When I first learned of Roman Polanski’s recent arrest in Switzerland, I thought it was an unnecessary attempt to humiliate the great director.

However, after much thought, I concluded that if I were a parent, I would seek justice if a middle-aged man had sex with my teenage daughter, even if that man were a brilliant artist with a traumatic life. Nonetheless, his punishment should be moderate given the circumstances.

In 1977, Polanski had sex with Samantha Geimer, a then 13-year-old, after giving her alcohol and sedatives at Jack Nicholson’s house. A Los Angeles court sentenced him to a psychiatric evaluation, and most legal experts believed that afterwards he would only be sentenced to probation.

Yet, after a judge scared Polanski’s lawyer by threatening to incarcerate him, the cinematic mastermind fled to France, where he has remained since.

Over 100 filmmakers, among them some of my favorites such as David Lynch and Martin Scorsese, recently wrote a petition demanding Polanski’s release, noting his momentous achievements in cinema.

I am a huge fan of Polanski and have no doubts that “Chinatown,” “Knife in Water” and “The Pianist” will be as eagerly watched a century from today as they are now. Yet even virtuosos are human and can cause great harm to others. Scorsese should realize that he is a genius, yet that does not mean he is morally flawless and subject to legal immunity.

That being said, several factors should be considered. First, 32 years have passed and Geimer is now a middle-aged mom living in Hawaii with a 9-to-5 job. She has publicly forgiven Polanski and asked that charges against him be dropped.

Secondly, few celebrities have had as miserable a life as Polanski. Born to a Jewish father and nominally Catholic mother, he spent the Nazi occupation of Poland as a child separated from his parents, living with Gentile families of good will or having to look out for himself.

German soldiers once used him for target practice. His mother was killed in a concentration camp. After the war, Polanski was reunited with his father, who was more interested in the boy’s abusive stepmother than in Polanski.

When Polanski immigrated to the United States, he married the beautiful actress Sharon Tate. In her ninth month of pregnancy, she was bestially murdered by the Manson family. Given the many trials Polanski experienced, he undoubtedly slept with Geimer in a psychologically unfit condition.

Thus, Roman Polanski should be extradited to the United States and punished for his offense. The law is lawless if great artists and psychologically devastated survivors of the Holocaust and a murderous cult are immune to it.

Furthermore, statutory rape is illegal not only in the United States, but in France, where Polanski has lived for decades and is a citizen.

Meanwhile, Polanski’s native Poland recently introduced a law obliging citizens who have sex with minors under the age of 15 to undergo chemical castration. Yet given the context of the crime, I suggest the American judge does not recommend such harsh punishments.