It’s time to throw the book at sex criminals and stalkers

I'm disgusted with the criminal behavior of some men when it comes to harassment and inappropriate sexual contact — as well as more serious sexual offenses. The media tends to focus an unusual amount of time on accusations made against famous people in the media and in politics because that sells headlines. But there are also many serious offenses happening around our area leaving some women exposed to repeated harassment and harm.

I was thinking about this on Wednesday after reading the disgusting and disturbing case of the criminal from Old Tappan who's been accused of posting for the third time, in three years, naked pictures without the consent of the women in the pic. He's already pleaded guilty to other crimes and has been sentenced to probation. Again, another case of the judicial system being soft on stalkers. The guy shoulda been sentenced to prison time for sure. This guy is bad news and there should be severe penalties for creating fake accounts to cause someone harm.

Of course there has to be a line between criminal activity and parody accounts meant to poke fun at public figures, but explicit content meant to cause harm to a victim should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

One line of defense for people to consider before taking a nude pic on your phone — it might get out someday. Forgetting the criminal behavior of the particular story I'm referencing, how many people have pics out there that they would be horrified if they ever got out? Anything taken on your phone has the potential to be posted publicly by someone, someday. Maybe it's a prank gone awry, maybe a jilted lover, maybe just a bad guy trying to hurt you. The only guarantee against this is to never take the pic in the first place.

Beyond that, how about prison sentences for stalkers? Probation is an insult to justice and can lead to future harm to the victim. I do hope that NJ politicians like Sen. Cory Booker and Governor-Elect Murphy, who seem to spend more time on criminals as victims of "the system" then the actual victims of their crimes, focus on longer sentences to keep harmful and dangerous people off our streets and off the internet.

Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him @NJ1015 or @BillSpadea.

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