Peter, it was a different time back in the 1980s, when these crimes were committed. People believed that child molesters could be sent to expensive psychiatric treatment programs and be cured. Criminal justice emphasized "rehabilitation," and there were all sorts of diversion programs designed to reform criminals and keep them out of prison.
These programs didn't work, and the response to crime has swung to the other extreme - all we do now is punish, punish, punish.

I don't think either is the answer - but I'm honest enough to say that I don't know what the answer is.

I do think that the threads on this subject have gone way overboard in dwelling on the past and on blaming all sorts of elderly people for things that happened twenty to forty years ago. We need rational, practical answers to this real, terrible problem - but all Mudcatters can do is point the finger of blame.

The Fr. Tony Walsh story was a terrible thing, but it ended when he was prosecuted 15 years ago. Expanding the blame for a story that ended 15 years ago is fruitless - what can we do now to stop future molestation? That's where the issue is. We need answers, not blame. This is an urgent problem - wallowing in blame is not going to solve it. Give me answers.

-Joe Offer-