“Child sexual abuse garners the most severe emotional response from the taxpaying public.”

That’s a quote from my book, Unlocking Minds in Lockup, drawn on here to explain the current news emphasis on criminal sentencing laws as congress considers confirming a supreme court judge appointment. The book is an account of my eighteen-year career teaching inside women’s and men’s prisons in Washington state.

At the time I taught inside, the state’s criminal code specified 16 classifications in the Sex Offenders chapter. Sex related offenses appear in other chapters, including Family Offences and Bribery and Corrupt Influences. There may be others. I’m not trained in the law.

Every state and the federal government establish criminal codes that determine sentences for specific crimes and guidelines for judges. Why did some senators focus on the specific sentences they reviewed? For the emotional response from their taxpaying constituents.