A federal judge sentenced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert to 15 months in prison, more than prosecutors had recommended. The judge apparently was unmoved by Hastert’s poor health, his courtroom appearance in a wheelchair and pleas from the likes of ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who wrote the court, “He doesn’t deserve what he is going through.”

We say: Good for the judge.

Hastert is not the victim here. The victims are the men who, as teenage boys, were sexually abused by Hastert when he coached their wrestling team in Yorkville, Illinois, decades ago.

“A serial child molester,” said U.S. District Court Judge Thomas M. Durkin last week. Hastert, 74, had pleaded guilty to a banking violation, not sexual abuse, but his aim in illegally structuring bank transactions was to cover up his predatory behavior. Hastert falsely told investigators that one victim – to whom he was voluntarily paying money as recompense for pain and suffering – was extorting money from him.

That Hastert’s molestation of multiple victims was uncovered almost by happenstance points to the difficulties in detecting these crimes. One victim, before his death, told his sister he had never said anything because he didn’t think he would be believed.

Hastert has now admitted to the sexual abuse, but he can’t be criminally or civilly held liable, which underscores the need to change laws that give victims and prosecutors too short a time in which to seek redress. Defenders of restrictive laws argue the need to protect people against latent claims, but that’s why we have juries. As Judge Durkin said, “Some conduct is unforgivable no matter how old it is.”