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CHANNELING ALDOUS HUXLEY

In wake of the tragic and locally traumatic rape and murder of a lone 17-year-old jogger, here in San Diego, the self-flagellation, recrimination and doubts about our legal system are in high decibel. There has been an arrest and indictment of a very probable suspect, who previously had been convicted of the rape and torture of a 13-year-old girl, who fortunately survived. With that, the legal what-ifs are highly incandescent.

It is believed that the suspect may be involved in an incident with another young lady jogger who was able to escape with the aid of her martial arts skills. It is further surmised that he could be the unknown assailant in a similar, highly publicized case where a young lady disappeared in the same general area.

The most salient complaint about the legal system in the case of this suspect is that he was not given the maximum penalty for his first conviction. Even in the face of a counselor’s suggestion that he most likely would repeat the offense, and therefore should be incarcerated for the maximum time allowable by law, ultimately his sentence was considerably truncated. The reason given for the early release was that it was his first offense. Of course, the ensuing discussions about sex offenders are age-old and include the death penalty, life imprisonment, chemical castration and the use of identification ankle bracelets. An additional method, which previously I had not heard seems to present a viable way out of this legal dilemma: subcutaneous electronic identification emplacement.

A great deal of the discussion regarding the control of sex offenders centers upon their civil liberties after release. Several years ago, while visiting Mexico City, I was surprised by hearing a television panel discussing the possibility of injecting potential kidnap victims with electronic identification tagging. This, of course, has to do with tracking victims of the horrendous rash of kidnap-for-profit that still plagues Mexico. For some time, now, this system has been used for the identification of retrieving lost pets. With regard to solving the riddle of how to deal with sex offenders, this appears to be the golden clue. Whenever there is a conflict as to retaining an offender in custody, balanced against his legal rights and the need to protect the public, he could be offered the alternative of remaining in custody or being released on parole with an injected electronic tag. Such an arrangement would allow his every move to be recorded.

It appears as though we are at the point in time where such a “Brave New World” action is quite imminent.