, when an offender claims a relationship with Christ, and it turns out to be a lie; just another manipulation tactic to get whatever it is they want. But Matt wasn't looking for sympathy, favors or a reduced sentence. He used his time behind bars to grow spiritually and in other ways.

A few years after I met him, he was released from prison and returned home to his wife, who had made a difficult and brave decision to stay with Matt. She told him from the very beginning that they were going to face the consequences of his crime together and they did.

It's been more than a decade since Matt's release, and he has not reoffended.

Matt and his wife attend a church where everyone in the congregation knows about his offense; new people are told about him before they decide whether to continue to worship there. Not everyone decides to stay, but the church has chosen to welcome Matt into their fellowship, knowing that its decision might anger and offend prospective members. In spite of the reaction of some to Matt's presence there, it is a thriving community of faith.

As a practical matter, there are doors in the church that Matt doesn't use and places he doesn't go. He doesn't go anywhere in the church building, not even to the bathroom, unless he is accompanied by another man. He does this not because he is afraid of reoffending, but so that every move he makes can be accounted for. Because there is always a witness to Matt's activities, no parent needs to fear for their child's safety, and no one can make a false accusation against him.

Over the years, my conversations with Matt and others like him have helped me understand at least part of what motivates some sex offenders to target children. I am not an expert, but in my “street level” ministry, I need to know. I deal with sex offenders frequently, certainly more often than the average citizen.

In Matt's case, he told me that his offense wasn't about sex but about power. Matt had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child, and like many victims, felt robbed of personal power by the man who raped him. He said he'd come to understand that abusing a child was his attempt to recover lost power. He wasn't powerful enough to control the parents directly, but could do it indirectly, through their child. Like many victims of a sex crime, Matt became a sex offender himself.

The common wisdom says that sex offenders cannot, and will not, change their behavior. Thus, the best thing to do with them is to lock them up and lose the key.

But the common wisdom is wrong, and some of you may be upset with me for saying so. Matt is not the only sex offender out there who has stopped offending; there are many others like him. His story demonstrates that change is possible, even for those who commit the most evil offenses imaginable.

We are angry at those who violate children, and rightfully so. At the same time, we cannot allow anger to cloud our judgment. We cannot let emotion prevent us from getting at the facts, and making sound, evidence-based decisions concerning how to best punish, or better yet, prevent these types of crimes.

There's a fair amount of misinformation about sex offenders floating around, and basing our decisions on it may be keeping us from creating effective public policy. Future columns will examine it, in the hope that we can provide the innocent among us with the protection and the justice they deserve.

In addition to his duties as the Executive Director of Christian Formation Ministries, Richard Johnson does a lot of personal ministry, helping men succeed who have served their time and really want to become law-abiding and contributing members of society. His organization has numerous volunteer opportunities available. For information, please e-mail or call: richard@christian-formation.org, or 812-945-0886

        

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