A recent quote (BDN, Jan. 4) tells me how far we still have to go in our education efforts. At a sentencing for someone convicted of unlawful sexual behavior with a 13-year-old, a social worker pleaded for leniency because “the man does not fit the typical sexual offender profile.”

Would that there were such a profile! How convenient it would be if we could warn our children to stay away from certain people because they look or act like sex offenders. To further suggest that this particular offender “does not constitute a danger to anyone” is a slap in the face to the young woman who was his victim. She was threatened and continues to live in fear because of the sexual abuse.

After presenting education/prevention programs to more than 10,000 K-12 students in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties in 2005, Rape Response Services is concerned when comments like these are made. Members of the public still do not want to believe that people commit sexual crimes against children. Victim-blaming statements and ignorance of the impact of sexual violence on the victim are also widespread.

The sex offender registration process may even be experiencing a backlash, as juries and even judges ignore taped confessions, return not guilty verdicts and accept plea bargains, thereby keeping people from being added to the registry. We have a sense of complacency about the registry, as if it is informing the public about all the sex offenders in our communities, instead of the relatively small number who have been caught and convicted of sex crimes against a minor.

A crime of sexual violence is the sole responsibility of the person who commits that crime. People make a choice to engage in this type of criminal behavior and use power and control to carry it out. Making excuses for their criminal behavior only adds to the long-term impact of sexual violence on the victim.

Kathy W. Walker, LMSW

Executive director

Rape Response Services

Bangor