Prisons do not solve the problem of social deviance. If prisons did work, we would not have criminal offenders.
Getting back on subject, I think it is wrong, if not criminal, that these people would continue to persecute this man after he has served a 30 year sentence. Granted what he did was horrible but he did serve his time. I would be more worried about a murderer living next to me than a sexual offender but I do not have kids. I have mixed feelings about the sex offender registry. It is good in the fact that we know who is living in the neighborhood but it is also hiding our privacy; privacy being a right that many Americans cherish and enjoy. I am one that enjoys my privacy.
What this man did was wrong but his neighbors are probably even more wrong. God promises to forgive us as long as we ask and seek his forgiveness. 30 years in prison is a very long time and I could not imagine spending that long in prison. He has served his time. His neighbors however took it upon themselves to block his driveway when he came home. Police had to hold them back as they crowded the driveway preventing his car from pulling in. According to the AP, "George Feigley's release comes amid heightened concern that police lack authority to monitor his activities now that he is free.
A woman who lives next door to Feigley's home, where his wife has continued to live, has been circulating a petition to keep Feigley from returning to his old neighborhood.
When Feigley arrived at his three-story Harrisburg home as a passenger in a car shortly after 6:30 p.m. Friday, about 15 people blocked the driveway, shouted and held up signs that said, among other things, "Don't let him hurt again." Two police officers helped clear a path for the car to get in the driveway."
What intrigues me more is that "State Sen. Jeffrey Piccola has said he plans to introduce legislation that would allow authorities to keep potentially dangerous sex offenders in prison after they have finished serving their sentences." In other words, they would never be released from prison and would never learn how to properly act in society. I thought we were working on improving society. Fear is not a deterioration. Scaring people into going to prison does not work but rather working with individuals to help them avoid prison and social deviance. I like to hear everyone's thought on this. Please comment. I believe this should be a debate not among a small group of legislators or sociologist but among everyone.
One final thing before I close. Last week I had a discussion with my father about the incident that occurred two years ago with me. He said if I had died, he would probably have left the church. I cannot stop thinking about that. People die everyday and he has spent time with many people who were dying. Death is never fair but it is apart of our life. I cannot imagine my dad being anything else than a pastor. He is somebody I look up to and only dream that one day I would be as good as a pastor as he is. He is more than a pastor but rather a theologian. To think that if I would have died my dad would of given up on God hurts me more than anything else in the world. What this world needs is not a great and glorious king but rather a man who can hold us in our darkest hour and let us know that we are loved by God. I do wonder about death more now than ever. If I would have died two years ago, how would my family have acted? What would they had done? What would they have thought about God? God is fair but life is not. We all will die but for the time being we are all living. Live for the moment but know that one day life will end on earth and begin in heaven. Death is always painful and is never welcome but it is going to happen. I hope that I will continue to live a long, long life but if God calls me home early, I hope that nobody loses faith. God is God. He works in mysterious ways and he will continue to work in all of us; whether we believe or we do not believe.
Blessings!
