Judge Brent Moss -- Soft on Sex Offender Sentencing
SEX OFFENDER SENTENCING Feb 8, 2006 What happens to sex offenders after they stand before a judge? Aaron Kunz has been investigating what some in the Upper Valley are calling a 'soft on crime' judge. A number of people asked us why it seems Judge Brent Moss is not sending sex offenders to prison. "Do you feel at anytime you have been too lenient on offenders here in Eastern Idaho?" "I guess that's something the beholder has to answer." After looking at dozens of court records in Madison County, we found many sex offenders are back on the streets with little time in jail and no time in prison. All of those sentenced had one thing in common - the judge. During our interview with Judge Moss, he said he can't comment on specific cases because many of these offenders are still active in the system. "Because of that, at any time over the next 10 to 15 years, those cases could come back before me for further information or for further disposition." We looked at four cases where offenders pled guilty before Judge Moss on various sex crimes. In all four cases, these offenders were back on the streets with no time spent in prison. "The four factors a judge has to consider is, protection of society, deterrence, rehabilitation, and punishment. Those are the four." Judge Moss says protection of society is one of the most important factors. We wanted to know why these offenders are back on the streets in such a short amount of time. "If you send them to prison without any programming at all, they are going to get out eventually and my belief is that they will come out much worse than they went in." The Idaho State Prison only recently started a program to treat sex offenders. Before that, Moss says the only treatment worth the trouble was outside of the prison system. "There are people that are qualified to treat sex offenders. That's been going on for years with some relatively good results - on the outside. And what that allows people to do is receive the treatment, working, supporting families and most of them have a family." Judge Moss says he looks for the longest time he can retain jurisdiction over offenders, often giving them suspended prison time and probation for 10 to 15 years. If they mess up.... "They could be brought back before the court and that entire sentence be imposed at that time." Moss admits there are a few cases, including one of the four we looked at, where he would have sent the offender to prison, given the new sex offender treatment program. He says there could be more of those in the future. Much of the information concerning sex offenders is hidden from the public, like the pycho-sexual evaluations. But Moss says he does his best to hand down the best sentence for the individual. Tomorrow night, in another report, I'll focus on keeping an eye on offenders once they are back on the street. http://www.kpvi.com/index.cfm?page=nbcstories.cfm&ID=2718