Is Masturbation Relevant?

Norm Pattis

I am preparing for a sentencing argument later today. My client has been convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting a fourteen year old girl. This took place more than a decade ago. My client was about 40 years old at the time. The girl was the daughter of a woman with whom the man was having an affair.

Under Connecticut law, prior to sentencing a presentence report is completed by a probation officer. One part of preparation for sentencing is to check the accuracy of the report.

In this brave new therapeutic world of ours, my client will be required to participate in sex offender treatment when released on parole, if he lives long enough to complete his sentence. So I should not have been surprised to read the following: "The offender reported that he first began masturbating at eighteen years old. ... Although he could recall approximately when this masturbation behavior began, he indicated that he could not recall how often this occured. ... When inquiring when the last time he actually masturbated, ..."

Give me a break.

Sex offender treatment is most often a joke. We have set lose an army of scantily educated social workers to police the desire of people who have made mistakes. And what do we get? Reports on how often a man masturbates?

Sexual desire isn't a crime. At least for most of us. Sure, it can be misdirected, and a crime can occur. But masturbation? I suspect the prisons aren't large enough to hold all the offenders.