What happened to Sarah Haley Foxwell, the 11-year-old Eastern Shore girl kidnapped from her home and found dead on Christmas Day, is every parent's worst nightmare. In custody in Wicomico County on charges stemming from the case is Thomas James Leggs Jr., a 30-year-old convicted sex offender.
An innocent young girl and a man with a history of sex offenses in two states. That's about as heinous as it gets, and it's no surprise that many on the Shore - and perhaps elsewhere in Maryland - are not only saddened but outraged at this terrible crime.
But whether this particular horror should give rise to any significant changes in Maryland sex offender laws is, at best, unclear. At the moment, focus needs to be placed on fully investigating the crime and prosecuting the guilty party. It should be noted that although he is in custody for her kidnapping, Mr. Leggs has not been charged with Sarah's murder - at least not as of our deadline for publication.
One thing that the youngster's death has proven, however, is the goodness of so many of the victim's neighbors. An estimated 3,000 people from this rural area volunteered to search for the Wicomico Middle School sixth-grader on Christmas morning.
That's more than 3 percent of the county's population. The equivalent act in Baltimore County would require 25,000 people to assemble on this sacred Christian holiday and instead of opening gifts or listening to church hymns, spend it out in the cold, trudging through snow-covered fields. In addition, anonymous Eastern Shore donors have already offered to pay for the girl's funeral.
The recent pronouncement by Wicomico County's sheriff and state's attorney that the incident "screams for the death penalty" is unfortunate, however, particularly given that it appears the evidence to support such a verdict has not yet been collected.
The pronouncement may also suggest a troubling desire for revenge is in the air. While understandable under the circumstances, that could prove unhelpful to both the furtherance of justice and to any potential reforms of child abuse laws that might actually be justified.
Clearly, some update of Maryland law pertaining to child abuse cases in necessary. To comply with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, the state will need to change its sex offender registry between now and July in a manner that better assesses the seriousness of their crimes and potentially tracks them longer.
But on a more basic level, lawmakers need to investigate what actions might be taken to reduce the number of sex offenses that take place in this state. Mandatory minimum sentences, restrictions on plea bargaining and suspending good time credits for convicted pedophiles may sound good but, in reality, can be counterproductive.
Instead, policymakers need to think creatively about how best to prevent such violent acts from taking place at all. Requiring those convicted of sex crimes to wear GPS monitoring equipment upon their release from prison might prove more helpful.
Another option: hiring more social workers to intervene in cases of potential child sexual abuse or investing more taxpayer dollars in mental health services for victims to help prevent another generation of abused kids growing up to become abusers.
That's not to suggest that lawmakers should not consider whether sentencing guidelines are adequate or even whether this is the one exceptional crime for which mandatory minimum sentences are justified. Perhaps it is. But this is a complex matter that needs to be examined in a careful, thoughtful way, and not hampered by the distracting din of hang-'em-high posturing by the usual back-benchers.
Let Sarah Haley Foxwell be remembered not as a cry for vengeance but as the precious gift that she was, for the love her family, friends and neighbors have shown her in life and in death, and perhaps for motivating reforms that might genuinely prevent harm to others.
Readers respond
There truly is nothing more horrific than a crime against a child. My instincts say to put Thomas Leggs in the local prison in Snow Hill and let him fend for himself. Where is the aunt's accountability? I can't imagine the grief she is experiencing right now, but as the child's legal guardian she had a responsibility to protect that little girl and she failed miserably. There is no quick fix, I've been a long outspoken liberal all of my adult life, but crimes like this reach deep into my primal senses and make me question the very core of my belief system. Sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated. They just can't.
— Lynn Canade
Execution is the proper course for this individual if found guilty in a court of law. The rights of our children need to be placed first, before the rights of sex offenders. No early parole for sex offenders would be a good start.
— jay
It is not true that most who are labeled sex offenders are recidivists. A New York study found that 8% of registered sex offenders were arrested for a second sex offense within 8 years of their date of initial registration. In New York (and probably in other states), 95% of those arrested for sex crimes are first time offenders who are not listed on any registry. We should not paint sex offenders with too broad a brush. They are not all the same, just as everyone convicted of a drunk driving offense is not an alcoholic. Once out of jail, former offenders should be given a chance. They must be permitted to find employment and housing and to rebuild their lives. Hopelessness is a risk factor too.
— David Hess
The issue is not so much that a child sex offender must serve time beyond his sentence. The issue remains that the system failed this child. The man was convicted in MD of a sex crime. He served time in DE for a sex crime against a minor in 2001. He was recently charged with another crime in MD. How much does it take to develop a pattern? Like the bomber in Detroit, why weren't the red flags notices and acted upon? From news reports, the guy did everything but leave a note as to his intentions. And some fault needs to be laid at the feet of the aunt/guardian. She was entrusted to care for another's child - and approved by the courts. She knew that Leggs was a sex offender yet exposed the child to him. As a single parent, she needs to be responsible for the kids first and foremost. I am a single dad and my kids will never meet a date until she has morphed into a "significant other," and that for sure is not happening in less than a month.
— John Frenaye
Many people say sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated. However, the Texas State Auditor in 2007 released a report showing that sex offenders who completed the Texas Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) were 61% LESS LIKELY to commit a new crime. That seems to show promise. After all, in 2002, the U.S. Dept. of Justice reported that only 5% of sex offenders released in 1994 returned to prison for a new sex crime. Yet we spend millions on registration of more than 650,000 sex offenders in the U.S. based on information available in the early 1990s, when research on sex offenders was poorly funded - if it was even considered. Treatment works. The research shows this. (See "An Audit Report on Selected Rehabilitation Programs at the Department of Criminal Justice," Texas State Auditor, March 2007, Report No. 07-026. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2009. www.sao.state.tx.us/reports/main/07-026.html, and "US Dept of Justice Report on Sex Offender Recidivism," www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/rsorp94.pdf)
— Sam Caldwell
Rarely do sex offenders get caught the first time they commit a crime. When they do get caught and sent to prison, they learn how to be more efficient criminals to not get caught in the future. That means there are many cases never reported or prosecuted. This leads me to wonder, whose safety and rights are we more concerned with? It just doesn't make sense to risk children's futures or lives by releasing these offenders.
— Shelly Faust
All sex offenders should spend the rest of their lives in prison, or, upon causing a death, the death sentence should be applied. They may not kill but still ruin many lives after the fact. Lock them up forever; no matter what you say, they cannot be rehabilitated.
— charlot