Debra Lafave, a middle school reading teacher in Temple Terrance, Fla., has been charged with multiple counts of sexual contact with a 14-year-old male student. The plea-bargain negotiations fell apart, and now an April 10 trial is set for Ms. Lafave.

When Ms. Lafave's defense attorney, John Fitzgibbons, was asked why the defense did not accept a plea bargain, he stated that the prosecution was asking for jail time, which was unacceptable to the defense. According to the Tampa Tribune, Mr. Fitzgibbons said, "To place Debbie into a Florida state women's penitentiary, to place an attractive young woman in that kind of hell hole, is like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions."

Personally, I thought the unpleasantness of a prison was part of the deterrent to committing a crime.

The current accusations against Ms. Lafave represent only one of nearly two dozen reported cases of female teachers having sex with male students in 2005, according to MSNBC. These numbers reflect only a fraction of the actual number of cases that occur in high schools and middle schools in the United States for a variety of reasons, such the male student's embarrassment at reporting that a female teacher had intercourse with him. Most of these cases result in the accused female teachers leaving the court with what amounts to a slap on the wrist.

In Albany, N.Y., Beth Geisel, a 42-year-old writing teacher, had sex while drunk with a 17-year-old student in June 2005.

Colonie, N.Y., Police Chief Steve Heider told CBS News: "Unfortunately, our society precludes a lot of young men from reporting [sex with a woman teacher] because it is thought of as a conquest, not a victimization." Mr. Heider went on to state that an underage boy is just as much a victim as an underage girl, though both the cases and victims are not treated that way.

We must ask ourselves what would happen if Debra Lafave, an attractive 25-year-old woman, was instead an attractive 25-year-old man having sex with a 14-year-old girl? Would his defense attorney be able to make the same arguments to the media about not sending him to the lion's den of a men's prison? Worse yet, what if Beth Geisel, a 42-year-old woman, was in fact a 42-year-old man having sex with a 17-year-old boy?

It seems there is a problem with Lady Justice not being completely blind in teacher-student sex cases.

Fortunately, none of these types of sex cases have hit Madison or the surrounding areas in 2005. In the Madison Metropolitan School District, however, a high school student is in class for almost 35 hours per week, not including extracurricular activities. There is always an ever-so-slight chance that this can happen even in Madison. Students often spend more time with teachers than with parents, and there must be some mechanism in place to deter the rare unprofessional teacher from victimizing a student.

Measures such as installing cameras would not be accepted by teachers' unions, civil-liberty groups or taxpaying parents. Often, one of the most effective measures against crimes like this is making an example out of the teacher by issuing a sentence that not only fits the crime, but is a deterrent to others from doing the same.

Not every teacher — man or woman — is a sexual predator preying on students. Making a statement like that here would be an insult to the teaching profession, especially considering UW is home to one of the top Schools of Education in the country. When teachers — despite all of their college education and additional training programs from their school districts — commit a crime as egregious as having sex with a student, the courts need to punish them if they are found guilty. Simply slapping a female teacher on the wrist sends two messages: that they are not as accountable for their actions as their male counterparts and that boys cannot be the victims of older women. Neither is true.

When Lafave's trial begins in April, I hope she receives a fair and impartial trail. If she is found guilty, she must receive a fair sentence. If her natural feminine beauty could be a factor in her going to jail, then the fear of being a beautiful woman in a state prison should have been even a bigger deterrent to not commit the crime.

Jeff Carnes ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in linguistics.