Sex offenders website, my new obsession
Thanks to a friend I am now obsessed with a website called Family Watchdog. The site allows you plug in any address you like and spits back a map, with different colored squares, indicating all of the registered sex offenders in the area. It distinguishes offenders by their type of sexual offense: rape, sexual battery, offense against children, and other. It also indicates if the location they are highlighting is where the offender works or resides. Plus, you can see perpetrator mug shots and the age of the offender and their victims. This site has been around since 2005 and I am sure it has its critics.
I wish I could say that I don’t think we need a site like this. That people have the right to live where they please, in anonymity, once they’ve served time for their crime. But really, I am glad I have easy access to this information. I am also glad my map didn’t show any red, yellow, blue, or green squares in my neighborhood. I guess, as I search every address I’ve ever lived, what I wonder the most is what would I do if I pulled up the map and found there was a rapist on my block or someone who committed a sex crime against a kid. What could I even do, other than feel disgusted and terrified?
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im a registered sex offender and live in a major city in the US. I had a girlfriend who was underage. I was just a few years older than her but when her parents found out we were dating, they called the police and I was charged and convicted of sexual assault of a child and placed on probation. I live in an apartment and am pretty terrified about my name being on the registry because I am afraid someone will confront or attack me. I usually carry a weapon of some sort on me. I also have weapons inside my apartment in order to defend myself. This is the way I live my life everyday, constantly ready to defend myself against anyone that may attack me for being a registered sex offender. I have to have a home to live in just like everyone else and will keep fighting for my survival
I wondered about people like you… Where she was underage and you were older – but you were in a real relationship — not committing sexual assault of a “child”. You say you carry a weapon and have weapons inside of your apartment… Do you do this out of fear or what might happen? Have you ever been confronted by a stranger because they found out about your record?
Robert, what do you mean by a “few years”? Just how young was she and how old were you at the time? Were you 19 and was she 17? That’s not quite the same as 19 and 14. Relationship or no, if you were 18 and she was 13, I’d have trouble seeing you as a victim here. I’ve heard of stories like yours and think it is an injustice when people of similar age are in a relationship and one gets listed as a sex offender, but I hope we are not talking about a big age difference here or a very young girl.
I didnt say I was a victim. It was 10 years ago that this happened. I was 22 and she was 16. I shouldnt have had any type of relationship with her. It was just a boneheaded thing to do on my part. The conditions of my probation actually barred me from having any contact with her, even when she turned 18. But after I got off probation we actually became good friends and are friends today. You know all of this happened such a long time ago that its hard for me to even remember much about it. Today that girl is 26 and im 32 and we hang out all the time and dont even think about it. But my previous post was just about what life as a registered sex offender and having your name on the registry is like. It wasnt trying to make any excuse for what I did. I am just saying that because my name is on that registry, I have to be very vigilant about my surroundings and who comes and goes by me when im entering or exiting my apartment. Ive had threats made against my life and constant harrassment from people for the past 10 years. I carry a pistol with me everywhere I go and sleep with a gun very close to me in my bed when im sleeping because I never know when someone is just going to look on the registry and just see “sex offender” living next door to them and just snap. There are a lot of crazy people out there. Every day is a struggle and it will be for the rest of my life until I die because thats how long the law says I have to register. If I live to be in my 80s or 90s for example, I will still be being punished for something I did when I was 22. This is the world that I live in and I accepted this reality long ago.
Understood, Robert. As I said, I think there is often injustice in the way these things are handled. The whole thing doesn’t make sense to me. If sex offenders are so likely to re-offend and cause harm, then they should remain in prison. Listing them on a registry doesn’t do much to protect potential future victims.
Whatever ought to be the punishment for a 22-year-old as a consequence of having sex with a 16-year-old, it seems clear that the rationale for the list is not to punish, but to keep others from becoming victims in the future. Child molesters and rapists are thought to be likely to re-offend, so society keeps track of them and people know where they are so they can be on guard against becoming victims (or parents of victims). But I doubt these lists make repeat crimes less likely.
What seems clear to me is that Robert’s case is not in a category we think of as especially prone to recidivism. Whatever the punishment should be, should be (an interesting debate, for another time, might be what should be the age of consent), but what purpose is served by having him on a list? If anything, it distracts from the attention that ought to be paid to those who are the ones that Amy is really talking about being afraid of — the ones who actually lust after and abuse children. Lumping everyone as a sex offender onto the same list makes the list worthless. But, again, if we believe that a certain offense is so bad and so likely to be repeated that we must track perpetrators for life after they leave prison, what are we doing letting them out of prison? (If indeed repeat offenses are that likely — I think Kerry Howley has written about this here and there at Reason)
Scott, you said being on the registry is not punishment but as someone thats been on the registry for 10 years, it is punishment, believe me. Its hard to understand or believe maybe that its punishment when youre not on it but just imagine what it might be like
its actually safe to say that being on the registry is more of a punishment than anything else Ive ever been punished for in my life. I would have rather gone to prison for a few years and not been placed on the registry than gotten probation like I did and been placed on the registry
I got kicked out of my last apartment when the apartment manager found out I was on the registry. It ruined my credit and took me forever to find another place. I was really lucky to even find some place to live because of being on the registry
I did not say it was not punishment. I said that punishment was not the rationale for it. However, it clearly is punishment — I have no doubt that it’s an awful punishment. But that is not the justification given for the registry or the purpose it is supposed to serve. The only argument I’ve seen for the registry is that it allegedly helps to keep people safer, but that rationale does not explain why you would be on it, since I don’t think most people would think we need to be kept safe from you, and it seems to me that including all these different kinds of offenders on the list takes the focus off those whom people do need to be kept safe from and thins the list with other people, who did not rape anyone and are no threat to the public. The registry was created on the grounds that child molestors are likely to re-offend, so to protect society we had to have a right to know where they are in our neighborhood. In the first place, if it is true that they are likely to repeat offend and are a danger, then keep them in jail. In the second place, that rationale has nothing to do with you and your offense.
I appreciate your kind words. Life is very hard for me since I cant get a good job anywhere. All of the good jobs do background checks. Ive tried really hard. The best job I can get is being a stocker at a grocery store. 99 percent of the apartments do background checks so its very hard to find a place to live. I few friends. I drink alcohol on a regular basis to help me feel better and to help the time pass by. I guess the only hope for me is my fathers life insurance policy when he dies
Someone has to live a life on the sex offender registry in order to know what its like. Before I became a registered sex offender I was a “conservative” and then after I became one I all of a sudden became a liberal. I guess its that I used to hate everyone and then once I became one of the hated, I started knowing what it feels like and my ideology changed. Now ever since this happened to me I give to the poor even when I have little money myself, I am much more understanding of people who are in need or going through difficult situations, and I am much more forgiving of people that have done wrong to me. It turned me into a Liberal overnight. Im hoping that with Obama and Democrats in there, that they will pass laws to help me and people in similar situations as me
Why do we fear sex offenders more than terrorists?
I believe, it is because the entertainment news media and politicians have spread lies, myths and hysteria for ratings and votes. They have claimed recidivism is high for sex offenders when in fact it is very low. They have perpetuated the stranger danger myth, when all along 98% of all child sexual abuse is committed in the home by family members and by those known to the family.
The reality is, “Incest and those known to the family.” We have yet to even attempt to look at Prevention through education. Being “Tough on Crime” has not reduced the the first offense or recidivism.
Reports on the rearrest, re conviction, and reincarnation of former inmates who were tracked for 3 years after their release from prisons in 15 States in 1994. The former inmates represent two-thirds of all prisoners released in the United States that year. The report includes prisoner demographic characteristics (gender, race, Hispanic origin, and age), criminal record, types of offenses for which they were imprisoned, the effects of length of stay in prison on likelihood of rearrest, and comparisons with a study of prisoners released in 1983.
Highlights include the following:
* Released prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were robbers (70.2%), burglars (74.0%),
larcenists (74.6%),
motor vehicle thieves (78.8%),
those in prison for possessing or selling stolen property (77.4%),
and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%).
* Within 3 years, 2.5% of released rapists were arrested for another rape,
and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for homicide.
* The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 had accumulated 4.1 million arrest charges before their most recent imprisonment and another 744,000 charges within 3 years of release.
http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=87&id=576
While it is true that the media has had a big impact on how we view sex offenders, it is also true that the impact is magnified because we, as a society, are conditioned to find especially abhorrent, those crimes that target women and children.
Robert: While I am not convinced that the punishment fits the crime in your particular case, I cannot find it in my heart to feel very sorry for you. At the age of 22, you were old enough to know better.
David, Yes like I said earlier, I’m not trying to make excuses for what I did 10 years ago even though me and the girl I had sex with are good friends now. I just want to know if the punishment ever ends. According to the law, it doesnt. The girl who I had sex with cant even help me, even 10 years later. I just want the punishment to end eventually. I want to be able to find a good job someday and live in decent housing. Even if it is not till im 60 years old these will remain my goals. Whatever it takes. I spend a great deal of time plotting and strategizing. I study the states sex offender registry laws state by state trying to see which states might not make me register if I were to move there. This might in the end be my only way out. I really dont know how much more I can take of this. Ive spent 10 years taking it.
This story and the links are relevant to the discussion.
Hi
My name is Ricky. I am writing to let you know there is alot of injustice in the sex offender laws. Here is just a little bit of my story. When i was 16 years old i was at a club for 16-20 year olds and while i was at the club a girl walked up to me and we started talking and when i asked her age she told me she was almost 16 and we also found out that we lived in the same town so we started dating and a couple of months later the cops come and questioned me and when they asked me if i had sex with her i told the truth to the cops because i did not think i could get in trouble because i thought she was close to the same age as me. To read my whole story please go to http://www.rickyslife.com
There is a new “Power Point Presentation” that every citizen and legislator needs to see.
It can be found here, http://www.cfcamerica.org/newstudy/index.html
Thanks
What is a sex offender?
1. Someone personally involved in child sexual abuse or coercive sexual activity with an adult?
2. Someone who views free images of sexual offences, but commits no sexual abuse himself?
3. Someone who pays for pre-existing images of sexual offences, but commits no abuse himself? Examples, Pete Townsend, Chris Langham.
4. A young and attractive female schoolteacher made pregnant by a large, randy 14-year-old mixed race schoolboy and imprisoned for years away from her children?
5. A young schoolteacher who marries his 18-year-old pupil?
6. Two underage teenagers involved in sexual experimentation?
7. Two 16/17-year-old teenagers who photograph each other naked?
8. Someone who takes nude photographs of his or her own children?
9. A libertarian who believes that only category 1 should constitute a sexual offence?
10. The person who added categories 2-9 to the law and put thousands of innocent people at risk from vigilante attacks?
I belong to category 9. I am not pro-rape or pro-pedophillia, but anti false abuse. The legislators guilty of expanding the definition of sexual offences into the grey area of mere political incorrectness are guilty of crimes against humanity and belong in prison.
Trevor, regarding #4, you’ve taken the easy way out. You made the teacher young and female (and attractive), and the student male, large, and randy, and 14. But what if the teacher is 45? What if the teacher is 25 but the student is 11? How about 9? What if the teacher is male and 45 and the student is male and 11? Still okay? What if the teacher is male and 30 and the student is female and 14? How about 11?
We can agree that some of the items on your list should not be illegal, certainly should not get someone listed as a sex offender for life and treated the same as a violent rapist or child molester, but that is separate from whether or not there should be some age of consent even in a free society, and what should be done when an adult in a position of authority over students, trusted by parents, violates that trust and breaks the law.
You can be libertarian and still believe that 11-year-olds are not capable of making informed decisions on some matters. You say that female teachers are “made pregnant” by their young students, as if the teachers — the adults — don’t bear responsibility for what happened. And get rid of that “mixed-race” garbage. It couldn’t be more irrelevant, and it does libertarianism no favors.
I am guessing #4 is in direct reference to the Mary Kay Letourneau case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kay_Letourneau
Mary Kay appeared young; she was 34 and Vili was her 13-year-old student when their sexual relationship started (or her rape of him). She was married and had four kids with her husband at the time and ended up giving birth to 2 more kids while in prison… both were Vili’s. They got married in 2005.
Irregardless of their marraige — what Mary Kay did at 34 was completely wrong and she was punished accordingly. She deserves to have to register as a sex offender. I would not want her anywhere near my children. Vili will never get his childhood back.
In fact both Mary Kay and Vili were abused by the system. Adult male pedophilia on young children can have appalling medical consequences-it is a form of assult with a deadly weapon. Female pedophllia can have appaling legal consequences in the form of alimony (legal slavery) inposed by the state, but is not a moral issue in itself. Consensual teen sex is none of the states business. Sexual offences law (and drugs law) is becoming equivalent to Islamic Law-in trying to prevent one evil it creates a far greater evil-these laws are the legal equivalent of AIDS!
I would like to add that early sex (in fact any sex) is not my personal standard of behavior, despite many offers. There is a need to educate people about the difference between genuine sex offences and sexual psuedo-crime.