Statistics on repeat offenses by child molesters and pedophiles demand that we do more to deal with them with greater finality.

The subject for a recently televised panel of behavioral scientists was child molesters and pedophiles. The discussion had been triggered by the discovery of the 8-year-old girl in Idaho, who had been kidnapped by a known molester who may also have killed at least three members of the girl’s family and her mother’s boyfriend at the girl’s home. DNA tests also have confirmed that a body found in a remote part of Wyoming was the girl’s 9-year-old brother who disappeared at the same time she did.

Can ingrained molesters be rehabilitated and returned to society?

“Not very often,” said one psychiatrist who long has been involved in the field of pedophilia. “This is sure to be staggering to many people but solid research shows that the average child molester is involved in 380 cases of abuse in his or her ‘career,’ and I use that term derisively. I’m not making that up – 380 cases, you heard me the first time.”

Joseph Edward Duncan, the man suspected of kidnapping Shasta Groene and her brother, Dylan, would seem to fit that mold quite well. At the age of 16, the man, now 42, burglarized a house, stole guns, then went out and grabbed a 14-year-old boy, threatened him with a firearm, took him into woods, raped and beat him. He has been involved in one criminal act after another for well over 25 years.

Earlier this year, Duncan had been released on bail after being charged with molesting a 6-year-old boy at a Minnesota school playground. A district judge in Minnesota, who had set bail at $15,000 despite prosecutors’ request that it be $25,000, says he barely remembers the case. He adds that he is sure if he knew that the man was a registered Level 3 sex offender, he would have acted differently. Had he known of the record, he said he would have set the bail high enough Duncan would not have been freed.

Why didn’t the judge or some other official check on the man’s record? Wouldn’t authorities suspect that he might have struck before and needed to be checked more carefully? Would he stalk and assault again? What does this action say about the judge?

Days before the two Idaho children disappeared, a chilling message was posted on a Web site Duncan maintained.

“I am scared, alone and confused and my reaction is to strike out toward the perceived source of my misery, society.” The May 11 entry added: “My intent is to harm society as much as I can, then die.”

It is difficult to perceive a punishment harsh enough for someone of that grisly a persuasion. But if Duncan feels he has an appointment with the Grim Reaper because of his behavior, officials should make every effort to arrange a face-to-face meeting of the two.

There is no perfect solution to the child molester/pedophile problem. It will always be with us in one form or other. But when the “average” offender is involved in some 380 incidents of varying degrees, it is obvious we are not doing nearly enough in terms of prevention and penalties.