So many people are ignorant of the *many* programs already embedded in the criminal justice system. My understanding is that my own stalker evaded prior charges via CA's pretrial mental health diversion program, and did not fully fulfill his court-ordered treatment obligations.
I consider myself one of his most fortunate victims, because most of the women he threatened to rape, torture and murder had to get on with life *for years* knowing that he was out on the street in their city. This is the first time he's had to face serious criminal consequences.
I can't know for sure whether getting away with it for so long emboldened him to keep doing what he was doing and to target more women, but in this case that was the result. Treatment won't work for someone who isn't willing to genuinely submit themselves to it.
This is a guy who really thought he could play the system. He was doing things like sending rape threats against one victim to different victims, believing he could bypass extant restraining orders this way. Maybe if he'd faced real consequences earlier, he'd have thought twice.
Whatever incarceration alternatives you propose for criminal offenders, you can't be naive — you HAVE to assume that some of them see this as a game to be played. And the more they "win" that game, the more reason they have to believe that they can keep doing what they're doing.
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