Shades of Gray

Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped some 18-odd years ago. Her recent reunion with her family and the ensuing details of her captivity have re-ignited calls for “one strike and you’re out” for those convicted of sexual crimes of any type. This reaction is normal, can be expected, and is completely visceral. From the gut, in other words. Other groups rely on visceral reactions: lynch mobs, vigilantes, and similar self-appointed defenders of society. My question today is whether this is the type of society and justice we now seek to deal with these problems.

Every day, felons are released from prison on an unsuspecting public and many of them wind up as repeat offenders. And the more heinous the crime, the louder the hue and cry for throwing away the key. Stand in a room and spread your arms as wide as possible from left to right. Let’s call the left hand “angelic” and the right “satanic”. (I know, it should be the other way around, but I’m left handed, so give me a break.) Now, no one would argue that those resting on the right hand should rot in prison or, perhaps, be afforded a speedier exit from this world via a syringe. And those on the left hand are saints. Simple, huh?

Now, bring your hands together a bit, say to a 45 degree angle. The halos of the saints are now a bit tarnished while the true devils start to take on some redeeming qualities. OK, let’s bring our hands to within one foot of each other. The differences start to meld with the similarities and it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the good from the bad. It becomes a matter of which criteria we use to make such a decision and it is far from the clear cut position from whence we started.

It’s time to introduce the cerebral component into our little experiment. The gut feeling wanes as our hands move closer together and the mind is now asked to render a more judicious verdict. Is this approach fool proof? Far from it. Will it prevent further dastardly deeds? Hopefully, but there is no way to predict success.

Welcome to today’s legal system. A closely woven fabric, but not so much so that unintended consequences cannot slip through the gaps. And when they do, depending on the level of their egregiousness, our collective gut once again roars for something more perfect, more black and white so we can sleep well knowing such aberrations will not recur.

Sorry, folks, but our lives revolve in a world of grays. Few saints or satans any more as we are continually asked to pick the lesser of two evils. So, while it’s easy to demand perfection, it is far more difficult to deliver in this imperfect world. Accordingly, the mind must overrule the gut in situations like this and realize that there’s only so much one can do and, when things like this happen, strive to minimize future failures of the same kind. Let’s call it maturity because that’s exactly what it is. Maturity is what reins in the visceral before it manifests itself into action while allowing the cerebral to take charge and keep things in perspective.

Should you be outraged at the failings within the system that allowed Phillip Garrido to escape notice for 18 years? Hell, yes! But to allow that outrage to take a supposed logical next step to locking every sexual offender up for life serves no real purpose save soothing the gut. Our attempt to win the war on drugs by locking up every two-bit, penny ante drug hustler or user has met with little or no success. There is no reason to believe a similar course with sexual predators (as a group) would fare any better. I know, it’s frustrating living in the world of gray. But most of us are a combination of good, bad, and ugly and all we can hope for is winning more than we lose.