I will try to keep this one short.
In January, a Bonneville County jury found Jonathan Folk guilty of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor, making this his third conviction. Folk’s most recent (known) offense took place on Christmas Day of 2007, against a five-year-old boy, while visiting distant relatives here in Idaho Falls. In pleading the public’s case, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Pickett pointed out the dangers a paroled or free Mr. Folk presents to the community by stating, “Mr. Folk will not stop molesting children, and if there were a six year old around him, they’d be in danger.”
Idaho does not have a three-strike out rule; nonetheless, Judge Shindurling imposed the life sentence stating Folk is a risk and danger to our children.
For your review, here is a link to Idaho’s Sex Offender Registry for Folk (does not include most recent offenses): http://www.isp.state.id.us/sor_id/SOR?id=20543&sz=400
Do you feel Judge Shindurling’s ruling was fair and just?
Would you support a three-strike and you’re out rule for Idaho (meaning life w/o parole for three or more felony convictions)?
Visit the poll to your right…
Popularity: 9%
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
I completely support Folk going to prison for the rest of his life.
But I absolutely oppose a three strikes your out law because its been a disaster everywhere its been implemented. The law is intended for people like Folk but the vast majority of those it ensnares are people who commit non violent felonies like check fraud, theft, drug users, etc. I’d consider a three strikes law if it applied only to certain violent felonies but even then it would have risks – there is a case in California where a guy got his third strike for “robbery” when he took a slice of pizza off someone elses tray.
I personally am a supporter of the three strikes lawas as well as Jessica’s Law. Unfortunately a lot would need to be done in Idaho to have these work properly againt only “dangerous” criminals.
Idaho’s laws as they now stand do not differentiate between sex offenders and violent sex offenders. So as of now, if a three strikes law or Jessica’s laws were implemented an 18 year old could end up with the worse consequeces simply because he had consentual sex with his 17 year old girlfriend, later brushed up against someone who took it the wrong way (aka sexually), and then slipped up with the girlsfriend again.
The first step in Idaho is to categorize our sex offenders so that the “minor” offenders aren’t lumped in with the violent/pedophile offenders.
The 3 strikes rule is a great topic for discussion. I’m kinda on the fence with this issue though. Regarding anonymous’ comment about stealing a slice of pizza, I don’t know if that would be considered a felony would it? Or does the three strikes rule include misdemeanors as well? I was under the assumption that it had to do with felonies only. While I do support harsher sentencing for repeat offenders (especially felony offenders), I saw a Dateline program on this issue a couple years back where they where showing cases where people were spending the rest of their lives in jail over what seemed like really petty crimes such as possession of controlled substance, petty theft, etc. While it seems like a good deterrent to keep people on the straight and narrow, you end up with petty criminals behind bars for life and child molestors walking the streets. I’d have to say no for the 3 strikes issue, but yes to much harsher sentencing if people continue to break the law. Life in jail just seems a little harsh for stealing a slice of pizza or getting busted for a joint, etc.
It would be interesting to see some statistics on how this has worked in California and what some of the 3rd strikes where that people have been put away for life over.
it has been a long time coming and its too bad that there have been other children that have had to pay the price for this creep to finally get put away for life. he is sick. like it was already stated, your children are in danger. he is not rehabilitatable. he will never be a productive memeber of society. i wish that the laws were more stringent here in our beautiful state of idaho. but really, the law is harder on fraud and drug dealers. what it is going to take to get the laws tougher. i realized we would have to have bigger facilities to put all of them in- but push come to shove, sexual crimes should not be tolerated the first time.
also, he should not be able to have life. even in prison they have the luxury of TV, soda, GED programs, classes for THEIR mental health, pills for THEIR depression (that they don’t necessiarly need) and they are allowed to do all of this when their vitcims have NOTHING!!! they are left as a damaged child. you are marked with a target and labeled “vitcim”. they don’t always get the therapy and ‘classes’ that is need for their mental health and their wellbeing. these kids are still growing up. they didn’t make that choice to be molested or raped. our tax dollars need to be re-evaluated where we are spending moeny and put some more time and effort into these children that still do have a chance.
CR67
In the pizza case I referenced the guy was charged with robbery as I said. That is a felony. The circumstances were that he was very large and mean looking, took the slice, and made a verbal threat to the owner of the pizza. This meets the elements of the crime of robbery, a felony, which is what he was charged with and got his third strike for. I’m certainly not going to argue that the guy is nice, shouldn’t have been charged with something, etc. But its not something that should have gotten life in prison for. The state of California must now house him for possibly 60 years or longer all over him stealing a slice of pizza.
Thanks for the clarification anonymous. I completely agree. He should have never gone to prison for life over this altercation. I also agree with the majority of the pollers who support the 3 strikes law, but only for certain (and the more serious) crimes.
sorry….I meant to add in my last post: I thought you meant the slice of pizza WAS the “robbery”. Or was that in fact what you meant. I wouldn’t think robbing someone of a slice of pizza would be considered a felony.
lol DOH! (glad it’s Friday!)
I’m a one strike death penalty kind of guy when it comes to offenses against children. Nothing to waste money on for lethal injection either – the noose would be just fine.
I completely agree with you there Marcus. Zero tolerance!
I’m sure I’ll get ripped apart for the comment though…the usual.
This blog doesn’t leave much room for people to really see anybody’s “good” side. When the only real “discussion” centers around political views, ethics, law, and morality, nobody is ever completely happy with the way anybody responds. Religion might as well be an open subject here – we badger each other just as much without it as we would with it. Nobody is right, but everybody else is always wrong.
I think we need to schedule a BBQ at Tautphaus park or something sometime this summer just to get a good look at who we really are. I’m sure we all have a lot more in common than what we see on this blog. Quite frankly, to keep it together and survive in these increasingly difficult economic times, we need it.
Just an idea. Love ya’ll.
I just don’t understand why the authorities don’t just cut his gonads out! I hear that becomes a drastic state, as the testosterone levels would be null. Also, Why should we spend all of this money in taxes, for someone who is so irresponsible and dangerous! Yes what he did is terrible and tragic…and makes me want to puke, for putting our precious children through abhor-able acts. But I also say, an eye for an eye, for his tooth for tooth, and then release him, without the pre-distraction, then have him be supervised as such.
For all these one strike your out comments or cutting out his gonads comments?
What happens when we later find out the person was innocent? You hear about cases in the news all the time now where sex offenders are being freed thanks to DNA evidence. Thanks to the big faux repressed memory fiasco back in the 80’s as well we’ve seen a lot of people freed from prison for alleged child molestations they never committed too – the daycare workers from California come to mind. Do you just say “oops, sorry about that” to these innocent people you have made an irreversible punishment on? At least with time in prison you can free them, you can’t reverse death or cutting their gonads out. Sides which if you actually paid attention to the Folk case you’ll see that Folk wasn’t using his gonads at all in this last molestation as Folk was using his mouth to touch the little boy. Don’t need gonads for that so it wouldn’t do anything to stop him.
Certainly I support life in prison for Folk. And I’ve no doubt of his guilt. But when you throw irreversible punishments out on the table they will end up being used in cases where the guilt isn’t so certain and innocent people will be punished by it.
Another problem with three strikes laws that has been well documented in California. There has been a sharp spike in violent crime amongst those with two strikes. In a perfect world those with two strikes wouldn’t risk committing more crimes but in the real world we live in they still commit crimes but they now are much more willing to ensure that they leave no witnesses behind and as such kill them and they are much more willing to fight the police to death to avoid getting caught (this means more cops die).
I don’t agree with an across-the-board “3rd strike” law, but I do think that enough should be enough.
A dog only gets to bite a person once…
I believe that every case should be evaluated individually, but there should be a way to simply eliminate a person that has shown again and again that they refuse to operate within the boundaries of the law.
I’m not talking about the guy that gets busted for smoking pot every couple of years because he figures it’s his right (which it’s not, it’s still illegal). I’m talking about people that are a serious threat to other people.
I don’t know anything about the story that this thread is referring to, but it sounds horrible. There are plenty of criminals that have proven that they have no intention of rehabilitating, and there is plenty of proof that the crimes were committed by that person. There should be a way to just cut society’s losses and move on.
It also infuriates me that there are creeps out there that are watching our children and plotting to get to them, and we cannot do anything about it. I personally believe in corporal punishment as far as molesters go. Besides the sentence of life without parole, this Jonathan Folk person needs to be castrated. I will not apologize for my views. If there is no shadow of a doubt, rapists and molesters should be left with nothing! They took the innocence from these children and others, why should the molester be left alone? There are times when corporal punishment is a good thing.
I know that it will probably never happen, but I can guarantee you that most any parent out there that loves their children, would feel the same way that I do. I have four young boys, and I do everything possible to keep them protected. There are some nasty, evil people out there. Thankfully one more was removed from society. The scary thing is that he is not the only one out there. You could be surrounded by these filthy people and not even know it. The average pedophile here in the US is white, between 25-45, holds down a regular job, married, and is college educated? They could be anyone! I think that if there were harsher punishments, then these things would not happen as often as they do.
That goes for other crimes also. We have gone soft on crime, and now society likes to “hug our thugs.” That is why there are so many. Back in the “Old West,” people did not dare commit crimes as often as they do now. If you stole a horse – you were hung. If you kidnap someone and found – you were shot. Now, when you steal a car, you only get your hand slapped. You kidnap a child, and you might get five years in jail. How is that taking care of the problem? The three strikes you are out rule is a joke. It should not take three times. However, we also need to use some common sense. Taking a slice of pizza is just stupid. Humiliation goes a long way. Do you remember doing something stupid as a kid? If people caught you, you would feel like an idiot and never do it again. You learned your lesson. I think that we as citizens need to wise up and start standing up for ourselves – make the judicial system and government realize that things have gotten way out of hand. We need to show criminals that we are serious and there are serious punishments for horrible crimes. Sitting in a prison where you do not have to work, you have free gym membership, your meals are paid for and made for you, without bills – this is not really punishment, to some it may even seem like reward.
I actually knew an individual years ago who admitted that he preferred to stay in prison (3 squares, and roof and unlimited workout time) and kept committing crimes to that end.
To my knowledge, he’s still there living off my dime.
Not cool.
I know some people who prefer jail / prison too. Every one of them has some mental or developmental issues that prevent them from leading much of a quality life on the outside. For them they feel safer in jail and the routine is comforting to their state of mind. So its not always a case of someone being lazy, its more often a case of someone who lost the birth lottery and was given a defective brain which makes it difficult for them to cope in the chaotic real world. These mental issues often lead them into drugs (self medication for those who lack insurance to get the legal variants) and crimes to get those drugs which is what lands them in jail.
Yes, they are completely helpless and cannot drag themselves out of the mud that they threw themselves into. Boo hoo. Natural selection please.
Amen: My4Sons…I totally agree. Also StarsAglow…Kudos!, for no gonads. Our children are too innocent and loved, to put up with a Chance of that, and especially from a three time felon.
Tounge licking or not…having no nuts, usually results in suspending the desire to do so. Otherwise saying a person is just licking with their nuts still attached, makes them so they are they just, a so called “Micheal Jackson-giving out his Jesus Juice”…just nuts? No Jail, and still nuts.
OurPreciousChildren – What?
I’m a little baffled at comment 20 as well. As for My4sons comment, I agree. The majority of these sickos cannot be “rehabilitated” to where they’ll stop molesting children. And since that’s the case, castaration would be the only way to go in order to stop, or least dramatically slow their desires for children.
I also think change needs to take place right here in our own backyard / state. I’m shocked and appalled at the light sentences our judges hand down in cases like this in our county & state. First & second offenses are often a mere slap on the wrist and this needs to change NOW. First offences for molestation charges against children need to be a minimum of 40-50 years of hard time (including castration). As it is now, these sickos are usually out after 3-5 years with good behavior, only to molest again. And until we put the right people in charge in our courtrooms, it’s never going to change.
It is incorrect to say that Idaho does not have a 3-strikes rule. Mr. Folk was convicted of the persistent violator provision, this being his 3rd conviction of a felony, which allows a conviction to be enhanced for to life. Many states have similiar provisions, allowing a judge to determine what is an appropriate amount of time for prison. Repeat drug user offenders may not deserve life, although the state has the right to seek it, thus discretion is appropriate with a judge.
The problem with Mr. Folk, is the nature of his charge already allows a life sentence, and no state before Idaho gave him that, therefore loosing him on the rest of us. Mr. Folk admitted he can not help himself, and sees nothing wrong with his behavior, this therefore makes protection of society the most important sentencing consideration, and his sentence does serve the interest of justice. Sadly, at a cost of $50,000 a year to the rest of us, but, that’s the price we pay to be safe from him.