(The following is the correction of a news article that appeared in the Spokesman Review on July 6, 2005. I chose this article only because it is very typical of the many fabrications that have been written about “Joseph E. Duncan III” since my surrender on July 2, 2005.)
Original Headline: Duncan's History: By age 17 he fit the definition of a “sexual psychopath”.
Real Headline: Duncan's History: At the age of 17 he was labelled a “sexual psychopath”.
Original Story: TACOMA – Long before Joseph Edward Duncan III crossed paths with the two Idaho children he's now accused of kidnapping, it was clear that something was seriously wrong with him.
The Real Story: TACOMA - Long before Joseph Edward Duncan III crossed paths with the two Idaho children he's now accused of kidnapping, it was clear that he had serious problems and needed help that he frequently sought but never received.
Original Story: In 1980, a psychological evaluation at a Washington state mental hospital found that Duncan – only 17 at the time – was preoccupied with “deviant sexual fantasies” and “meets the definition of the sexual psychopath”.
The Real Story: In 1980, a treatability evaluation (not a psychological evaluation) written by a sex offender therapist (not a doctor) for the adult “Sexual Psychopath Treatment Program” at a Washington state mental hospital pronounced that Duncan - only 17 at the time - “meets the definition of the sexual psychopath”, as required by the program in order for it to accept Duncan for treatment.
The evaluation found that Duncan “shows every willingness to continue to be a cooperative and hardworking member”, in the treatment program. His “large amount of self-disclosure is a positive sign of (his) future success”, the therapist wrote. The evaluation concluded that Duncan was “amenable to treatment” (emphasis in the original).
Original Story: During assessments at Westrn State Hospital near Tacoma, Duncan detailed a sexual history that began at age 8, when he was allegedly performing incestuous acts with female relatives. By age 12, he told doctors, he forced a 5-year-old to perform oral sex on him. At 15, duncan told the doctors, he did the same thing to a 9-year-old boy at gunpoint.
The Real Story: During treatment at Westrn State Hospital near Tacoma, Duncan openly disclosed his sexual history, which, because his young age in the program, mostly envolved incidents of childhood curiosity and “sex play” that was usually initiated by older children. He revealed that at the age of 12 he asked a 5-year-old neighbour boy to “blow on” his penis, because he wanted to know what a “blow job” was like. At 15, Duncan used an empty toy “BB” gun to scare a 9-year-old boy into doing the same thing.
Original Story: “It is important to note that Mr. Duncan did go out looking for victims.” the hospital report notes.
The Real Story: What the hospital report fails to note is that Duncan claims he did not have his first “real” sexual experience (i.e. involving an orgasm) until the age of 14, when he was masterbated to climax by a pediatrician during a psysical exam at Madigan Army Medical Center on the Ft. Lewis Military base. Because of the confusing context of this experience, Duncan later told doctors, he did not realize the sexual nature of masterbation. He began to masterbate himself frequently, even fantasizing about being masterbated by the doctor while Duncan masterbated himself.
It was not until about a year later, when an older sister asked him to “put it in” (because she wanted to see what it would feel like) that it finally dawned on Duncan what an erection was for. Duncan explained that his seventh-grade “sex-education” class was a confusing blur to him that he never realized had anything to do with him, until his sister inadvertently brought all the pieces together for him years later. By that time his sexual fantasies were a confused hodge podge of bizarre and humiliating experiences that caused him a lot of consternation.
Duncan told doctors later that at the age of 15 he had a lot of questions about sex but he did not know how, or even who to ask. So, he said, he began experimenting for himself.
Original Story: At 15, he tried to outrun police in a stolen car, at one point trying to run down a police officer. He was sent to the Tacoma-area Dyslin's Boys Ranch for several months.
The Real Story: At 15, he was chased, and shot at, by police after stealing a car “to get home”. The police accused Duncan of trying to run down a police officer when he drove past a police cruiser that was attempting to block the road. Stolen car charges were never press. Instead, Duncan was charged with assaulting a police officer (presumably to allay the officer's attempt to kill a juvenile).
As a result of this charge, Duncan was sent to the Tacoma-area Dyslin's
While at Dyslin's, Duncan apparently got along with the other boys, making fast, if delinquent, friends. He related no memories of sexual involvement with the other boys at the ranch to his treatment group at Western State Hospital. It is significant to note that while there were numerous younger boys at Dyslin's, Duncan reported that he has no recollection of ever wanting to have sex with them while he was there. This was less than six months before he was arrested for raping a 14 year old boy in Tacoma.
Original Story: By age 16, he told doctors, he'd committed 13 rapes of young boys. In one case, he claimed, he tied up six boys, ages 6 through 10, forced them to perform oral sex, then raped them.
The Real Story: Between the age of 15 and 16, Duncan claimed to have sexually assaulted as many as 13 other boys. Though these “assaults” did not involved psysical force, violence, or sodomy, the treatment program characterized them as “rape”, since “we know rape to be predominantly an act of aggression and control”.
In one case, he claimed that he tied up six boys, ages 6 through 10, forced them to perform oral sex, then anally raped them. However, very early in Duncan's treatment, this claim was challenged since Duncan did not seem to understand the mechanics of anal rape (i.e. the necessity for lubrication). Duncan admitted that he exaggerated his sexual history at times during the 90 day evaluation period, in order to appease the group so he would be accepted into the program and not sent to prison.
Original Story: Then, just before his 17th birthday, he was arrested for breaking into a neighbour's house, stealing guns, and then accosting a 14-year-old boy and raping him at gunpoint. That incident appears to have been the first time Duncan was charged with a sex crime.
The Real Story: Then, a month before his 17th birthday, he was arrested for breaking into a neighbour's house, stealing guns, and then accosting a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint and forcing him to perform oral sex. Duncan was charged with two counts each of First Degree Rape, Burglary, and Simple Assault, as well as one count of Kidnapping. This was the first and only time Duncan was charged with a sex crime until earlier this year (2005).
Original Story: “This position of power over children has developed into a very powerful and compulsive pattern”, clinical director Dr. William Voorhees Jr. and other officials wrote in their report. “...Mr. Duncan is not safe to be at large.”
The Real Story: In the standard language of sex offender treatment jargon, Therapy Supervisor Gary M. Shepherd (who was later accused of having sex with program member's female relatives, in exchange for facilitating the member's progress in the treatment program) claimed that, “This position of power over children has developed into a very powerful and compulsive pattern”, in order to justify the program's finding that Duncan was a “sexual psychopath” so he could be accepted for treatment.
Shepherd also found that Duncan “is not safe to be at large”, which is a standard finding for all patients admitted to the treatment program that was necessary in order to justify the inpatient treatment model.
Original Story: Duncan was the fourth of five children born to Joseph E. Duncan Jr. and Lillian Mae Duncan. His parents were married in rural Burnham, PA.
The Real Story: (No necessary corrections)
Original Story: A year later Duncan's father joined the Army. He'd stay a soldier for the next 20 years.His son would later complain to state doctors that until he was 12, the family moved every two years, from one military assignment to the next. They lived in Europe and at several U.S. Posts.
The Real Story: A year later Duncan's father joined the Army. He'd stay a soldier for the next 20 years. Shepherd's report claims Duncan suffered developmentally from being moved from “city to city every two years until he was 12 years old, due to his father being in the military, “though Duncan himself never complained. They lived in Europe and at several U.S. Posts.
Original Story: “As a result of this, he kept to himself a lot and formed only a few superficial acquaintances”, Shepherd wrote. The boy felt picked on and mocked, and said he spent most of his time watching TV and daydreaming.
The Real Story: “As a result of this, he kept to himself a lot and formed only a few superficial acquaintances”, Shepherd wrote. Though other documents indicate that Duncan had several friends, a “best friend”, and even a fairly serious girlfriend, named Sharon, who Duncan told juvenile officials after his arrest that he wanted to marry, “after he gets out”. Duncan was also an active member of the Boy Scouts of America until the age of 13, when his family moved and he could no longer attend meetings.
Shepherd notes that as a boy, Duncan was often picked on and bullied by older children, especially his own sisters, but Duncan himself did not consider that unusual. “He admits to spending a good deal of time watching television and daydreaming (when at home)”, but Duncan spent most of his time outside “playing” with his younger brother and other children in the neighbourhood. He frequently avoided going home even for supper because of the negative feelings he got there.
Original Story: In 1978, Duncan's father retired from the military. He ended up getting a job with the U.S. Postal Service, working at a Tacoma-area bulk mail center.
The Real Story: (No necessary corrections)
Original Story: A year later, after 22 years of marriage, Duncan's parents separated, their marriage “irretrievably broken” for reasons unspecified in their thick divorce court file. Duncan and a younger sister were the only kids still living at home.
The Real Story: (It was a younger brother, not “sister”. Duncan had no younger sisters.)
Original Story: Duncan went to Lakes High School in Tacoma until his sophomore year, when he never returned after Christmas break. He had a 1.7 grade-point average, out of a possible 4.0, according to court documents. Duncan later told a pre-sentencing investigator that he was using marijuana daily by the time he got to high school, and tried LSD, amphetamines, barbituates, valium and PCP.
The Real Story: Duncan went to Lakes High School in Tacoma for only his sophomore year. He did not return after being arrested in January 1980. School records from Lakes indicate that he “is a bright student and is easily bored with school”. Prison records show that Duncan completed high school at the Garrett Heyns Education Center with a grade-point average of 3.4, out of a possible 4.0 while he was at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton. Duncan also received two Associate's degrees, with academic honors, before his release from prison in August of 2000. In the Fall of 2000 Duncan enrolled at North Dakota State University in Fargo and began work on his Bachalor's degree in Computer Science, receiving many more academic honors including induction into the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society.
Duncan bragged in 1980 to his pre-sentencing investigator that he was using marijuana daily by the time he returned to Lakes highschool after his stay at Dyslin's Boys Ranch. He had also by that time tried LSD, amphetamines, valium and PCP, though never more than once for each, and mostly never more than enough to get a “buzz”.
Original Story: During the car chase at age 15, he tried to run a police roadblock. The crash shattered his sinuses and the right side of his face.
The Real Story: During the car chase at age 15, he drove past a police car that was attempting to block the road. That was when a police officer who was standing next to the car (the same officer Duncan allegedly assaulted), fired his shotgun aiming at Duncan's head and missing by only inches. The blast blew out the side drivers window. Duncan crashed a block later after missing a sharp turn in the road. The crash shattered his sinuses and the right side of his face. He was hospitalized for more than a week before being released on a medical personal recognizance order pending trial. Duncan said he stole the car to get home and was shocked when the police shot at him.
Original Story: In 1980, he committed the crime that landed him in Western State Hospital.
The Real Story: One year later, on January 24, 1980, he committed the crime that landed him in Western State Hospital.
Original Story: It started with a burglary. In the evening, knowing that a neighbour was gone, Duncan smashed out a storm window and broke into the man's bedroom. He stole four pistols, about 1.000 rounds of ammunition, and some pornographic magazines. He said later that he had intended to return home, look at the magazines and masterbate.
The Real Story: It started with a burglary. In the evening, knowing that a neighbour was gone, Duncan smashed out a storm window using masking tape to silence the glass, as he learned to do while at Dyslin's Boys Ranch the previous summer. He then climbed in through the window into the man's bedroom where he found some money and pornographic materials. From another room that was being used as an arsenal (the man was a retired police officer), Duncan stole four semi-automatic handguns and about 1.000 rounds of ammunition.
He said later that he returned home and started to masterbate while looking at the pornographic book he stole from the man's house.
Original Story: “Then I decided, why not the real thing, so I got a gun... and went cruising for a victim”, he wrote in a court questionaire.
The Real Story: “Then I decided, why not the real thing, so I got a gun, unloaded, without a clip and went cruising for a victim”, he wrote in a court questionaire. Duncan insisted that the gun was not loaded, nor did he bring any ammunition with him since he “didn't want to hurt anyone”. (When the police later recovered the gun, which Duncan had thrown into some bushes on his way home, the gun was empty. The clip was found in Duncan's bedroom along with the other stolen items.)
Original Story: He found the 14-year-old boy in front of a nearby school. At gunpoint, Duncan forced the boy into the woods and made him strip. He made the boy perform oral sex on him twice, hit him repeatedly with a stick, burned his buttocks with a cigarette and then let him go. When Duncan got home the police were waiting for him.
The Real Story: He found the 14-year-old boy in front of a nearby school, less than a block away from where Duncan lived with his mother. At gunpoint, he ordered the boy into the woods and made him strip and lay down on his back. After removing his own clothes and setting them aside with the gun, Duncan straddled the boy and at one point placed his penis into the boys mouth (first count of rape). He then masterbated and ejaculated in the dirt over the boy's head.
He and the boy then got dressed, and Duncan ordered the boy to walk to a more secluded area. He ordered the boy to strip again, then picked up a fern branch and hit the boy no more than a few times on the buttocks and legs. After that he lit a cigarette, and lightly touched it once to each of the boy's buttocks (two counts of assault not resulting in an injury, i. e. “simple assault”). Duncan later disclosed during treatment that he was acting upon the things he had heard about, while at Dyslin's Boys Ranch, but did not understand. He said that he got no pleasure from hurting the boy, which is why he did not pursue the behavior. Duncan then masterbated again while straddling the boy, this time ejaculating into the boy's mouth (second count of rape).
He then helped the boy find his clothes, showed him that the gun was not loaded, and led the boy out of the woods (the boy told Duncan he was lost and did not know the way out). He then told the boy to “run home and don't look back or I'll kill you!”. But the boy told police that he looked back several times and saw Duncan “standing there”.
When Duncan got home, after ditching the gun and stopping to smoke marijuana with some friends, the police were waiting for him. During all of this, Duncan had made no attempt to conceal his identity, so the boy knew who he was and subsequently led the police directly to where Duncan lived.
Original Story: He subsequently pleaded guilty to first-degree rape.
The Real Story: During the ensuring police interogation, the detectives told Duncan that he needed help and that they could get help for him if he confessed. Duncan cried, thinking he would finally find some understanding, and wrote out a complete and detailed confession.
He was arrested as a juvenile, but then declined to adult status after three months in Reimann Hall Juvenile Detention Center. The declination report found that Duncan was “a fairly immature boy who doesn't seem to realize the seriousness of his present situation”.
In adult court, Duncan pleaded guilty to one count Rape in the First Degree, as a part of a plea agreement that was meant to spare him from having to go to prison where, according to the pre-sentencing report, “because of his age and appearance he would likely be sexually abused by other inmates”.
Original Story: “I held a gun to a juv. and forced him to commet sertan sex acts.” Duncan wrote on the plea form.
The Real Story: With obviously childish handwriting, Duncan wrote in his own words on the plea form, “I held a gun to a juv. and forced him to commet sertan sex acts.”
Original Story: He later said the rape stenmed from a sense of rejection by his mother and father. He said he was upset because his parents had been fighting a lot and were breaking up, because he was doing badly at school, and because he couldn't get into the Air Force with his auto-theft conviction.
The Real Story: At the adult sex offender treatment program in Western State Hospital, Duncan was required to find emotional reasons for his sexual behavior. The reasons he came up with were later reflected in the program's report to the courts.
In other evaluations, done after Duncan left the program at Western State, psychologists have reported that as a juvenile, Duncan should never have been sent to an adult offender program. It is known that juvenile offenders do not have the same complex emotionally charged behavior patterns found in adult offenders. The record shows clearly that Duncan was not a mature offender. Juvenile offenders, if treated appropriately, have a very high rate of rehabilitation compared to adult offenders. Later psychological reports indicate that Duncan was likely irreparably harmed by Western State's misdiagnosis and attempt to treat him as an adult sex offender.
Original Story: He was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison, but the time was suspended. In lieu of prison, Duncan was committed to sex offender treatment at Western State Hospital.
By 1982, Western State Hospital had given up. Duncan was 19.
The Real Story: By 1982, Duncan seemed to be doing very well in the adult program. He had achieved senior member status (level 5), was voted into group leadership, and was routinely responsible for ward security and “group charge” responsibilities at night while the rest of the program members slept. He conducted head counts and carried the keys to secured areas on the ward. Even though Duncan was only 19, he had earned the respect and confidence of the older program members and staff.
Original Story: “After 22 months in the program, Mr. Duncan has shown an unwillingness to modify his sexually deviant behaviors and has chosen not to commit himself to program techniques,” his therapist wrote. Duncan showed “a constant need to maintain secrecy” about his fantasies and rebelled against treatment.
The Real Story: “After 22 months in the program, Mr. Duncan has shown an unwillingness to modify his sexually deviant behaviors and has chosen not to commit himself to program techniques,” so Duncan's therapist, Gary a.k.a. “Mike” Shepherd wrote in his report to the court expelling Duncan from the program.
Shepherd's report makes no mention of that fact that Duncan's mother had just recently accused Shepherd of coming to her house in the evening, pretending to offer counsel for her, and walking uninvited into her bedroom while she was getting dressed for his untimely visit. Duncan's mother later told Shepherd's superiors that “Mike” tried to embrace her and told her that if she cooperated (by having sex with him) that he could “make things easier” for her son in the program.
Mrs. Duncan told officials that she screamed at him to get out of her house or she would call the police. At her next visit with her son at Western State Hospital she tearfully disclosed to her son what the therapist had done. It was a Sunday, and Duncan told his mother to report the incident to Shepherd's superiors the next day, which she did.
Duncan also told his group what happened, as he also cried during a “feelings layout” after the visit. Duncan said he never felt more confused and betrayed in all his life. He had come to view Shepherd as a trusted father figure whom he depended on to help him “get better”.
According to the treatment program's values, and what Duncan had been taught to believe for the 22 months he was there, Shepherd had attempted to rape his mother.
The next day, while Mrs. Duncan was in another area of the hospital to make an official complaint against Duncan's therapist, Shepherd called Duncan into his office. He explained to Duncan that he had reviewed the group's notes (for the “feelings layout” the previous night), then he denied attempting to have sex with Duncan's mother. Shepherd ordered Duncan to “not bring this up again in group”, where notes are taken and every session is recorded. The notes from the previous nights meeting also disappeared.
Shepherd was later asked by hospital officials to answer these charges. He admitted being at Mrs. Duncan's home, but denied trying to have sex with her. The grievance was formally dropped after that and no investigation ever came of it until years later, when Duncan was in prison.
In 1985, a joint law suit was brought against The State of Washington and Western State Hospital.
An investigation revealed that Shepherd, who had lied on his job application and was not qualified to be a sex offender therapist, was having sex with Mr. Anderson's wife in exchange for “pushing” Anderson through the program much quicker than usual. Shepherd had also made the same arrangements with several other female relatives of members in the program The law suit was settled quickly out of court.
Original Story: They cited a key incident. On Valentine's Day 1982, Duncan' mother came to stay with him at a Western State Hospital cottage used for family visits. After she went to bed, he gathered up his coat, gloves, and an extension cord. He jumped the hospital wall and crept up to a nearby house, where he spied on an 18-year-old woman and people in other houses. When dogs began barking and a man spotted him, Duncan fled back to the cottage, where he woke his mother. She then taught him how to disco dance, according to the report.
The Real Story: Shepherd's report to expell Duncan from the treatment program cites a key incident. On Valentine's Day 1982, less than a weel after Duncan's confrontation with Shepherd over his mother, Duncan's mother came to stay with him at a Western State Hospital cottage used for family visits. The visit had been approved several weeks in advance and was a privilege exclusively afforded to senior members in the group (step 5 and up) who demonstrate good standing in the program.
Duncan had already decided that he could not stay in the program after what Shepherd had done to his mother. He explained to psychologists years later that he decided to wait until after the much anticipated cottage visit with his mother before he asked the group to vote him out of the program, which he knew would result in him being sent to prison.
After his mother went to sleep, he got his coat and gloves and left the cottage, walked across the hospital grounds, jumped a three foot stone wall, then jogged for about a quarter of a mile to a nearby residential neighbourhood. Once there he walked down a street while looking at the houses nostalgically (the first houses he'd seen since his arrest at age 16) thinking that it could be a few years before he would get to go home himself after going to prison.
Duncan told his treatment group the next day that he was not trying to escape, but just wanted to make sure he would be voted out of the program. Duncan knew that leaving the hospital grounds meant automatic expulsion from the program, which was the only reason he did so.
Duncan reported that he ran to the residential neighbourhood so he could later prove he left the hospital grounds by reporting what he saw. He told the group that he saw a teenage girl, through the front living room window of a house, who appeared to be doing homework at the dining room table. He also saw a man and heard dogs barking before running back to the cottage and waking his mom (who had been taking a nap). She then taught him how to disco dance.
Original Story: A week later, Duncan announced that he wanted to leave treatment and serve his time in prison.
The Real Story: The next day the cottage visit was cut short due to an emergency group grounding. Two other members in Duncan's group were caught having sex in the shower. That evening, Duncan announced to the group, without explaination, since he was ordered not to talk about the situation in group, that he wanted to be “voted out” (leave treatment) and serve his time in prison.
Original Story: “He exhibited little remorse or guilt for his sexual deviation while in treatment... He is not safe to be at large”, the therapist wrote to Pierce County officials. “...Mr. Duncan is available for transport back to your county by your sheriff at your earliest convenience.”
The Real Story: Duncan's therapist, Shepherd, wrote a scathing report to Pierce County officials claiming that Duncan was not amenable to treatment, and was violent and extremely dangerous to the community. This report followed Duncan to prison and was used by the parole board to justify an exeptional minimum term of over five times (15.5 years) the standard range for his crime.
Shepherd's report also became the primary source of information used in every psychological evaluation for Duncan throughout his incarceration, mostly without Duncan ever being aware of it.
Original Story: In 1982, he was sentenced to at least three, and no more than 20, years in prison. Duncan served 14 years for the rape and three more for parole violations.
The Real Story: In 1982, he was sentenced to at least three, and no more than 20, years in prison. Duncan served 14 and a half years before he was paroled. After two and a half years on parole he was sent back to prison for three years because of parole violations. Duncan is now suspected of murdering at least three children while he was on parole from 1994 to 1997. (What happened in prison?)
Original Story: Since then, Duncan has moved to Fargo, N.D. He disappeared after an April 5 hearing in Becker County Minn., about an hour from Fargo, where he is accused of sexually molesting one boy and of attempting to molest another.
The Real Story: Since his release from prison in August of 2000, Duncan has moved to Fargo, N.D. where he worked two computer programming jobs while attending classes at N.D.S.U. Police and neighbours reported that Duncan seemed to be a “model citizen” who enjoyed social activities and helping his neighbours.
He apparently committed no new crimes while in Fargo, until July 2004, when he was accused of molesting a 6-year-old boy in Detroit Lakes, MN, about 40 minutes East of Fargo. After appearing for an initial hearing in Becker County on April 5, 2005, Duncan posted 15.000 cash bail, then disappeared several days later.
Duncan did not resurface until July 2, 2005, when he walked into a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho with an 8-year-old girl who had been reported missing, along with her 9-year-old brother, six weeks earlier. Duncan told police, who were called when the little girl was recognized, “I was bringing her home...go ahead and arrest me.”
The Real Story: Credibility
The “Real Story” blog entry is as honest and forthcoming as I could make it. It took me over a week to write and much of that time was spent making sure that I did not misrepresent myself in the story. It is easy fot me to exaggerate or minimize different parts of the truth according to my own interests. So I have carefully reviewed the “Real Story” blog entry to make sure that every word and every sentence represents my best and most honest recollections, backed as much as possible by documentation.
However, because of the large number of reports and evaluations (and other documents) that have been written about me, there are numerous inconsistancies that have emerged from misquotes, and even misquotes of misquotes. The result is that I am attributed as often making contradictory claims. However, most of these so-called claims of mine in the record are misquotes, and some are statements that I know I could never have made.
So who do we believe? Ask a historian, since this is an age old problem throughout history. Rarely, if ever, are historical documents, even the most official records, consistant and uniform in their presentations and claims. Historians address this problem using various techniques from simple intuition to complex statistical analysis. I suggest that what ever you read about me (or anyone) in the future, even in this blog, be taken with a grain of salt. I'm not suggesting that I am, or even may be, dishonest – I am honest – but even I make mistakes in recollection.
The Real Story: No Excuses
In case anyone thinks that I am trying to make excuses with “The Real Story” blog entry for what I did as an adult, you should know this: As far as I am concerned, nothing that happened to me as a youth has anything to do with what I did as an adult, which is why I did not let my attorney's present this information in court, even though it is all well documented and easily proven.
I have said on numerous occasions since my arrest in 2005, that there is no excuse for what I have done, and I mean it. Besides, what happened to me in “The Real Story” was nothing compared to what happened to me in prison – and that's no excuse either!
The Real Story: Entertainment in the News
In writing “The Real Story” blog entry it has not been my intention to discredit the original “news” article. The original story was written for a purpose other than to portray the objective truth.
The news media routinely “frames” their stories to suit their audience, they would go quickly out of business if they did not. So they must basically write what people expect, or want, to hear. In other words: entertain.
It is strange to me that so many people still believe the “news” to be objective and “fair” even though it is commonly known among social scientists to be heavily biased and badly distorted with a sensationalistic “bent”. If you want to know the real story, the last place you should look is to the popular news media. The real story is almost never what we expect, or want, to hear.
The Real Story: Shepherd Now
Apparently, Mr. Gary “Mike” Shepherd is still employed as a therapist by the Washington State Department of Social Health Services at Western State Hospital (though the sex offender program has long since been shut down and a pail shadow of it moved to a prison setting at Twin Rivers Corrections Center in Shelton
According to formal complaints filed by his current co-workers, and other official documents stamped “Confidential”, that were given to me as part of the Federal discovery evidence (that I got to see only because I was representing myself) Shepherd is still getting into trouble for, and still denying, his inappropriate sexual advances toward subordinate members of the opposite sex as recently as early 2000.
The Real Story: On Sex Offender Treatment
Even after I asked out of the sex offender program at Western State Hospital I kept, and still have, a high regard for the treatment methodology employed there.
To me, it was a program that relied fundamentally on support through meaningful human contact (i.e. “group support”). Modern versions of sex offender group therapy (such as that at the Twin Rivers Corrections Center in Shelton, WA) have stripped out all the real and meaningful contact between group members (they aren't even permitted to keep in touch with each other after treatment!) and hense the only form of treatment that has ever been shown to actually work!
Of course, this kind of intimate contact between sex offenders had draw backs, especially when it is not properly monitored and supported by qualified therapists who “buy into” the program. But when it worked it could “cure” the most hardened sex offender – and I've seen it work.
To this day I can remember the full names and faces of practically every member in my group (about 20 of them). They were my family, and it broke more than just my heart when I asked them to send me to prison, but I felt I had no choice. What Shepherd had done could not be reconciled. To remain in the program would have been to live a lie, something I could not do at that young an age (but I eventually learned how... in prison. In order to just survive).
