True Confessions – From a RSO POV
By: JEV
In a recent speech by Hillary Clinton, she spoke of both the Immigrants in America as well as Women in the Workplace as being treated as Second Class Citizens.
What is interesting here is that just after Megan’s Law went into effect in a Major speech President Bill Clinton stated that Sex Offenders were now to be treated as Second Class Citizens! So just who is defining this term?
Well you already know the penalties of being convicted of a Felony and RSO’s most certainly know the continued punishment even after the Courts have handed out Sentencing and the Provisions thereof within State Laws and City Ordinances and our constant hounding to remain compliant. And the fact media hysteria and always the potential for vigilante violence against us. But does all this really make us a Second Class Citizen?
I say no. My reasoning stems on the fact our basic Freedom’s and Constitutional Rights override any single Governmental entity that wants to herd us into a corner and take away our Civil Liberties. Yes, even the RSO that has been condemned to a life of misery should still be treated as a Human being and given the chance to change.
In a; “The whole world is against us” lifestyle situation this seems to be a impossibility, your opportunities for decent employment, the chance to have a Family your Social Network destroyed. How real are my chances of becoming a model citizen in my Community and getting back to where I once was prior to my crime?
I say the chances are whole lot better than what Society deems “Monsters that cannot be Rehabilitated”. It becomes a matter of rising above the Witch Hunt fabricated mainly by corrupt Politicians wanting to make big names for themselves by introducing new Sex Offender Laws that are written and built on fictious self-made statistics regarding recidivism.
Although I cannot speak here of every crime, case and situation I can however say that there is a nuance of The Sex Offender being treated in horrible ways that don’t fit the crimes the majority of us have committed. Therefore without the politics of being put in different tiered groups or being categorically speaking a Predator, a Offender or otherwise the opportunity to rise above this unequal and unfair balance should be enough to make change within ourselves.
However terribly you may feel inside and the undoable imprint that Society has put upon us does not equate whom we really are
Lets face facts; Society wants us to change. Once that happens we all have a tendency to forget quickly mistakes we have made in life. So I conclude regardless of our status of being a RSO, the hope and reassurance of who we are as Human Beings remains the overriding factor, not a label Society has put upon us!
For myself I do not feel like a Second Class Citizen and will continue to be outspoken about the uncaring acts against my personality by a misinformed Society. Although each day is a struggle, my positive changes are based on firstly Compliance of all the Laws in my State and doing what I can do to advocate Reform so we can live the remainder of our Lives as Citizens with no Class acknowledgment.
Next Topic: “Overcoming Hostility”
Disclaimer: JEV is currently a Florida based RSO. These are personal viewpoints and are not be used as Legal information in any Court of Law. “True Confessions” is a column designed to give out constructed information as well as criticism in the fight for reformation of Sex Offender Laws.
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