RIGHTS, RIGHT OR WRONG.

In this comment, I made a snide comment about Communitarianism, so I thought I would drop by Amitai Etzioni's blog and see what's new. (I stopped paying much attention to the Communitarian's early in the Clinton Administration when, following Hillary's expressed interest in Etzioni's work, it was demolished by the Economist.) As luck would have it, the blog has a perfect example of the futility of Communitarianism.

In this post, Etzioni discusses Megan's Law:

After struggling with the data, which is quite varied, for about six months, I discovered that sexual offenders re-offense records are actually much worse than those of many other violent criminals and much worse than is often reported. They commit on average about 13 felonies before they are caught. Such is the case because often the victims do not come forward, and when the offender is a member of the victim’s family (as is frequently the case), there is all too often family pressure to keep mum.

Finally, I found that Megan's Laws are often considered too weak. What is a parent to do when they are told that a sex offender has moved in next door? Prohibit their kids from playing outside? Hang around at all times? Indeed some 18 states have adopted a much more extreme approach: various versions of the Sexual Violent Predator Act (also known as "Stephanie's Law"). Accordingly, sexual offenders who have completed their jail terms are locked up indefinitely in mental hospitals, allegedly to cure them, though very few are ever actually cured.

This is a perfectly sensible discussion and the problem of repeat sexual offenders should be the perfect Communitarian issue. To summarize (and Communitarian's would disagree with my summary), Communitarianism is an attempt to repackage the left for a center-right world. They do this by using the vocabulary of community and individual responsibility for the greater good and suggest that at times the good of the community should outweigh the rights of the individual. The problem is that, when push comes to shove, they are not willing to actually limit individual actions. And so when a sex offender writes in to protest against sex offender registration laws, Etzioni is sympathetic.

My discussion of Megan's Laws led to a lengthy response by someone who has been there -- on the receiving end. I somewhat agree with what this person has to say. Hence, I call attention to what 18 states are doing under the Sexual Predator Act, which passed Supreme Court muster. Once a sex offender completes his sentence they lock them up in state mental hospitals under the pretext that this is not punishment, but treatment, which is an extreme measure. Instead, I favor setting up a village for sex offenders.

Reactions to the predator's letter will vary. Note, however, that his experience proves Etzioni's point in his first post: sexual offenders who have been caught have likely been offending for a while, have little personal insight and almost no remorse for the harm done to their victims (that last point is reading between the lines). This is a better example of the uselessness of Communitarianism than I could possibly have hoped for. It is all jaw, jaw and no war, war. Posted by David Cohen at June 1, 2003 2:29 PM