Keeping Ian in prison had done what, exactly? Our society had shown him and the world how much we hate the crime of sexual assault on children. But ten years of imprisonment had cost us the best part of £500,000. Could we have achieved the same result or better by keeping Ian in a community house for offenders, wearing an electronic tag? Resources might have been allocated to giving both him and his whole family, separately or together, a lot of therapeutic time to work through this grievous assault on their security and love. Such therapy would not assume reunification or even forgiveness.
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