He Gets What He Deserves

I had read about this case earlier but it was either during a time when I wasn’t writing anything or when I was writing about other stuff. The basic story is this, in 1998, a man in Ohio, John Goff, used a syringe of his own semen to impregnate his daughter after his wife was no longer able to carry children.

His daughter was 19 when this occurred and both parents claim that she consented to being impregnated. She gave birth in 1999 and raised the child for a year before giving the child up for adoption.

This was John Goff’s second trial for this crime. The jury convicted Goff of sexual battery and child endangering. He received 20 years for rape and five years for those charges, to be served at the same time.

Okay, while you are still shaking your head in disbelief, this story gets better. John Goff plans on appealing the verdict. He admits that he used poor judgement but does not believe that what he did constitutes a crime.

Ironically, he was convicted under a tougher Ohio law that John campaigned for after his daughter was molested and the first molester was acquitted since rape charges at that time required intercourse took place.

Parents are suppose to protect and cherish their children, not use them as vessels for their own pursuits. Yet barely a week goes by when you don’t hear about a mother who took money and allowed a pedophile to molest her young son again or a kidnapping case in which the accused kidnapper swears the mother gave up the child for money but the mother swears the child was kidnapped. Those are just two more cases that spring to mind right now. I am sure I could come up with more examples of poor, no make that criminal parenting if asked.

I have to wonder about human nature. Is the human race becoming this vile and corrupt or are we just hearing about more of these cases now that we are a globally connected community because of the development of the internet? I don’t believe in the idea of a ‘Golden era” of American Culture as the 1950’s is most commonly referred to. If you want to read a fascinating book about how media developed in the 150’s and how it affected women in particular, check out ‘Where the Girls are” by Susan J. Douglas. She is a great writer and she presents her ideas in a way that you don’t feel she is dumbing down the topic but you also don’t get lost in the jargon associated with media or communication studies. But I have wandered off my subject.

Is our society going to hell in a hand basket or are we just exposed to more tales of abuse? Are we, as a society, figuring a way to end such abuse or are we becoming immune to the psychological and emotional trauma these children are being subjected to?