Justice for sex offenders...

When I've talked about sex offenders and what to do with them on the Neal Larson Show, responses from listeners vary. Some of them are with me, believing that we must not sacrifice our children's safety for leniency with this category of criminals -- not so much to extract misery and punishment from the offender, but to ensure the well-being of our children, who already have enough challenges simply growing up in this world.

Others apply a sense of compassion to them, believing all can change, or perhaps denying the reality of terribly high recidivism rates among child sex offenders.

Whatever the case may be, most of us have only the power of our opinions, voices, and votes when it comes to justice for those who offend our children. Few in our society have the direct power to imprison these deviants. We'll talk with one of them, Judge Joel Tingey, on Thursday's NLS, and we'll explore all the different factors that must be weighed before removing from -- or reintroducing to -- society a sex offender.