What More Can Be Done About the John Albert Gardners?

John Albert Gardener III has been charged with murder, with a special allegation of rape or attempted rape, and a count of assault with intent to commit rape, in connection with the disappearance of Chelsea King. She was last seen alive Thursday, and although a body had been found yesterday, there is no positive identification that it is indeed Chelsea. Gardner has pled "not guilty", and is due to return to court on March 9. There may be special circumstances where Gardner may face the death penalty.
I watched some footage on NBC San Diego, and several folks suggest that sex offenders be microchipped, and even do a "one-strike-and-you're-out" law. The microchipping idea sounds like it could work, except I have a bit of an issue with that, and other methods used to keep sex predators and other criminals in line. Oh, I believe that these will work, mind you. But here's my issue: no matter what method law enforcement uses- be it microchipping, ankle bracelets, GPS tracking, and what have you- some criminals are very clever. If they're hellbent on committing henious acts, no kind of method will stop them. Some of these cretins won't even give a rat's ass that they're being tracked, and even revel in being caught. In the case of microchipping- which, again, I find a noble idea- what's to say that those chips won't get damaged. Believe me, if a criminal can find a way to get rid of tracking devices, he/she will utilize that shortcut.
Then, there's the issue of privacy. The American Civil Liberties Union will say that it's an invasion of privacy. Which begs the question: how can we keep an eye on people like John Gardner? Must we listen to experts, such as the psychiatrist who suggested that Gardner be locked up for up to 30 years (when Gardner served time for raping a 13 year old girl ten years ago), and follow through with that? Perhaps videotape every move? Of course, these jackals do deserve some kind of privacy- after all, we don't want to look at them every second, 24/7/365.  There are no easy answers to this.




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