Thursday, May 5, 2005
Registered sex offender Leroy Hendricks should be allowed to move into Lawrence. The widely known Hendricks has been the subject of debate in town recently, and with good reason. Who would want him? When he challenged a new sexual predator law in 1997, the Supreme Court called his case “chilling”. He was once quoted as saying the only way he would stop molesting children was “if he died”.
None of that should matter.
The legal system in the United States offers justice to all, including those who perform lewd acts which disgust the rest of us. Hendricks was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and he served that. Just as he was finishing his sentence, Kansas legislature passed a law that allowed criminals like Hendricks to be sentenced to more time in a psychological facility. Now after 10 years in that system, he’s being released under strict guidelines.
If Hendricks moves to Lawrence, he will be under constant surveillance that amounts essentially to the highest degree of house arrest. This measure will cost the state of Kansas an estimated $278,000 for the first 15 months alone. In short, he won’t be roaming the streets.
Leroy Hendricks is 70 years old, and in declining health. It would be unjustified to say he is no longer a threat, but one fact is unmistakably clear: he has served his sentence. It’s doubtful that the parents of his victims would agree that the 20 years spent in incarceration can make up for his crimes. But according to the legal system that we all depend on everyday, his time for release has come.
Why isn’t there the same amount of outrage about citizens who have been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol time and again? Those people pose as much a risk to the public as sexual predators like Hendricks. It’s because in our society, we reserve a special place in our minds for sex criminals. It’s easier to watch a story on the news about a drunk driver killing a pedestrian than it is to imagine a child being raped. But that is not a reason to petition to keep Hendricks out of Lawrence.
Is it a scary thought to know that someone with such a violent past is living across the street? Yes. But are citizens in the legal position to decline this man his right to live a somewhat normal life? So the answer, as hard as it may be to accept, is that Hendricks has served his time and deserves to be part of the community.
Erick Schmidt writing for the editorial board.
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