Discussing
Coming face to face with sex offenders in Lost Memory of Skin

There but for the grace of God go I. Or any one of us. Both the "justice" system and society have a long way to go in helping to restore people with sex offender backgrounds.

I worked with a serial rapist who had gotten married while in prison and had 2 children and was being released from the civil commitment he had been under.

It was painful to watch how he was treated by society. Finding a job and a place to live took a very long time (the State would not allow him to go home to his family until he worked in his transitioning city for at least a year and his family lived 6 hours away).

He went to four churches before finding one (ours) that would allow him to even enter the church.

Jesus would have left the 99 and looked for this lost sheep. May we have the grace to do the same.

Has this author had any conversations with a parent of a child molested by a person raised within an ideal family, great opportunity and privilege; loving mother and father; the best possible education and love and care within his home? What does one who has been victimized by such a sex offender supposed to think about this book and the obvious slanted point of view about this topic. encouraging self-pity to those who destroy and devastate others' lives simply to satisfy their own selfish depraved needs, is a travesty.

I think that Banks' book is pretty unflinchingly bold about the weight of the Kid's crimes - that's what makes the redemption question so big. How do you look at yourself differently in light of the awful things you've done? His response at the end is a powerful stand, I think, for responsibility and maturity. In light of all the terrible public accounts of child molestation, this book is a must read precisely b/c it forces people to examine their actions. Both perpetrator and society.

And to Whatisay - that is such a difficult, terrible story for anyone to carry. Lord have mercy. My hope is that reading this book would help us understand the severity of abuse, and to not simply "coddle" victimizers (which doesn't happen in the novel), but to move towards a better kind of justice.

Thanks for this. I know both sides of this issue if we can call it that. The perps and the victims. The horror is at times beyond belief and the damage so immune to our optimistic assumptions of what is possible with the tools we possess. It gives a window into humanity, how we are both the destroyers of Eden and those who lament its destruction. Good piece. Thanks for having the courage to post it.