To be honest, I'm a little concerned.

Privacy.

The ability to rebuild a productive life.

Just because *most* sex offenders commit another crime doesn't make it right to make rebuilding a normal life any more difficult for someone who's done their time and truly intends to do the best they can.

I haven't read or seen any real numbers on convicted offenders trying to rebuild a life. All I have is anecdotal data, and not enough of that to make any generalizations.

But I could easily see people losing or not getting jobs over this. Being denied loans and access to services.

Like you, I think that this could lead to Vigilantism, perhaps unjustly.

If, later on, evidence proves that Person A was not guilty of the offense that they were arrested and charged with, who is responsible for getting their name off of the registry? I could easily see this being like a credit report, where you are the only person responsible for making sure that your name is clear.

Similarly, what if "Joe B. Smith" is on the registry as a repeat offender? Will that affect Joe M. Smith's chances at livlihood any? The election scandal in 2000, where reportedly the names of ex-cons from other states were striken from the voter rolls in Florida, even though pertinant details were mismatched - including race and age, which should have been easy to match.

While I think that there needs to be some means to prevent multiple offenses, I question the wisdom of this being the means.

For every sex offender on the registry, there are countless others who haven't made the registry yet (not convicted), or haven't been caught yet.

I hope people don't get a false sense of security. Just because a person isn't on the list, doesn't mean they're not an offender.

I've yet to see any credible numbers that "most" recommit. I remember learning when I was a kid that "most" people who TRY heroin become addicts. Turns out the addiction rate is about 25%, I found out later, hardly "most".

A 20 year old boy caught in bed w/ his 17-year-old girlfriend by parents who disapprove becomes a "child rapist" under these sorts of things. No one looks at the nuances involved, especially in these days of strict law-and-order, throw-away-the-key mentality. We have one of the largest prison industries in the world per capita.

These sorts of lists lead to tragedies like this:

When a sex offender lives next door

And the actions neighbors take or don't take can have dire consequences not only for the neighborhood's children, but for the sex offenders themselves.

In April, a 38-year-old convicted sex offender in Ocala committed suicide after fliers were posted in his neighborhood calling him a "child rapist."

Clovis Ivan Claxton III, whose mother said her son was developmentally disabled and used a wheelchair, was found dead by his father days after he had threatened suicide to police after seeing one of the fliers, saying that he feared for his life.

More on Claxton

Bright yellow, laminated signs displaying Claxton's picture, date of birth, address and the words "child rapist" appeared earlier this week on utility poles in his neighborhood after a county commissioner proposed posting such information in the community. The sheriff rejected the idea.

"I think this is a clear example of an unintended consequence, which can occur when we go beyond what we call police protocol when handling sex offenders," Sheriff Ed Dean said. "I understand the concern of parents for their children. But we must not allow hysteria to take place."

After seeing the signs, Claxton, 38, told the sheriff's office that he felt "extremely scared and feels that people in the neighborhood are now out to possibly hurt him."

When he threatened suicide, he was involuntarily committed to the mental health hospital Tuesday and released the next day.

Claxton was convicted in Washington state in 1991 of molesting a 9-year-old girl. He was 20 at the time, but his mother said he was developmentally much younger due to a brain injury.
[...]
She said her son required constant care and recently relied on leg braces and a wheelchair.

"He hasn't been in trouble for 18 years, and he's branded for life," she said.

Harris said sex offenders need to take responsibility for their actions.

"I don't blame his death to the signs," he said, adding he was undeterred in his quest to alert people to sex offenders living in their neighborhoods.

There is a difference between a predator w/ a paraphilia and someone like Claxton. The reason we have judges and case law and a legal system is to be able to adjust to individual circumstances. It frightens me that we have returned to "scarlet letters" and rigid legalistic structures built around endless punishment.

in the same way that all gore invented the internets. by that i mean that i was a member of a small group of women who, side by side with many other small groups of women and men across the country, took it upon ourselves back in the 1980s to notify our neighbors about sexual predators in their midst.

imagine this: you are 25 years old. you go home to visit your old neighborhood, and you see the guy that raped you 15 years prior. he's sitting on his front stoop, talking to neighbors, and watching their children playing in his front yard. what do you do? you can call the police, and report this guy. tried that, and was told the statute of limitations had passed and they couldn't do anything to protect kids now until he has actually done something.

you call a lawyer and try to sue the guy. not because you care about the money but because its the only way left to force this guy into any kind of accountability. if you're lucky, the civil statute of limitations hasn't expired.

but what about all those kids? what about the parents that don't know. so, you go home, make up a flyer, and start handing out door to door in your old neighborhood. beware of john doe. don't let your kids near him. he likes pre-pubescent girls in particular.

and so we (me and many thousands of other women and men) did just that. handed out flyers. tried to protect the children. because nobody else was. and we were told then that what we were doing was wrong, that we were branding these guys with scarlet letters. and we responded, "we don't care." we have a right to speak our truth. we have a right to say what happened to us and who did it.

but frankly, the local police didn't like us going around identifying known sex offenders. they were getting phone calls they didn't know how to deal with. "is this true?" "why aren't you doing something about this?" "how can this guy be allowed to hang out at the neighborhood playground?"

not to mention the problems that ensued when abusers who were never charged with their crimes denied what they had done. they were innocent they claimed. there was no proof. it was just delusions of some crazy woman.

so the system (by that i mean the police, local politicians, etc) offered an alternative. a statewide sex offender registry. at least that way, those being outed as sex offenders were proven to be such by a court of law.

and so it began.

whatever your concerns about statewide or national sex offender registries, i need to ask you this: what would you have done, when you saw a guy who raped you at age 10, who showed you kiddy porn, who forced you to perform in kiddy porn, who forced you to play russian roullette with a loaded handgun while he jerked off, who threatened to kill your sister if you ever told anyone... what would you do, when you saw him sitting on his stoop watching the neighbors kids play in his front yard?

just as an aside. there is no right to privacy when it comes to a person's criminal record. criminal records are public knowledge. before technology, you had to go to the courthouse to get the info. or look it up on microfilm of the local newspaper at the library.

just as the tax assessment on your house is now available on the internet, technology is making criminal records more accessible to the average person.

i'm not sure that's a bad thing. i don't think you should have to go physically to a courthouse to get information that isn't private to begin with. if someone wants or needs to keep their criminal record private, they can ask the court to have their record sealed. the court then decides if its in the public interest to do so.

so its a mistake to think that other kinds of criminal records are private. they aren't. and they too, eventually, will be available on the internet.

Hello, I have to concur with some of the other posters here, particularly on the selectivity issue. There's the "just under/just over" problem, where a slight difference in age gets classified as an offence. There's also distinguishing between different kinds of sex crimes and situations.

Having a national register is fine and state registries state that information shall not be used in harassment. That is something that won't happen. There is the second set of victims. They get no sypmpathy nor do they get support. They are the children, parents, and loved ones of the offender. To have the name bandied over and over hurts them no end. The touchy-feely offender, who gets good treatment and constant monitoring, may never re-offend. The violent psycho will probably re-offend. I think lifetime parole, electronic monitoring, and a good cognition program will control the touchy-feely. Nothing controls the psycho. He should get life in prison. If for some reason, he is let out, he should have a gps welded on his ankle. The most dangerous ones are the ones who move from state to state and don't get caught. You won't know who they are and when they will come through your town.

Well, I am a sex offender. I came across this board, and well, I thought I might shed some insight.

I am not going to go into what happened with me, either one, some might believe me, most just won't. At any rate, my conviction was 13 years ago and that is not why I am here.

I am here to tell you of the things that have conflicted in my life from having to register.

First, It's next to impossible to find a place to live, many times I have had to stay in missions, and most of them won't take me. One I got told I couldn't from a all male mission and got beat up by 3 staff members a few blocks away. That's not the only time I got beat up.

Jobs, when you find them, get away with enslaving you. And when you get tired of it, they splash around to everyone you are a BABY RAPPER.
So you move on...It's like a legal banishment.

Friends...Well do you just go up to someone and say "HI I am a sex offender"? or wait till they see the real you and hope they don't stumble across your picture on the sex offender site. When you do tell them about yourself, some say they understand and slowly drift away, some just are appauled and never speak to you again, but a very small percent actually understand and believe. I wish a lot of people could experience this then maybe they wouldn't take advantage of their loved ones and friends.

Relationships? Well for 12 years I thought I just would never find love...Most girls when I do tell them either use me for money or run scared.....But finally, after so many nights of prayer, GOD brought me my angel....Thank you god for her.

I could go on, but you will never really understand...I think this is a good law though, but needs revision...I am really here to hopefully persuade you that some change needs to happen.

My final thought for you.

There was a 18 year old boy, who "Mooned" the football team on court at the Homecoming game. A A**HOLE Cop, arrested him for Indecent Exposure, well after 8 months he got out of jail and had to register in his new neighborhood, and it showed up only as that "Indecent Exposure". 4 months later he got jumped by 3 kids in his area. He died on the way to the hospital of internal bleeding. The 3 boys got 2 years in Jail and 5 yrs Probation.
And don't forget about the slaughters from vigilantes that have happened recently in the past few months.

Just really, were do we draw the line.... You vote for judges to make proper sentencing....There really should be no need for this...If the judges did thier jobs.

Just think about it.

I need to say one more thing......

When I saw this post, I can't describe the feeling I got. I just can't describe the feeling of understanding, the feeling of walls being over come. How you, some of you victims, can even see what is going on....How something HAS to finally come to change.
All this time I have felt as if I were wearing a "Star" on my chest.

I think with minds like yours, something can come to a resolution soon.

I guess I am saying thanks.........If it means anything.

Our community has about 12 registered sex offenders in the zip code. One of the offenders is a level 3, two are level 2 and the remainder are level 1 sex offenders. I've kept up to date with each of the announcements sent home by our school district and I have not over reacted to these announcements. Information on the nature of their crimes is readily available. Considering the age(s) of victims, the element of violence/non-violence, etc. I believe I've exercised reasonable caution and have not, to date, over reacted. But this week...

I'm still in shock from learning that a Level 2 sex offender, with designation as a Violent Offender, is living in his father's house directly across the street from me. I have a 13 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. My 13 year old gets on the school bus directly in front of his house (and our house) and she's home alone for 2 hours everyday after school. She will be home alone during the summer since she's too young to work and too old for day camps.

Here's what I learned from the state and national sex offender registry sites: he was convicted of repeated sexual abuse of a 5 year old girl: he has many conditions stipulated in his release (treatment for alcohol/drug abuse, no alcohol or other substances, no sexual enhancement drugs, anti-violence therapy, sex offender therapy, no contact with children under the age of 18, no contact with the victim, find and maintain employment,... the list goes on).

I've contacted the state sex offender registry office as well as the local police department. They've advised that this man is so far meeting the requirements of his parole (January 2007 he was paroled). There is nothing I can do except watch him constantly and report any suspicious activity.

It's unacceptable to me that THIS offender, with THESE conditions and THESE circumstances of his crime should be living within 100 feet of my children. I'm essentially a liberal passivist, I don't bud into other peoples lives and I try not to pass judgement...but here's the rub - the more I know about this man the more it transforms me and I can't help the way I feel. It is in fact a primal reaction - I want him away from my children and my home.

In all fairness, different states have different rules governing how they report and list sexual offenders. In my state, only recently has the state police and justice department decided to update their website to include photos and type of offense. I think that this is important as the community must be able to protect themselves from persons potentially dangerous. There are states with very detailed information (Illinois) easily available online and some states (washington, oregon) that still don't list offenders at all, apparently making the citizens do the necessary legwork to find out who is in their community.

First off, as a victim of sexual abuse and manipulation years ago I can't tell you the surprise in doing a search for an someone from time back to find them listed in a state for having abused an 11 year old girl! This person had used me when I was a young teenager. It brought home for me the reality of the 'relationship' I had with this person in my young mind! Also, with the latest updates here in NH, I have seen former co-workers listed, which also brings home the fact that a sexual offender can be anyone.

Unfortunately, I am also aware of people who slip through the cracks, abscond from registration and because of poor follow through with local police departments, successfully elude officials and dupe the community for quite awhile and with a great deal of ease. Someone who is leaning toward sociopathy is very unlikely to care a lot about the potential consequences of not registering weighted against the short lived freedom that enables them to satisfy their worst impulses.

Registration of sex offenders is a feminist issue, as registration gives the victim a more important role and also allows others to protect potential victims like never before. As woman are primarily the victims in sexual assault and men primarily the offenders, the benefits of due process for victims and strict enforcement of after release stipulations fall to women. This is of course assuming all rules for procedure are followed after an offender's release and not taking into account the egregious number of failed convictions.

Sexual predators have for centuries relied on the access and power imbalance inherent in male/female relationships. This power imbalance also includes the inability to have adequate information to protect oneself and the willingness of those in power to give credence or consideration to the pain caused by perpetrators. The interest of the perpetrator (the man) always predicated the woman's interest.

It is ironic indeed that a social system that traditionally (and still in some respects) aids and abets the predator has turned around the defined the predator of children as now just another potential victim. Some justify this switch as a good 'punishment' but I think it is an effort (albeit not always conscious) to alienate the predator from the social system in order to deny that the social system itself creates the predator. This observation of course seems proved when the self identified 'macho' protector types -- the gatekeepers of the patriarchy -- mimic in their actions the very predation they claim to abhor.

So, we have a conflict. The very construct that created the predator now abandons the predator and turns him/her into prey. Yes, it is unjust. It is unjust in the same way that no woman can sleep in home alone at night without wondering if someone will crawl through the window and tie her up in her bed and slit her throat or worse. It is unjust in the same way that a girl, from about 5 years old and on is considered free game, with that justification becoming more and more socially acceptable as she enters puberty and beyond.

I am sorry that you are preyed upon, but unfortunately, until this social system overhauls its values to not celebrate the primitive rites of conquest and hierarchical power defined by gender, I don't think the courts or legislatures can formulate a solution that will alleviate your problem. No more than a woman could ever force the legislature or judges to assure her that she need not worry if her car breaks down on the highway in the middle of the night or if her teenage daughter has a new 'mystery' boyfriend that won't show himself to anyone.

I just wanted to say thank you to all who have posted on this site. You see i am a 33 year old man who made a grave mistake when i was 19.I was convicted of statutory rape. A day doesn't go by that i wish i could take it back. The time i did in prison doesn't compare to the adversities that i have to deal with day to day. I can not get a good job. I had to quit college because they found out and told me that i better leave. That whatever education i get will be worthless. I have lost my children over my past yet i haven't given up hope. The registry will only provide fear for parents, and vigilanty justice for others. There are people like me who have made mistakes with no intention of malice to others. Yet there is nowhere to get help for when they are finished paying their debt to society. We throw them back on the streets and say bye. Then they want to complicate it more by telling everyone who they are and what they have done. It's easy for them to become discourage and angry. They sometimes end up back in prison because they feel so helpless to do anything. I came across this blog site myself looking for something, anthing that would help me cope with the recent rejection of yet another great job lost because of my past. To read your comments remimded not to give up, that not everyone believes that you are worthless because of a "SEX OFFENDER" stamp on your back. So thank you all again for lifting the heart and spirit of a fallen but not down man.

Judge not,that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. MATTHEW 6:7 1-2