The Education of Shelby Knox

Let me get this straight: A serial pervert, Freddie Johnson, was arrested 29 times for RUBBING HIS GENITALS on women on the subway - that only counts the incidents for which he was caught and arrested- and he got out, after serving some soft time because the charges were misdemeanors, to molest a Hunter College student on the 6 train yesterday. And get this: the police figured he would re-offend, so they followed him to catch him in the act - which they did.

Ok, so I haven't lived here that long, but can you bar someone

from the subway?? Obviously this guy can't get on a train and resist the urge to molest women, so why not take that temptation away from him? But that's not even where to start - why was this guy out in the first place? It's shocking to me that public sexual abuse is only a misdemeanor, and while persistent sexual abuse is a felony, it carries a relatively light prison sentence. (At least for this guy - he got four years and an ankle bracelet.)

Perhaps I'm reacting a bit harshly to this story - but this very well could have been (actually, it has been) me getting molested on the 6 train - I take it every single day, and the ever crowded cars are the perfect cover for creeps like Mr. Johnson to prey on women. There is nothing worse than knowing to your very core that the guy behind is jabbing his penis up against you, but you're too afraid to turn around or move - for fear of being wrong and publicly embarrassed (or berated), or right and absolutely horrified and violated.

I do have to give props to the NYPD: they knew about this guy and followed him to apprehend him again. It looks like a case where the laws simply aren't there for officers to enforce - or the penalties are simply not harsh enough for the crime. The MTA should be helping out on this one too - by making sure the trains are not so crowded (and therefore a playground for molesters) and encouraging riders to report harassment as much as they report those 1,944 people who saw something and said something last year - and partnering with the NYPD to follow up on the complaints. As for female passengers, there's always doing it guerrilla feminist style - capture the harassers mug (or whatever else you can photograph that you didn't want to see) and post it up on Holla Back NYC for the public humiliation factor.