Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Right to live in peace? Really? What about the rights of their poor innocent victims whose lives they forever destroyed? What about their rights? Nobody can show that these lists hadn't saved anyone or deterred anything either.
Exactly!
Child molesters deserve nothing but misery. I am disgusted people think otherwise. Shudder.
You will rightfully get hate for this as it's not an intellectual argument; it's emotional.
Criminal justice issues should not be made out of a desire for vengeance, or emotional gratification.
Imagine a scenario; a guy is convicted of statutory rape. He was 18; she was 15. In all likelihood, this is all the registry will tell colleges when he's applying.
What they won't say: they'd known each other since they were kids. They'd always been close friends, and their romantic relationship had been building for years. They care for each other; love each other even.
You'd see him killed.
And that's just one example, and of course, not every example is quite so poetic. Some are just "we were in the mood," but ultimately, that scenario isn't deserving of death either. As I said, criminal justice issues should not be done to gratify a desire for revenge; if we do this, we're not better than some theocracy in the Middle East.
Never said that I'd want anyone killed, thanks for trying though. I NEVER said that anyone should be killed, no matter what they did
Oh, and BTW, do you know that many offenders commit again, or maybe even live with other sex offenders? Its not out of emotions, its out of facts and sympathy for the victim if the alleged offender was convicted... We as a society seem to sympathize for the criminal rather than the victim, it's sickening
I think the list should exist. (I actually think the people deserving to be on the list should be imprisoned for life, at minimum, so technically, we shouldn't even need a list.) However, I think there are many flaws with the list.
- There are too many people on it. Which ties in directly with what many of you have mentioned already. Peeing in public? Please. Don't waste anyone's time by putting them on the list. For statutory rape, if the age difference is less than 3 years and it is a consensual incident, don't put them on the list (even if the minor isn't legally old enough to consent.) Pare the list down to the people who REALLY need to be on it. The child predators and violent rapists (who should be in jail forever anyway.)
- More transparency. In Michigan, they can be labeled tier 1, 2, or 3. 3 is the most severe. 1 is mostly child pornography, indecent exposure in front of a minor, etc... 3 is your rape, child molestation, etc... Then it will list the actual charge. Like "Criminal sexual conduct- third degree." So then you have to Google what falls under that category. Such a pain.
Growing up, we had a neighbor move in who was a registered sex offender. He was probably mid-30s at the time. Gossip started flying through the neighborhood. Eventually someone asked him about it. He was 18, still in high school, and his girlfriend was 15. Her parents caught them and pressed charges. I'm not sure if it ever hurt anyone trying to sell their home in the neighborhood, but putting someone like him- who is not dangerous to anyone- on the list not only effects him and his family, but other people, too.
Child molesters deserve nothing but misery. I am disgusted people think otherwise. Shudder.
But this isn't a question of whether child molesters deserve misery or not. Look a little deeper. If you want to argue that all child molesters should be punished severely and/or kept miserable, you'll not likely find much disagreement. The point here is: if one is given a sentence, be it probation, 10 years or 20 years, whatever, and he serves that sentence, he has repaid his debt to society and should be free to live his life. Publicly ostracizing and shaming him as a "sex offender" for the rest of his life is an additional form of punishment, after he has served his sentence, and that's wrong.
I would have no problem with giving judges/juries the leeway to sentence individuals to a lifetime of reporting, but that's not how it works. It is mandatory for everyone, based solely upon the classification of the crime, not their individual actions.
Wouldn't it be potentially beneficial for me to know that I have a convicted burglar living next to me? Or a drunk driver? Should we create a specific public list for them as well?
Never said that I'd want anyone killed, thanks for trying though. I NEVER said that anyone should be killed, no matter what they did
Oh, and BTW, do you know that many offenders commit again, or maybe even live with other sex offenders? Its not out of emotions, its out of facts and sympathy for the victim if the alleged offender was convicted... We as a society seem to sympathize for the criminal rather than the victim, it's sickening
Why not empathy instead of sympathy? And why does it have to be either/or?
The victim and the victimizer are flip sides of the same coin. Remember, most sex offenders already started their lives of misery when they were innocent victims of other sex offenders.
I think the treating of other humans as objects harms everybody in society. Whether it's the victimization of a child or the persecution of the offender. In a very real sense it perpetrates and justifies abuse of each other.
None of how I personally feel about the misery they experience or the misery they spread prevents me from believing they need to be contained and held accountable for their behavior.
Just a humane way to look at an abysmal situation?
In a larger sense, as was pointed out to me, all crimes are pubic record--and anyone can, with little trouble and minimal expense--find out if someone has a conviction.
If someone has been CONVICTED of a crime, that's one thing, but it's quite another if a pissed-off LEO ARRESTS someone (often wrongfully) and that is posted online or in a newspaper.
Some online "newspapers" list" "POLICE LOGS" which include arrests made (including names and cities of arrestees, and sometimes pictures) during the prior week. That isn't constitutional or fair, in my opinion, especially since some of the "newspapers" archive their entire contents online for years, and do not print retractions or remove names even if those who were arrested never ended up being guilty or getting convicted.
But this isn't a question of whether child molesters deserve misery or not. Look a little deeper. If you want to argue that all child molesters should be punished severely and/or kept miserable, you'll not likely find much disagreement. The point here is: if one is given a sentence, be it probation, 10 years or 20 years, whatever, and he serves that sentence, he has repaid his debt to society and should be free to live his life. Publicly ostracizing and shaming him as a "sex offender" for the rest of his life is an additional form of punishment, after he has served his sentence, and that's wrong.
I would have no problem with giving judges/juries the leeway to sentence individuals to a lifetime of reporting, but that's not how it works. It is mandatory for everyone, based solely upon the classification of the crime, not their individual actions.
Wouldn't it be potentially beneficial for me to know that I have a convicted burglar living next to me? Or a drunk driver? Should we create a specific public list for them as well?
In Nevada, all felons register..regardless of crime.
In Nevada, all felons register..regardless of crime.
So, if I understand you correctly, we're to believe that Nevada has some sort of "felony offender registry" which, among multiple other restrictions, requires all felons to report regularly, publishes their names, photos, and addresses on a website and notifies their neighbors of their conviction? Of course not; no state does that for all felons.
In Nevada, all felons register..regardless of crime.
The data isn't published online or available to the public so what does that have to do with sex offender registration?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
