Given the present status of American society, we rarely get positive news.

It is all too common for the civil among us to be subjected to watching rapists and murderers acting out their perversions, then automatically garnering more rights than the real victims. Irrationally, the perpetrator – the predator – suddenly becomes the victim, while the true victim is diminished if not simply re-cast.

Here is the specific example.

Ohio resident Ariel Castro, 53, kidnapped three girls in as many years and held them captive for a decade. Their living conditions, if you can call it living, were indescribably deplorable. They had no access to a bathroom toilet; they got one meal a day and infrequent showers. They were chained, tortured and continuously raped.

Michelle Knight, the longest captive of 11 years, was beaten so badly, she has had and will have more reconstructive surgeries, as well as the loss of hearing in one ear. Castro impregnated her multiple times; all ended in miscarriages when he physically beat and starved her to those ends.

Amanda Berry, a 10-year captive, was only 16 when Castro preyed on her. She gave birth six years ago, with Knight, under threat of death, acting as midwife and caregiver. Castro raped Knight the same day.

Less has been aired about Georgina “Gina” Lynn DeJesus, who was 14 at the time of her abduction. She was a friend of Castro’s daughter.

By the grace of God, Berry and her daughter penetrated the well-barred Castro house and alerted neighbors. Rescues followed.

As is typical of all bullies and cowards, Castro plead guilty to 937 counts, to avoid the death penalty. Sadly, he was still allowed freedom of speech to declare, at length, that all of the sex was consensual. For his contemptible, cowardly acts he was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years.

He was wholly unrepentant.

Many may call it a “sentence.” I’m positive a large faction would think of it as an award. Perhaps even a reward, since he was bestowed with free food, lodging, medical care, legal help and protection from fellow predators.

Yep, all of the things of which he deprived three helpless girls.

For anyone who acts with that level of depravity, being allowed to take one more breath – need I say more?

Many will remind me that we live in America, and that we must deal with the uncivil in a civil way. That’s just too hard to swallow in scenarios such as this.

But, some wonderful power stepped in.

Sometime around 9 p.m. on Sept. 3, Castro was found in his cocoon, reportedly hanging with a bed sheet around his neck.

As one observer put it, Castro couldn’t take the confines of a few weeks that he imposed on his victims for years.

That statement is observant, but mild. The world is a better place with less evil.

Without doubt, the fires of hell just got some additional fuel.

I’ll save my empathy and sympathy for three young women, their families and a little six-year-old girl.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety. Her commentary publishes Fridays.