Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

If Geraldo can make it as a journalist, why not Lafave?

By SUE CARLTON
Published March 24, 2006

So the judge took his grand stand in Marion County, the prosecutors got practical, and the victim and his mother were finally able to see a little daylight again.

At the end of it all, teacher-turned-tabloid-pinup Debra Lafave beamed prettily at the cameras. Finally, it was over.

And then she had to go and say she wants to become a journalist.

"I would hope that I could reach people through my writing," Lafave told a room packed with reporters Tuesday, just after the last of her lewdness charges had been dropped and the plea that made her a sex offender was sealed.

Put aside the obvious jokes about any reaching out that might be done by a grown woman, a teacher to boot, who would start up a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old middle school student. (Put them away with those jokes I keep hearing about her house arrest. No, she can't serve it at your house.)

Aren't we reporter types supposed to be the other bad guys in the Lafave case?

And secondly - do we really want her in our midst?

We paid attention to Lafave for perfectly justifiable reasons. She was a teacher, after all, one of the people we have to trust when we hand over our kids five days a week. She violated that trust, big time.

Why did the story take off like a house afire, making news literally around the world? Clearly it was because of her controversial position on the G8 summit.

Okay, it was because she was gorgeous. Because there were pictures of her in a bikini. Because the idea of her taking up with a kid was as salacious as an MTV hot-for-teacher video. And because, well, there was just something fascinating about the whole thing.

So we went a little nuts.

When I say "we," I really want to say "they," though that wouldn't be entirely accurate. In the journalism business, we newspaper reporters like to think of ourselves as superior to the tabloids. The TV news people like to think of themselves as superior to the TV tabloids. And we all get to feel superior to Geraldo. You see how it goes.

Think about your own profession and the characters in it who make the rest of you cringe. If you're a cop, it's the guys who got into it for the badge that would let them bully people. If you're a lawyer, it's your ambulance-chasing brethren who would sell their grandmas for a good settlement.

If you're a teacher, it's Debra Lafave.

Anyway, we quoted her soon-to-be ex-husband and tried to get the kid's mom to go on Today. A British tabloid published the boy's name and seventh-grade picture. Nancy Grace ranted up a storm.

In fact, the boy's mother ultimately made her decision to accept a plea from Lafave largely because of the intense attention a trial promised. There would have been platoons of satellite trucks and international headlines, something she didn't want her son to have to suffer through and later relive in the reruns. And all she had done was call police to report a serious crime.

Do I dare say this, when the whole experience of watching and reading about this case makes some people feel like they need a good hot shower? With lye soap?

I think some good came out of the Lafave case.

People got to talking about whether male and female victims in sex cases are treated differently (Would a judge have considered forcing a girl to testify?).

They talked about the fairness of plea deals and the difference in how male and female sex offenders are punished. (Would a male teacher have gotten the same deal if he was having sex with a 14-year-old girl?)

Okay, and the tabloids got to run pictures of her in the bikini. Everybody's happy.

So now it's over, and Debra Lafave wants to join our ranks.

Sorry to say, but I'm pretty sure that somewhere among us, we'd be able to find a place for her.

Sue Carlton can be reached at carlton@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 02:15:43]