COMMENTARY
Internet predators should not get probation
By Mark Bennett
Thirteen-year-old Kacie Woodie, an Arkansas seventh-grader, was murdered by an Internet predator. Thirteen-year-old Christina Long, a Connecticut sixth-grader, was murdered by an Internet predator. Every day, we read or watch stories of Internet predators raping, kidnapping, assaulting and ruining the lives of American children — and the numbers of such predation are increasing dramatically.
In Hawai'i, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force targets Internet predators — we've prosecuted more than 20 — while in fiscal year 2007 alone task forces in our sister states reported prosecuting more than 1,600 Internet predation cases.
Yet despite the fact that predators who want to have sex with our children pose a very serious danger to our community, some of Hawai'i's judges continue to deal very leniently with these predators. That is why we will propose to the Legislature the Child and Adult Protection and Safety Act of 2008, which will include a provision to eliminate any possibility of probation for those convicted of being Internet predators.
A recent Maui case illustrates why we need to change the law. Robert McKnight, 37, chatted over the Internet with one of our agents, whom McKnight believed was a 15-year-old O'ahu girl. McKnight solicited her for sex, offered to be her "sexual teacher," masturbated several times on his Web cam which she could see, and described in great detail all the sexual acts he wanted to perform with her, including vaginal and anal intercourse and oral sex. He purchased a plane ticket for her to go to Maui, and he was arrested at the Kahului airport when he went to pick her up.
McKnight pleaded not guilty to the felony of electronic enticement of a child, and went to trial. A jury convicted McKnight, and we asked Maui Circuit Court Judge Joel August to sentence McKnight to 10 years in jail (the Hawai'i Paroling Authority would have determined McKnight's minimum jail term before parole eligibility).
Instead, Judge August gave McKnight, who had a prior conviction for abuse of a family or household member, the absolute minimum sentence allowed by law — probation and one year in jail. Judge August also allowed McKnight to remain free on bail pending McKnight's appeal, finding that McKnight posed no danger to any other person or to the community.
Judge August made the following comments (taken verbatim from the official court transcript) while imposing the minimum sentence allowed by law:
While hopefully no other Hawai'i judge would have the poor judgment to believe Osama Bin Laden's alleged 14-year-old wife and "cultural differences" are reasons to give a convicted Internet sexual predator the minimum sentence allowed by law, Judge August's judicial colleagues have been similarly lenient with convicted predators.
This sends the wrong message to such predators, does not act as a sufficient deterrent to potential predators, keeps more predators on the streets and, in a very real sense, endangers Hawai'i's children. Convicted Internet sexual predators need to be in jail for a long time, and those who are considering predation need to know that if they are caught, they will go to jail for a long time. That knowledge, hopefully, will deter at least some of them from targeting Hawai'i's kids.
Our proposed Child and Adult Protection and Safety Act of 2008 will be a step in the right direction, and we hope the Legislature will adopt it.
Mark Bennett is Hawai'i's attorney general. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.
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