Everyone’s getting tracked these days.
If you had to choose between the two regarding notice of their locations, what would be more important for you to know about, a convicted meth dealer/user or a sex offender?
I’m not a huge fan of these kind of registries, but I guess I’d rather know about the sex offender. A meth dealer isn’t a pure ‘predator’ in the same way; a drug deal, unlike a sexual assault, requires two willing participants.
It has to depend on the circumstances. In my particular case I would be far more concerned about a meth dealer living next door because the criminal activity could directly impact me. A single woman might be much more concerned about a sex offender living next door. Ditto an adult with young kids, depending on the type of sex offender.
Meth maker, hands down. I live in Manhattan. A botched meth lab can cause astonishing amounts of damage.
If they are actually manufacturing meth, then I want to know about the meth dealer. All of our houses are attached so they could level the block. However, if they are just a dealer, then I would rather know about the sex offender.
I’d want to know about sex offenders.
Sex offenders can appear outwardly normal. I’d spot a meth house in a minute and notify the authoities (they’re acutually pretty good around here about keeping an eye on things)
I have one of each, next door to each other, right across the street. Didn’t find out through a registry though, so I don’t know how much good that would have done me.
The pedophile was outed by a local paper; the first I knew of the meth lab (although it was quite obvious that they were scum) was the police raid and the white drug lab van parked out front.
No, I don’t let my kids play across the street.
“Sex offender” covers a lot of territory, from people convicted of urinating in public (indecent exposure) to homicidal sexual predators.
I agree with a couple of others. “Sex Offender” covers a broad variety of offenses, some of which I might not consider to be much of a threat. There’s also a chance (and I don’t intend to start a debate about this – I’m just stating a hypothetical) that the sex offender is reformed.
A meth dealer is much more likely to be a threat to me and my property physically should he or she go back into business, and even if there has been reform, the former dealer is still likely to associate with other people who were part of that lifestyle. I’d prefer to know if my neighborhood is suddenly going to be visited by that quality of individual.
Having said all that, my initial instict is the same as Autumn Almanac’s, which is to say I don’t really like those types of registries to begin with.
The meth dealer or any other drug dealer for that matter. I’d be more concerned by a drug dealer living near me than the sex offender.
A sex offender may blow the neighbors, a meth dealer may blow up the neighborhood.
I know meth labs can be hazardous, but are they really this dangerous re exploding and setting things on fire-wise?
Yes, a meth lab can sure blow you the hell up. I went to college in the meth capital of texas and more than once I heard about a meth lab blowing up an entire house (or van or whatever location they were making meth in) and sometimes meth dealers are geniuses and sit in the bathtub with a tray over the tub and mix it while they are underneath all of the possibly exploding drugs. I would much rather live next door to a sex offender. They are the less deadly of the two options.
Exactly.
Last time, i checked, i had about 80-90 sex offenders in my zip code. Some were, according to the registry, violent offenders, but others were not. I think that these registries, if they’re to be any use and not simply vigilante fodder, need to list only people who can reasonably be considered a danger to others.
Urinating in public, statutory rape between an 18 year-old and a consenting 17 year-old, and stuff like that, don’t really cut it in my book.
And meth labs are dangerous, even ignoring the use of the drug itself. Just making the stuff is a fire and explosion hazard, as others have already said.
Even if they avoid blowing up the neighbourhood, the chemicals that are used to make make meth are also toxic and carcinogenic - and the cooks are not usually careful about how they manage their chemicals. They tip the acid waste down the drain and contaminate stormwater systems. Many meth lab houses actually have to be totally destroyed because they are so contaminated.
So I would not want to live next to one. And I would want to know if I did.
Si
That is my concern - there is a big problem with meth makers polluting the groundwater near where our cabin is in Alabama. They just dump the toxic by-products out on the ground.
Neither.
I believe in giving people a fair shot at a second chance. While there are some evil wastes of flesh around, any people who honestly want to have a normal life after doing their time have to face a lifetime of social opprobrium from these stupid registries. They were punished already by being convicted of a crime and going to prison. The extra-legal punishment from being publically pilloried is pretty sickening, IMO.
Tell you what, why don’t we just force them to sew M for child molester and T for tweaker on their clothes so that everyone who meets them knows what horrible crimes they’ve committed? Red thread should do nicely, I think.
Eh. Meth cookers (and a rather high percentage of meth dealers cook their own product) are dangerous to people around them. A meth lab is flat-out dangerous - it’s easy for one to explode, or cause a major house fire (that could well spread). They produce dangerous fumes - carcinogenic and toxic. Meth cookers aren’t known for their safe disposal practices when it comes to waste and byproducts either. If my neighbor were inclined to cook, I’d damn well want to know - same as I’d want to know if my neighbor had a history of setting up targets in his backyard and having target practice with his weapons. It’s a danger to the neighborhood.
Meth. Meth production is toxic and has neurological consequences for people sharing walls, etc.; meth distribution brings guns, customers, irate customers, toxic trash, and runners into the community; meth distribution brings a stream of strangers into the pixture who are hard to track. One sex offender is easier to manage (and, as others have mentioned, “sex offender” is a broad category that may be irrelevant to my community and/or may not have resulted from a crime against persons.
Agree that the laws should be changed to differentiate between someone taking a piss behind a dumpster and someone who molests toddlers.