As long it was an adult

I recall a bishop or two making excuses for a pervert priest in the past by claiming that the sexual misconduct he was guilty of was committed with an adult, so it was okay to put him back in a parish around kids. I scratched my head at such twisted thinking before, and I’m doing it again as I read about a youth soccer coach who’s been reinstated after it was learned his sexual assault arrest was with an adult, not a child. Oh well, in that case it’s all right.

Scott C. Davidge, 39, of Blackstone was unanimously voted back in the Blackstone-Millville program by a three-member board after he explained no child was involved in the decade-old charges, said John Burrill, executive director of the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association.

... When given the right date, the board reported Davidge was found guilty in June 1996 of two counts of indecent assault and battery of a child and procuring alcohol for a minor. But Burrill said the charges should have been two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over and procuring alcohol for a minor. Davidge has not returned telephone calls, but a June 20, 1996, Worcester Telegram & Gazette article states Davidge was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old he coached on the girls’ soccer team at Dean College in Franklin.

If I’m a parent with a child in the soccer program, am I supposed to feel better now that I know that the soccer player he assaulted was 20-years-old and not 15?

The other lesson we learn from this article is that criminal background checks are not in themselves a panacea. Not only do they do nothing to stop a budding predator who’s never been arrested, but even those who do have a record may have their record incorrectly listed in the system. In this case, the actual record had lesser charges, but what if the situation were reversed?

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