To the editor:

The comments of a Kansas University assistant professor emeritus (school of social welfare) have led me to believe that I must be living in Bizarro World rather than Lawrence, Kansas. Defending Judge Paula Martin’s publicly criticized sentencing of convicted rapists (60 days and probation), Professor Forrest Swall said he “considered the men victims of a society that doesn’t teach young people enough about sexuality.”

And thus we are offered another “enlightened” excuse for criminal behavior with a concurrent release from personal responsibility.

He speaks of “the potential for some really positive impact … for these two kids.” But where is his compassion for the real victim, a 13-year-old girl? Does he hold the same optimistic assessment for her life, that what has happened to her will have “some really positive impact”?

I’m angry about the parade of convicted “victims” we seem to have in our society. When is the doublespeak of weak-minded apologists going to end and common sense, once a strong American trait, prevail? Individuals are responsible for their actions! Rapists, thieves and murderers come from a variety of social and economic backgrounds, and not one of them has a right to claim to be a “victim of society.”

Jerry Whistler,

Lawrence