Along the way, he s seen the enemy, the people who have committed the crimes of which Madera couple Ramio Romo Ruiz and Maria DeJesus Arragonez Reyas stand accused. He s seen the casualties, the monsters that some become. He s seen the hypocrisy, the Congress that votes to create a national registry of sex offenders but doesn t appropriate any money to fund it, the laws more likely to send a shoplifter to jail than a man who has raped his daughter. And still he s optimistic. There has been progress.
Newspapers wouldn t write about incest.
My books wouldn t have been published. We ve come 30,000 years in 30. Vachss books and nonfiction articles made the New York lawyer a national figure. His novels focus on Burke, a career criminal raised by the prison system, shaped by the beast of abuse. In the courtroom, Vachss only represents children, defending them legally.