# sexual offenders **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 29, 2000, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986 "2000-06-29T07:30:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/1 "2000-06-29T07:30:38Z")
Some places make you register if you are a convicted child molester. I recall a pamphlet being handed out to residents of my old neighborhood stating that a former molester had moved in and it was distributed around the schools. My question: if someone is a former child molester, should they be made known to the nieghborhood that he or she lives in? Is it a fair warnign to parents or a violation of the former criminals rights? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/2 "2000-06-29T07:51:50Z")
This is already taken care of by ‘Megans Law’. Quote: The Federal “Megan’s Law” In 1996 the United States Congress enacted a federal version of Megan’s Law as an additional section of the federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. 1407(d). The federal Megan’s Law directs the Attorney General to issue guidelines that require states to enact registration programs for convicted sex offenders as a condition of continued receipt of federal funding. The federal Megan’s Law obligates states to require prison officials or courts to inform convicted sex offenders of their obligation to register with state law enforcement authorities and to re-register if they move to another state. The state agencies in turn are to inform local law enforcement authorities, typically the local police department, of convicted sex offenders who reside in their jurisdiction. The state law enforcement agencies are also required to inform the FBI about the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/3 "2000-06-29T20:46:30Z")
Is it fair to the criminal? I in no way take away from the horror of molestation, but shouldn’t parents be looking out for their children anyway? If one in three women is raped (no cite, just the common number), what about convicted rapists being publicized? As a woman, I am always aware that rape is a possibility, and I would assume my children are at risk of molestation also. What about a convicted pedophile who is legitimately trying to live his/her life after serving time? ---
**Author:** ![Tymp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Tymp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tymp)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/4 "2000-06-29T21:03:55Z")
Perhaps if I knew absolutely everything about every one of my neighbors’ behavioral histories, I could calculate a life style for myself that would be perfectly safe from their interference. That’s not practical just yet. How about if we tag convicts before they are released. They could wear permanent marks that every one could see for the rest of their lives. Then we’d know to shy away from them. Then, again, some crimes are viler than others, right? How about if we tag them with transmitters so that when one of them gets near us, we can get a complete read out of their criminal history on our palmtops? How ‘bout we just keep them in jail until society deems them safe to welcome back? We have prisons for separating criminals form the rest of society. Why don’t we use them for their intended purpose? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/5 "2000-06-29T21:15:53Z")
Once a criminal has “paid his debt to society” and served out his sentance, it would be double jeopardy to mark them in some way. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/6 "2000-06-30T03:39:58Z")
It was ruled consitutional by the courts: convictions are a matter of public record. The police in that area are going to make sure that there would be no vigilante justice. It was done because it is acknowledged that there is no cure for one who is prone to doing such acts. There are drugs to help control the urges, but the ex-felon must contribute by showing self-control. ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/7 "2000-06-30T05:01:07Z")
While I respect parents rights to protect their children from harm, I think that branding a criminal with a permanant mark that follows them from city to city is no way to run a free society. Yes, there may be no cure for certain types of sexual dysfunction, assuming that all people convicted of a sex crimes are guaranteed repeat offenders perhaps goes to far. I have no problem with forcing sexual offenders to register with the local police department, and keeping confidential records of past offenders in the area. However, going around from door to door handing out pamphlets comes very close to government sanctioned harrassment of these men and women. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/8 "2000-06-30T20:49:28Z")
This subject has been hotly debated in my town since a convicted child molester-murderer moved in. This man molestated four teen-age boys and killed two (one by burying him alive). First of all, WHY IS THIS MAN ON THE STREET? How can you pay your debt to society for something so hideous. I believe that you have to right to know about convicted child sex offenders. We have to protect our children. Nobody to my knowledge has bothered this man. We are just aware of him. He did move into a town where everybody knows everybody’s business. This was the topic of a Geraldo show. Geraldo said he was not permitted to say the name of the town as per court order. The head of the group notifying people said the name of the town 7 times in his opening statement! It also made the cover the the New York Times Sunday magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-offenders/23986/9 "2000-06-30T21:24:31Z")
The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed the Jacob-Wetterling Act (“Megan’s Law”) on the grounds that it neither adequately protects children from molestation nor adequately protects the rights of rehabilitated former offenders. Here’s an excerpt from [a 1999 article](http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/w011999b.html): > [@](#): > > Notification laws will not prevent sex offenders from committing crimes, the ACLU said but rather will victimize rehabilitated ex-offenders and their families. Those in stable environments have the highest likelihood of staying out of trouble. Attacking the family unit by publicizing this information will only make ex-offenders more likely to reoffend. > > Public disclosure of sex offenders can also lead to dangerous vigilantism against ex-offenders and their families. In January of 1997, a California ex-offender’s car was fire-bombed after his name was released. In New Jersey, community members beat a man they believed to be a paroled sex offender. Another individual fired shots into the house of a listed sex offender, nearly hitting his landlord who lived in the apartment above. In Washington State and New Jersey, ex-offenders’ homes were destroyed by arson after their names were released. > > The vast majority of sex offenses, the ACLU has pointed out, take place in the home, by family members or friends, and most of these offenses go unreported. The only thing that will protect children from sex offenders is adequate parental supervision and educating children on how to identify inappropriate behavior and where to get help. What I find most alarming is the fact that a number of people now on the official “sex offenders” lists were convicted of criminal offenses that didn’t involve molestation or children at all, such as consensual sodomy. [A 1997 article](http://www.aclu.org/news/n090997b.html) on this aspect of the Act reported: “In California, a 90-year-old Orange County man, who is now married, is being added to a sexual offender list because of a lewd conduct conviction for touching the knee of another man in a parked car. The incident occurred in 1944.” Yikes. I sympathize with **Annie** ’s concern for children’s well-being, but it seems pretty clear to me that maintaining and publishing sex offender lists is going to get people harassed, and maybe killed, who pose no threat to anyone, and will be of very little use in actually protecting children.