Curtis Crittenden, Christopher Burton, Benjamin John Magness, James Allen Kern, Beth Anne Marie Lake, Christopher Michael Wood — the list goes on and on. It’s the list of pedophiles and child pornographers being sentenced in Tooele County over the past several months.

Several months ago, Ann Herron wrote a column for this paper explaining why she was glad that the numbers of these cases is going up (“Society must give child molesters nowhere to hide,” Sept. 30, 2008). She was glad because the number of cases we read about doesn’t necessarily mean there are more children being abused, but rather that more people are actually brave enough to come forward and press charges. Child sex abuse is coming out of the shadows. The “dark family secret” is becoming a thing of the past.

While I agree with Ann that the increasing number of reports, prosecutions, and convictions is a good sign, I see this only as a beginning. The system needs to be redesigned so that the punishments being handed down to these violators are not only enough to keep them away from our children forever, but also enough to provide a suitable deterrent to other potential violators.

One of the major problems society faces in pursuing these cases is the impact that a long investigation and prosecution have on the victim or victims. Every interview, every moment of preparation, every minute of the trial will force them to relive their violation. This is hard enough on adult sexual assault victims, but it can be emotionally disastrous for children.

So prosecutors do the expedient thing: plea bargain. This has the effect of sparing the victim from reliving their victimization again and again, enabling them to begin the healing process sooner. However, it also has the effect of generally reducing the amount or degree of the charges and hence reducing the length or severity of the punishment. Yes, punishment. Not rehabilitation. Child sex offenders may need rehabilitative therapy, but what they also need is severe punishment.

Child predators represent the single greatest threat we face in society. The damage these people inflict upon the children of our communities is not only emotionally and physically detrimental, but also insidious. In many cases, the victims don’t feel the full brunt of the trauma they’ve endured for years, even decades. While locking a predator up for 20 years isn’t going to do anything to alleviate the trauma felt by most of their victims, what it will accomplish is to take these animals off the street and protect other children from them. Permanent registration in the state and national sex offender database should also be a mandatory term of any plea bargain or conviction for a child sex offense.

In all honesty, I don’t know what the answer is to the trauma created by a prolonged investigation and protracted trial. Perhaps a plea bargain is the best solution for cauterizing the wound and allowing the victim to begin the healing process. What I do know, however, is that the sentences being handed down to child sex offenders aren’t nearly tough enough, nor are they in any way commensurate with the amount of damage these offenders do — not just to their victims but to society as a whole.

Bob Henline is a Tooele resident and political activist. He can be reached at bob@nonpart.org.