Do you think the registered sex offender website is supplying enough information to protect the public?
I've seen a million questions on here about MySpace and registered sex offenders, but has anyone actually BEEN to the sex offender site and searched around for a while? I can't seem to find a man I used to know who had served several years in prison for "having sex with his underage girlfriend". How are we supposed to know EXACTLY what crime was committed by the offender? It's very vague. I think the public should worry more about the conviction and labeling process of THAT website than Myspace's. I recently typed in the name of an ex-boyfriend on the google search engine and was SHOCKED (ok, not that shocked, because he tried to do those things to me when I was younger) to find that he had been caught soliciting sex, sending nude pics, and planning to meet a 13yr old girl who was actually an agent for the police. When you go on his page though, it only says that he IS an offender. Because I know Brian Keith Fletcher, I know he's more of a danger than the average Joe, so, what gives..?
Answers:
I think you are absolutely right, and i think that a person should have a valid conviction to be listed. Many of the people listed were acquitted, many more are on the list because they did things like swim naked in a fountain at a rainbow gathering, or streak, or other harmless or silly things that do not entail sexually predatory behavior.
Including people who do not display predatory behavior erodes the effectiveness of the list...
And to the person that says a line must be drawn somewhere:
No. A person who is dangerous enough to suffer public shaming nationwide for their predatory behavior has no right to confidentiality of the nature of that predatory behavior...
And a person who is listed for statutory rape of a 16yo girl when he was 19 should not live in fear all of his life of being murdered by vigilanties. This happens more often than you might expect.
I think it's enough to have their pictures online. There has to be a line drawn somewhere. What, you want details of the crimes? If a person is a sex offender than that should be enough for you, it should be the offenders that would want more of an explanation so they can distinguish themselves from those with more serious offenses. Again, I think it's enough to know that the guy next door is a perv so you can steer clear. But, people that go overboard with persecuting offenders need to spend their time on something else.
There are perverts everywhere, you even have the info to see where they live, just stay away from them and that should be enough.
A sex offender is just that so the degree of the offense is of no consequence because they all fall into a category. The sites that list sex offenders are primarily used to make people aware that a certain person living within the proximity of a school or a neighborhood has been charged with a sexual crime. Listing detailed criminal history is not considered public information and in fact could result in vigilante actions within a community. Also it has been reported that many people charged with sex crimes have pled no contest due to lack of funds or other convenient reason to take the blame. Many sex offenders have been proved innocent as well with the advanced technology or DNA testing. The laws pertaining to sex crimes are very intricate and require a broad understanding of civil rights as well.
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