too many sex offenders in grand rapids (environment, relocating)

[ceverett41]

What a huge number. Over 700 in grand rapids alone. Am I the only one concerned about this? We are looking at relocating from Georgia to Heritage Hills. Good area? Schools?

[Rapunzll]

I would imagine that GR has about as many sex offenders as any other city of it's size in the country. If it were me, I'd check to see if there were offenders in the neighborhood I was interested in and what exactly their crime was.

[Coldjensens]

OFten "sex offenders" are high school graduates who had a 17 year old girlfrind

[theboysmom]

I used to look at the sex offender registy to see where they lived in our community. Then my husband said something that made total sense.

Doing that only provides a false sense of security. Really, the registery only provides info on those that have been caught and convicted. There are many pedophiles (like there are many other types of criminals) that are walking around free right now. They could be next door, across the street, or nowhere near you. You simply don't know.

It's better to just arm your children and your family with good common sense, and an awareness of others and their environment. Nothing's a guarantee, but that will go a lot further than just thinking you know what's out there. Because you don't. And you can't spend your life worrying about it.

[SweetBeth]

Originally Posted by theboysmom

I used to look at the sex offender registy to see where they lived in our community. Then my husband said something that made total sense.

Doing that only provides a false sense of security. Really, the registery only provides info on those that have been caught and convicted. There are many pedophiles (like there are many other types of criminals) that are walking around free right now. They could be next door, across the street, or nowhere near you. You simply don't know.

It's better to just arm your children and your family with good common sense, and an awareness of others and their environment. Nothing's a guarantee, but that will go a lot further than just thinking you know what's out there. Because you don't. And you can't spend your life worrying about it.

I totally agree! As well as the normal "stranger training", my husband and I tell our oldest to go with his gut. I think it is a natural gift that we have when we have a bad feeling about someone or a situation. Never ignore that feeling.

I am a grown adult and I recently had an experience where a man tried to get me to look in his truck. I shut him down immediately and didn't feel bad about it at all.

After that experience, my friend told me about a book called Protecting the Gift. I think Oprah recommended it. I really want to read it.

[deslok]

Id say Michigan may have more sex offenders in general than other states, since there isn't a lot going on in the state and the space between houses is sometimes greater. They can be more reclusive.

[larkim]

Grand Rapids is a great city, depending on what part you settle in. As far as the sex offenders, if all the states used the same methods for listing a sex offender the statistics would be more accurate. Michigan has 39,945 registered sex offenders, Georgia 10,973 so a little under a 1/3. Alaska has the highest percentage, with Minnesota only listing 102 out of 5,000,000 people. So you really need to use the same measurement to accurately compare.
State Sex Offender Registry Statistics

[theboysmom]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

OFten "sex offenders" are high school graduates who had a 17 year old girlfrind

Um,no. While there are for sure the rare cases here or there (yes I've seen the Dateline episodes about them) where a 19yr old is charged with statutory rape of his 16yr old girlfriend, or some combination of ages; the clear majority of registered sex offenders are, well, sex offenders. Rapists, pedophiles, etc... I would never go so far as to say sex offenders are often just misunderstood teens.

Oh, and Protecting The Gift is a GREAT read (and I can't stand Oprah,lol).

[scottmi]

Originally Posted by deslok

Id say Michigan may have more sex offenders in general than other states, since there isn't a lot going on in the state and the space between houses is sometimes greater. They can be more reclusive.

That's retarded reasoning. By that same logic you could say it is less likely to happen because given the distance between houses weirdos will have less exposure to people on a daily basis and because they would be exposed to less people, other people would be more aware of the "reclusive" neighbor actions on a regular basis.


Man...people need to read their posts before they hit 'submit'...

My advice? Don't go searching for these stats...all it will do is make you paranoid to the point of you barricading yourself in your house. I have heard from too many people who talk about this stuff and you know what? They all turn into unrealistic safety-kooks. Problem is, you can't protect anyone (let alone yourself) from the world 24/7. You gotta learn how to live with or avoid all types of people from the moderately annoying to the psychopathic.

The world has always had sickos, murderers, liars and thieves in the world. It's only in the past 5 years I'd say that the media has jumped onto this type of story being in the news on almost a weekly basis. It used to be a taboo subject and if you're old enough to remember news in the 90s and earlier, you'll recall that you hardly ever heard of this stuff happening. Does that mean it didn't happen? NO. Does recent coverage mean this is a new problem? NO. It's just the TV channels trying to scare the bejeezus out of you and keep you tuned in til' the commercial break. News channels know stories about this subject are widely regarded as the"worst type of crime" (& I would argue many people think that it's worse than murder....which is rather odd...but probably an accurate observation of opinions). You should really just turn off your TV and just focus on getting news that's relevant to you off the internet. I just subscribe to Gaming and Tech RSS feeds now and read about stuff that isn't so damn depressing or scary.

Educate your kids and yourself and then avoid people/situations/places that you get a bad feeling about. It's that simple.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by theboysmom

Um,no. While there are for sure the rare cases here or there (yes I've seen the Dateline episodes about them) where a 19yr old is charged with statutory rape of his 16yr old girlfriend, or some combination of ages; the clear majority of registered sex offenders are, well, sex offenders. Rapists, pedophiles, etc... I would never go so far as to say sex offenders are often just misunderstood teens.

Oh, and Protecting The Gift is a GREAT read (and I can't stand Oprah,lol).

We once got all panicky about registered sex offenders nearby and check into all of them. Several had moved away years ago; several more were statutory rape criminals from when they were just out of high school. Only one was a real concern and he never came out of his house as far as I could learn. We showed our kids his picture and his house and told them to stay away from both. Not much more that you can do.