Sex offenders are a menace to society. They come in all colors, shapes and sizes. They prey on young girls and boys. Sometimes they are strangers; sometimes they are family members or friends. Teaching young children in what to do and not do is one form of defense but there may be another way that makes more sense. Read on.
  “In the last few weeks we have seen a horrifying story replay itself. A child goes missing, a suspect is found, the child is dead, and the suspect is a registered sex offender.
  When children go missing, police know that the first place to look is the sex offender registry. Inevitably their search leads them not to a child, but to a child's body. How long must this go on? How many more children have to die before our elected officials do something?
  In Louisiana, a person who is convicted of selling heroin gets mandatory life in prison with no hope of parole. There is no requirement that a gun or violence be involved in the crime, nor is there any requirement that the drug dealer inflicts injury or even completes the sale. Our legislature believes that the trafficking of this drug is sufficiently serious to warrant locking up these offenders for the rest of their lives.
   We don’t question the wisdom of our legislature for enacting tough anti drug laws, in fact we applaud it. Our question however is why doesn’t our legislatures put at least equal emphasis on criminals who victimize and kill our children.
   Those who study such things tell us that child sexual predators can never be “cured.” This is one of those rare areas in which experts do not disagree. Those same experts tell us that convicted child predators when freed will not only act again, but very often their crimes become more serious than before. Many of these people, when freed, and when acting upon their sick compulsions, realize that when caught they will return to prison. The result of this realization coupled with their depravity results in the killing of their victims.
   If we know that these people will act again, and that over time the odds increase that they will not only further victimize children but that they will kill them, why do we let them out in the first place? If we decide to lock up drug dealers for life, how can we justify freeing people who we know will again victimize children, scarring them for life, and who we also know may kill those victims?
  Too many children have been scarred for life and too many children have died. It’s clear that our legislators are not getting the message. I think we should contact our legislators and ask for legislation that will protect our children by treating child sexual predators as harshly as drug dealers. Is there any reason not to?”
  I don’t think so. The child you save might be your own.

   That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Milo A. Nickel is the former President and COO of Louisiana State Newspapers.