I just got a call from the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry. 7:20am seems a little early for them to be calling, but I suppose they wanted to catch us at home. They wanted to let me know that a sex offender had moved into my zip code.
I'm somewhat torn by this. On the one hand I spend my days helping people get their records cleared, which I consider to be good and honorable work. On the other, we won't take sex offenders as customers. Nor will we take anybody who has committed a crime involving a minor. Even in states where record relief is an option for folks with these kinds of crimes. (If, indeed, that's anywhere. I'm not sure.)
But calling all your neighbors on the day that you move in, and telling them that you're a sex offender, seems like the perfect way to make someone alienated from the moment they arrive. They're unlikely to have any friends, or any opportunities to have a normal life.
On the other hand (I think I ran out of hands a while back) I understand the desire to be aware of dangers, so that you can protect your kids - the assumption being that when someone does something like this once, they're probably going to do it again, whereas if someone committed securities fraud, and then moves into your neighborhood, the worst they can do is help you find tax loopholes.
I don't know what I would do if one of these notifications was for someone moving in next door. I honestly don't know.
Why are sex offenses the only crime that carry a sentence of social exile. If someone commits a violent crime, they serve their sentence and then they are free to move into any neighborhood. They aren't required to register with local authorities. They don't have to call everyone who lives nearby to tell them that they are a convicted felon. Drug dealers don't have to. Drunk drivers don't have to. But if someone commits a sex crime (even in cases of a 17 and 18 year old having consensual sex, and the 17-year-old's parents pursuing rape charges against the will of their son or daughter) they are punished far beyond the terms of their sentence. It's yet another example of how our society views sex as more harmful than violence to children.
I can educate my child on how to avoid abusers and what do do if it happens, but I have no way of knowing if they person who moved in next door has had 5 convictions for DUI, which is a far greater risk to my my family in my opinion.
This isn't to say that sex offenders should not be punished harshly. But let them serve their sentences and be given the same benefit of the doubt that everyone else gets after that.
Clearly the general desire for vigilantism is so strong that pretexts are required. This decade, it is "Think of the children" and "Terrorism". In the past, it was skin color or witchcraft.
What is a "sex offender" these days anyway? A friend of mine in the UK claimed he was on it for two years slapping a woman's rear at a party. I don't approve of that behaviour but I don't think his neighbours need to know. I've also read several stories about minors in the US ending up on such registers for sending or possessing pictures of themselves in a state of undress.
Unfortunately I have a relative that was on that list for many years until his ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law finally admitted they lied about the whole thing. He is no longer on that list but should they not be punnished??? I think so for what he had to endure for about 10 years from being convicted of something he did not do. I totally understand wanting to protect your children but what of the ones like my relative?? It has ruined his life. But that's another story I guess.
I remember reading a story about some college town where several people were arrested for streaking as part of a giant Halloween tradition.
There were about 12 of them that were singled out of the 200 or so there. At one point there was talk by the Comissioner or someone that he was going to charge them to the fullest extent of the law and even try to make them have to register with the sex offenders registry.
For streaking on campus.
Essentially marking these people for life because of some college hijinks.
In the end I believe it was all withdrawn, but the system for registering sex offenders in this country is horribly flawed. You wouldn't know if someone was calling you because they molested or raped a child or because they got caught streaking.
Then again, as some one else said, at this point someone stands up and shrieks "Won't some one think of the children!?"
Statistics:
The sexual victimization of children is overwhelming in magnitude yet largely unrecognized and underreported. Research indicates that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys will be sexually victimized before adulthood.
[D. Finkelhor. “Current Information on the Scope and Nature of Child Sexual Abuse.” The Future of Children: Sexual Abuse of Children, 1994, volume 4, page 37.]
(source: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US?
These numbers are based on what was reported and are outdated (1994) and do not include internet exploitation. Many people who know about these things believe that the number for boys is higher, but they don’t have statistics to prove it. They just keep finding more and more instances of it not being reported. (and, yes, I have sent an e-mail to them asking them to update their numbers)
“Approximately one in seven youth online (10 to 17 years-old) received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet.
Four percent (4%) received an aggressive sexual solicitation — a solicitor who asked to meet them somewhere; called them on the telephone; or sent them offline mail, money, or gifts.
Thirty-four percent (34%) had an unwanted exposure to sexual material — pictures of naked people or people having sex.
Children revealed 27% of these episodes of unwanted exposure to sexual material to a parent or guardian. Children reported 42% of the distressing encounters – episodes that made them feel very or extremely upset or afraid – to a parent or guardian.
[David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell, and Janis Wolak. Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. Alexandria, Virginia: National Center for Missing ?
(source: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US?
I know lots of kids. Probably am “close” to 30-35. Presuming that half are of each sex, that means I know 17(ish) of each. If the statistics are accurate and if they apply to the specific group that I know (which, of course, I hope and pray that they are not!), then that means that 3-4 of the girls and 1-2 of the boys have been sexually exploited or will be by the time they are adults.
Other statistics, by the way, put this at 1:3 for girls and 1:6 for boys.
The thought of this happening to 4-6 of “my kids” is enough to make me start carrying a very sharp knife and doing some exploiting of my own.
These kids are the victims. The exploiters are, well, the exploiters. Studies have shown that a person committing this particular group of crimes has an extremely small chance of being rehabilitated and a very large chance of recommitting.
You said that alienation is one of the outcomes of these telephone calls. I think you are absolutely correct. While as a Christian, I am called to forgive their sins, I am also told that that which is done do the least of these is done to Christ. I am told to love the sinner, but hate the sin. I am also aware that although sins can be forgiven, the consequences of those sins must be dealt with and do not go away.
I’ve been doing a lot of contemplation about sin and forgiveness and confession recently (thanks to Father Justin). Sin, I have been told affects the entire community. This is why the early Christians did public confessions. The church found this impractical as it grew and moved away from public confessions to confessions with the priest there as the witness who stands in for the community.
I believe that these particular groups of crimes that gets the criminal labled a “sex offender” is a good example of the communal affect the sin has. The question is, how should the community react to this sin?
Resources:
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US?
Cyber Tip Line: http://www.cybertipline.com
Report adult obscenity that does not include children to http://www.obscenitycrimes.org.
Confessing in the Presence of a Priest: http://www.oca.org/QA.asp?ID=154
Sadly, research has shown that there is no "cure" for pedophilia. And I think violent rape is a serious issue. I would want to be informed of these people moving into my neighborhood so that I can simply monitor my own family's risk at being around them. I don't think that I would shun them, but I would simply exercise a little bit of extra caution around them. Just like I would exercise a little bit of extra caution about letting known burglars into my house.
I'm all for having sex offenders registering, but having these types of phone calls is a bit over the top and crosses over the line, in my opinion. I never knew that these types of strategies were in place, interesting info to know about.
Lauren Reagan
The big issue is sex offenders are off the hook after 10 years!!!! They no longer need to register where they live. Sex offenders that are banned from having one on one contact with children or live within 1000ft of a school or day care are lost in the system and are no longer required to register there information with authorities. Yes its a loop hole for sex offenders to slide through. Its up to private sector to find and keep these offenders location public.
Xrumer, you have no idea what you're talking about or you're just flat out lying. "Sex offenders" who only have to register for 10 years have typically been charged with a misdemeanor offence like indecent exposure, ie. streaking, urinating in public, having sex in their car or even mooning! These people don't pose a real threat to you or your family and are simply victims of a corrupt system that labled them something they should have never been labled in the first place. Most of them are good people that just did something stupid. How many us haven't done something stupid like that in our lifetimes?
Real sexual predators like child molesters(no, a 19 year old who had sex with a 16 year old doesn't count! let's get real here people!) and rapists are typically registered for the remainder of their lives.
Try doing a little research first.