Sex offenders website, my new obsession

Thanks to a friend I am now obsessed with a website called Family Watchdog ^[1]. 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?