A bad day for justice

Yesterday was a bad day for victims of sexual abuse in the commonwealth. Alternately, it could be seen as a beacon of hope for those convicted predators who aspire to see freedom again someday.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Wayne W. Chapman, the convicted serial child rapist, can be released from prison.

He’d been convicted of sex crimes against children in three states. He is thought to have victimized up to 100 children and is a suspect in the disappearance of a Lawrence boy.

Chapman would lure young boys into wooded areas under the ruse that he was looking for his lost dog. Once there, he assaulted them.

The SJC judgment yesterday stated that because two “qualified examiners concluded he was no longer sexually dangerous,” the 70-year-old Chapman should be released.

He has served his time, the court stated, for two rapes of boys in Lawrence in 1977 and has been denied release “four previous times,” but should be let go now.

It is hard to imagine the magnitude of damage Wayne Chapman has caused to all those little boys. It’s heart-rending to think of all the fear and agony those kids were feeling. Maybe they still feel it.

Once again, the justice system in Massachusetts has shown that it will find a way to bestow mercy on high-level fiends of every sort. Any collateral damage resulting from this miscarriage is just the price of doing business in the Bay State.

There is no silver lining to what happened yesterday. It was a disgraceful day.