nbs2 said:
I am not addressing the justice system. All I am saying is that if a person is convicted, they are listed on the offender list upon release. If after the conviction, release, and listing, evidence turns up indicating that the person was innocent - they should then be removed from the list. Being on the list is not a reversible error (see: general anti-death-penalty arguments).
And IMO the public list pushes the edge of our justice system. What happened to "paying one's debt to society" or "the punishment fitting the crime"?
I think that the great distinction between the violent crimes listed above and the sex offenders is that the above target people of any age (but generally adults). The sex offenders tend to target children, who are viewed as the weak and vulnerable in our society (and validly so). Another problem is that if we can take the idea that it is difficult (or almost impossible) for the offender to not repeat, either because of their earnest belief in their harmlessness or because of their predatory nature, then maybe we should ensure that people do not expose their children to that danger.
I would advocate for longer sentences. I think that current sentences are too light. But, if we cannot change these people, can we lock them up for life? I have a hard time seeing that happening anytime soon.
I tried to sift thru a few sites but I was unable to find any data that separated pedophiles from other sex offenders. Do you have any links to sites giving that kind of data? If the point is to protect children why don't we just tattoo a symbol on their cheek and to kids not to go near people w/said symbol on their cheek? And why isn't the list just pedophiles?
From what I've read sex offenders are actually unlikely to be repeat offenders, and many studies have shown they are even less likely to repeat if they are receiving treatment.
Because sex offenders are not very likely to be repeat offenders, because only a fraction of victims come forward, and because the victims almost always have a relationship w/their attacker (a sex offender just nabbing a stranger off the street is very rare) are all reasons why I'm not too gung-ho about "the lists."
I think more time and money should be spent educating kids (PSA's during TV shows aimed at kids, programs at school, parents getting involved etc.,), educating adults (PSA's letting people know it's okay to come forward and to call help lines, etc.,) to try and make people feel more comfortable in talking about an attack. I think more time and money should be funneled to police stings and investigations to catch sex offenders as well as more time and money going towards court mandated treatment programs.
I'm not "pro sex offender" or anything like that but I am against feel good legislation (which I think the public lists largely are) especially feel good legislation that erodes civil liberties.
floriflee said:
I don't know how old the list is, but it seems like a relatively new development (i.e., within the last 10 years or so). It will probably take more time to get worthwhile statistics as to the effectiveness of the list.
Many (if not all States) already kept tabs on sex offenders, but it wasn't until relatively recently (Megan's Law) that info was required to be available to the public. California, for example, has kept tabs on sex offenders sense 1947. Of course that meant that gay men in CA convicted of sodomy laws back in the '70s had to register as sex offenders once Megan's Law passed in '96. Thankfully the ACLU stepped in and got said people convicted of said sodomy laws removed from the sex offenders list in '97.
Taken from the PDF linked to below:
Washington, which passed a public notification law in 1990, preceding Megan's Law, is the only state that has researched the efficacy of its public notification law. The State of Washington found no reduction in sex crimes against children; however, a benefit was the level of community education regarding sex crimes (Matson & Lieb, 1996). At this writing, there are no other published studies that demonstrate the efficacy of Megan's Law.
Center of Sex Offender Management FAQ
paper from the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives
PDF found at the American Probation and Parole Association (long but informative).
Lethal