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	Unequal Justice under Law By Neil McCaffrey The Coloradoan [Colorado] June 18, 2007 http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070618/OPINION04/706180310 Item: A Fort Collins pastor faces charges that on more than one occasion he fondled a teenage boy and gave him alcohol. He then called the young man during the police investigation. Convicted of the crimes, the since defrocked priest received a minimum 14-year prison sentence. Item: A Brighton public school teacher admits to fondling and kissing a teenage boy and giving him alcohol. Then, in violation of her bond, she calls the young man during the investigation. The young man involved says the two once exchanged 76 text messages in a single day. While calling the teacher's actions a "serious criminal offense," the judge, nonetheless, accepted her plea bargain and imposed a 45-day jail sentence, plus a five-year probation and four-year deferred sentence. Both the priest and the teacher proclaim their innocence, though the teacher pleaded guilty. Both cases occurred in Larimer County. Both occurred after the advent of tough sexual predator laws. Item: A few years ago, a male coach at a Fort Collins school was accused of having sexual contact with a female softball player. Item: A female administrator at a Fort Collins high school resigned her position after admitting to a past sexual relationship with a female student. Analogous situations; persons in positions of authority, trusted with the very lives of young men and women, abusing their positions for sexual gratification. Why lighter sentences, or even no prosecution, in the cases of school district employees while the priest receives harsh punishment? Why not the same expectations of public school officials as of church leaders when sex abuse occurs? Why did school district officials not face scrutiny in any of these cases? Why no victims' rights groups demanding that the school system open its files of sex abuse cases? Why no lawyers lined up to sue? The simple answers, unfortunately, are institutional and societal prejudice against organized religion - particularly the Catholic Church - and a corresponding misplaced reverence for our public school systems. Justice is blind. Or is it? School systems and administrators do not answer for these crimes in the same way society and the courts force churches to. Under intense criticism, a few years ago the Vatican and the U.S. Bishops' Conference instituted tough controls and placed demands on U.S. bishops and their dioceses aimed at stemming the tide of sex abuse. Not enough, said her critics. And furthermore, the wrong controls. Those same critics have not raised a whimper against public school systems as teachers have also repeatedly engaged in criminal sexual behavior. Predatory sex crimes recur while the media and the criminal justice system resort to the prejudice of selective blame and selective justice. Is this to suggest that church leaders are blameless for not policing their own? Hardly. It is rather to underscore that until this society demands the same accountability across the board, and imposes even-handed and very harsh punishments on every sexual predator, young men and women will remain at-risk. As for the case of the Brighton teacher, the prosecutor and judge have failed in their duty to protect Larimer County residents.
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