Why Crime Is On The Rise

April 27, 2007

Today, I read an article in The Washington Post (4/27/07, B-3) about a case in Maryland of another sexual pervert (who exposed himself, and "engaged in a personal sexual activity") -to a bus full of girls from a private school. It turns out that the "exposer" was a middle school math teacher, who was charged in 2005 for the same indecent exposure in- Anne Arundel County, MD.

"Bouma had been charged with indecent exposure in Anne Arundel County in 2005. According to court records, prosecutors put the case on the stet docket-an inactive docket from which cases are often dismissed if the defendant completes one-year probationary period."
The Washington Post, April 27, 2007, B-3

The Washington Post Article continues with the principal sending a letter home to students in the school where this guy worked and was "shocked and sad" noting that "Argyle students were not involved and that Bouma's background was checked before he was hired."

I did a further search on Google about "stet docket" and pulled up a source by The Maryland Legal Assistance Network (MLAN) who sponsors a site @ http://www.peoples-law.org
"for legal information, not legal advice". Once there, the site reiterated that "stet docket" is a "group of cases which generally are not reopened". This site also offers other information for the non-legal mind, like Nolle Prosequi (commonly known to lawyers as "noll pros") results "when the prosecutor decides to drop the case either before or during the trial". The site also explains how to get legal help with "a record expungement". Under Maryland Law, you can clean your crime record if your were found not guilty, or the charges are dismissed. The State's Attorney has only 30 days to file an objection to a person's request for expungement. Wow!

Why do we even have laws -if the judge and prosecutors have all the power to pull cases that they deem unimportant or less of a threat? In this example, as the non-legals, we can see that the math teacher has again exposed himself to minors (less than a year from the same first incident) and this time added "a personal sexual activity".

Doesn't "stet docket" and "noll pros" obstruct the rule of law and further muddy the waters of employment background checks? If the math teacher was registered as a sexual predator, then at least he would not be working in a school with children. This is why it is so important that Marylanders push for a zero tolerance for "stet docket" and "noll pros" regarding sexual crimes against children. If not, then we are forgiving sexual predators until they rape a child and get a minimum of twenty five (25) years with the recently passed Jessica's Law. Is that what "we the people" want?