My old therapist, who also doubled as a couples/sex therapist, sincerely doubts the ability to reform sex offenders based on assloads of research.

Wow. I can't wait until reelection time. If I were that girl's parents I'd be sure to plaster my daughter's face and story with that judge's name all over town.

Judging from your info, that also puts the time of the first rape at around the girl's third year. Am I correct?

Someone may have the information around, but IIRC, the ability to treat child molesters is also dependent on victim age, with those who molest pre-pubescent children much more intractable than those who molest pubescent and post-pubescent minors. (I could be mis-remembering, though.) A guy who sexually penetrates a pre-schooler is not someone who can ever be left alone with a child.

Usually, I'm of the view that our society is too punitive. However, giving this guy basically a free pass for destroying some young child's life fails to meet even the most minimal standards for either deterrence or retributive justice. It's an awful and irresponsible decision.

On the subject of offenders who have sex with teens, I support enforcement of age-of-consent laws even for consensual encounters (against women, too -- what Mary Kay LeTourneau and others have done is wrong), but I'm not convinced that rehab is impossible in these circumstances. Also, I'm strongly in support of "Romeo and Juliette" exceptions.

Even if the judge doesn't believe in punishment (which is weird in and of itself), Hulett needs to be in jail simply to keep him off the street and away from other little girls.

The article says the guy began raping the girl when she was seven years old, ending almost 4 years later when she was ten. Of course, that is unconscionable, and it is ridiculous that he would only get a 60 day sentence.

Why is this judge still on the bench, hearing cases, if he is that disillusioned with the judicial system?

It is also disturbing that the state of Vermont has an absurd classification system that "assesses" a perp's likelihood of reoffending. Because Hulett raped a neighbor's child, and because he has no previous sex offenses on his record, he is categorized as "low risk." WTF?

I guess we can only hope that he meets an untimely end whilst incarcerated, like Dahmer did.

Was the judge appointed by a democrat?

My God. Five years ago, my husband was arrested and spent 60 days locked up.

His crime was trying to grow five marijuana plants spread out around our valley (the other three plants died).

I can't believe the punishment for rape of a child is equal to his punishment.