Government and the Child Sex Offender

It’s terrible that ten-year-old Jamie stumbled across a pornographic website and became addicted to the images poured into his immature mind. Only the Great Physician and His Word will be able to cleanse the boy’s heart and soul of the imagery of activities he cannot yet enjoy physically.

It’s awful that his family government – his parents – failed to monitor the boy’s Internet activities and correct the directions of his interests. His parents will have to deal with the expense of psychological therapy and the hard work of retraining his ‘Net surfing. (They will also have to live with the social stigma of a son who has been labeled a sex-offender.)

I consider it worse than terrible, more harmful than awful, that the civil government believed they had the need – and the right – to arrest a now-thirteen-year-old incapable of sexual activity and to stigmatize him as a sex-offender. Maybe the civil government has a God-ordained responsibility to monitor the local cyberspace and restrain the wickedness there. Certainly the civil government has responsibility to punish those who assault others who are weak and vulnerable.

I question the civil government’s practice of labeling even non-aggressive “criminals” as sex-offenders and broadcasting this status to local communities. Are thieves stigmatized with similar labels? Are neighborhoods warned of the presence of known murderers? When Jamie turns eighteen, will his court records be sealed as are those of other juvenile delinquents? Will the civil government stop warning any new neighbors of his current criminal status?

I think we have here another example of unjust government interference. Certainly, the family government, Jamie’s parents, needed to be informed of the boy’s wicked and unhealthy activities. It would certainly help the whole family to involve the appropriate church government. The local Church can bring to the family God’s love, mercy, and healing. 

However, beyond restraining real criminal activity and supplying information and guidance, the civil government needs to butt out.