Sex Offenders Aren't People (moral, punishment, sex, moral, Article)

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by Booko

Is that even legal? Wouldn't that be an ex post facto law and therefore unconstitutional? Ah, law is not my strong suit.

Courts have generally viewed sex offender registration and mobility statutes as more like "civil regulations" than "criminal penalties." It is a legal fiction necessary to avoid the Ex Post Facto Clause. Of course, these regulations certainly do add additional consequences for prior criminal acts based upon the conviction, which seems to have the effect of a criminal penalty.

[Ryan2065]

How is forbidding a sex offender from living near a school, church or bus stop supposed to dissuade him from re-offending? Sex offenders have legs, they have cars, heck, they could get on one of these mysteriously dodgy busses and ride to a park or schoolyard. Which of these regulations would prevent an offender setting up a rendez-vous online and driving to a child's house?

I think the idea is if they are not seeing it every day (like watching all the kids in school through their living room) then they might not do it again... Not saying they wont travel to the place... but they won't be sitting in their living room, looking outside, and seeing 400 temptations =)

If we're going to register and restrict sex offenders why not extend these regulations to include burglars, armed robbers &al? Their social pathologies tend to be chronic as well, and they threaten a greater percentage of the public than, say, a child molester.

Most of the time the damage a child molestor does is worse than an armed robber and a burglar...

[Seyorni]

Originally Posted by Ryan2065

I think the idea is if they are not seeing it every day (like watching all the kids in school through their living room) then they might not do it again... Not saying they wont travel to the place... but they won't be sitting in their living room, looking outside, and seeing 400 temptations =)

Point taken, Ryan. But in my experience not actually seeing nubile young women parading by my window never decreased my desire to go out and seek them.

Most of the time the damage a child molestor does is worse than an armed robber and a burglar...

A child set upon by bullies or a woman beaten and robbed could be scarred for life. A burglary can produce a permanent, neurotic insecurity or paranoia. Theft can lead to financial ruin. Something as simple as a telephone scam or identity theft can wipe out
a life's savings and any hope of retirement or a comfortable old age.

Lots of "ordinary" crimes have serious and lasting consequences.

[Ryan2065]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

Point taken, Ryan. But in my experience not actually seeing nubile young women parading by my window never decreased my desire to go out and seek them.

But you noticed them =)

How about seeing whatever kind of food you like laid out right in front of you when you haven't had it for awhile?

Plus its easier to find a pedofile tracking girls (to see which ones would be easy prey) when they have to drive to the school rather than the ones who have binoculars in their living room.

Someone who is a pedofile (not all child molestors are actually pedofiles...) is sexually attracted to children in the same way a heterosexual or a homosexual is attracted to the opposite sex. This meaning pretty much the only thing the pedofile wants to have sex with is a child... Many times pedofiles become repeat offenders and I would suggest a pedofile living across the street from the grade school would be as smart as putting someone 5 days sober across the street from a free alchol store.

A child set upon by bullies or a woman beaten and robbed could be scarred for life. A burglary can produce a permanent, neurotic insecurity or paranoia. Theft can lead to financial ruin. Something as simple as a telephone scam or identity theft can wipe out
a life's savings and any hope of retirement or a comfortable old age.

Lots of "ordinary" crimes have serious and lasting consequences.

But on average child molestation hurts the child more than many other crimes hurt the victims.

[Shadow Wolf]

I just found out I live very close to two child molesters. I wonder if playing Hatebreed's A Call for Blood would make them paranoid?

Wow, that's creepy. I get 43 in my area.

178 in mine.

[doppelgänger]

Just to add a wrinkle to this discussion, several studies have shown that adult perpetrators of child sexual abuse are frequently (about 1 in 3) also survivors of sexual abuse when they were children.

So for many of those who were victimized as children, they will have serious problems that manifest in similar predatory behavior as adults and create an endless nightmare for them. It hardly seems just to kill adults who have serious psychosexual disorders as a result of being molested as children themselves, does it?

[Bishka]

I live in an area that's probably about 85% LDS. That little arrow is pointing to the apartment complex I live in.

[Shadow Wolf]

I could go knock on thier doors right now if I wanted to. I'm honestly surprised someone with that stigma would move into a small village with mainly conservative christians and most of the population being over their 50's. Seems weird knowing I live this close to two of them, but that's not really going to change anything.