SEX CRIMES, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPES: IV

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (4/9/06)

The pathos of Sheila Polk’s justice in Yavapai County is that Clifton Bennett and Kyle Wheeler, the perpetrators of the homosexual sodomy on 18 boys, will ironically become victims of their own sociopathic attitudes. Unless both of them get just punishment and extensive psychotherapy, they will likely continue their predatory lives, always preying on those more vulnerable than themselves, perhaps something they might’ve learned in Republican circles.

Apparently, Clifton Bennett when apprehended said he did not know that predatory homosexual sodomy was wrong until he was caught. If a young man is that morally dull, he needs long-term psychological therapy. Not only that, he needs profound religious and moral guidance.

The Yavapai County Attorney said that since the young men weren’t homosexuals, their crimes couldn’t be considered homosexual sodomized rapes. Whether or not they are homosexuals themselves isn’t the issue. The issue is that they chose a violent form of homosexual sodomy to punish boys at a summer camp designed to teach the boys civic responsibility. The predators’ behavior wasn’t a series of accidental incidents. It was customary and intended.

Expressing guilt and sorrow is not enough because that does not preclude repetition. Unless Sheila Polk and the judge seriously punish these two culprits and order long-term psychotherapy, they will get the message that they can repeat their sociopathic behavior without consequences.

Justice in Coconino County is far different. For the young man’s crime of voyeurism, he was sentenced to a year in jail, extensive psychotherapy, and several years probation. His prospect for the future is far better than the Yavapai predators because even though his punishment was more severe, it was more humane. Its ultimate purpose was rehabilitation. In Yavapai County justice was unbalanced with favoritism with the consequent lingering uneasiness that predatory homosexual sodomy is all right as long as heterosexuals are the perpetrators.