Justice...?

Before reading this post please read this short blurb - "Sex Offender Wins Raffle for Abuse Victim Charity"

Now, I hear that this is...wrong. Yeah wrong - and it is.

Let's try and think from both perspectives.

This guy could be trying to benefit the organization that fight people like him, because he knows he's wrong and doesn't want anybody else to be victimized - so he buys a raffle ticket. What were the odds of him winning?

Now, he's got the ticket - but there has to be chance - and luck involved right? So who in the vast cosmo's out there decided the best fate was for this man to acctually win that $500,000??

He's got the money - he's even donating $100,000 of it straight to the charity. He wants to use the rest to "better his life".

The Question: Is it right for this man to have the money?

My answers is NO. Here's why:
I have personally known, and still know, at least 2 women who were sexually molested as children. I can tell you that the effects of that molestation are always present in their lives, and something they will never forget. The fact that this man had charges against him, as recently as 2000, makes me gape in awe at our justice system. These girls will be scarred for life because of this man. They will have unthinkable thoughts, nightmares, and more than likely be turned to a life of recklessness trying to free themselves from that memory. It's heartbreaking that this man wasn't incarcerated at the time of this raffle. Why wasn't he? Why could he even participate? That is not right.

And so - I wind up by saying that this man was fully capable of playing, and winning, this raffle...but it stems from lack of judgement on the side of the people. We really need to start thinking about the long term effects of the molestation crimes committed before releasing felons.