Let’s talk about one case of abduction.
One morning in South Lake Tahoe in 1991, 11 year old Jaycee Dugard was abducted by Richard Garrido as she walked to her school bus stop. For 18 years, she was kept in Garrido’s backyard as a sex slave and forced to have two children by him. When she was discovered at the age of 29, her children were 11 and 15. The country shuddered in horror when we learned of her plight. What kind of a monster would do this, we wondered.
After Garrido and his wife were thrown in jail, Jaycee returned to live with her mother, received extensive therapy and wrote a book, which became a bestseller. The state of California unanimously voted to pay her $20 million for the failure of its parole officers to monitor her abductor. Explaining the settlement, the chief consultant of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, said, “I don’t recall any cases where three young women have been held in a shed.”
Now, imagine this alternative outcome.
Jaycee is released from Garrido’s captivity, but she has nowhere to go. She has no family left to take her in. She is penniless. The state offers her no settlement and takes no responsibility for her plight. The social services are inadequate and irregular. Garrido and his wife suffer no punishment. Nowhere to turn, Jaycee is forced to continue to live in Garrido’s…
