UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights
It’s easier than ever to fly to another country. There are looser borders, more flights and even websites explaining extradition laws across the world.
So of course, child molesters are fleeing overseas more often. Or at least it sure seems that way.
Here’s a thought: in many places, there are automatic penalties – X number of years – if you use a gun while committing a crime.
Because a predator who flees abroad makes an already expensive, slow and complex prosecution process even more expensive, slow and complex, why not an automatic X years tacked on to his or her sentence after conviction? Maybe it might make a child molester think twice before evading the law by jumping on a plane?
What got me thinking about this was a year-long investigation by Global Post made public last year. It reveals that at least five predator priests from the US and Europe were quietly moved to South America where they continued to work in ministry. This is an increasing trend: child molesting clerics being sent abroad to evade justice. We suspect there are hundreds of proven, admitted, and credibly accused abusive clergy working who’ve moved to other nations.
The Post’s findings mirror similar investigations made in 2013 by the Chicago Tribune and an even more thorough one in 2004 by Dallas Morning News.
The Tribune found that “Since 1985, at least 32 priests have left the US for foreign countries while facing criminal charges or a police investigation over (child sex) allegations. Only five have been returned to the U.S. to face trial.”
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