Clip from recent episode of Dr. Phil says registries don’t keep public safe
This clip from a recently aired episode of Dr. Phil features Michigan Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who answers the questions of whether the sex offender registry keeps us safe. It does not. After pointing out that we are approaching one million people on US Sex Offender Registries, Judge Aquilina points out that the registry is so saturated it becomes blinding to most people and to law enforcement. It gives people a false sense of security, while so saturated with names, it’s useless in determining who is dangerous and who is not.
@drphil We’ve all been told the Sex Offender Registry keeps us safe. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina says that’s not true. Law enforcement can’t keep up. And no one can even say how many offenders are reoffending.
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She is the one who boasted of signing Larry Nassar’s death warrant and had said she wanted to sentence him to repeated rapes. She is part of the problem.
I can’t imagine that another judge would have reacted much differently— notice how Larry didn’t show much remorse for his years long spree of serious crimes.
So you’re fine with people saying he should be sentenced to repeated rapes and boasting of signing his death warrant?
She did not sign a death warrant. She sentenced him to life in prison. Not sure what you’re referring to by repeated rapes.
Don’t know why my comment got deleted. I didn’t say anything off topic or derogatory but ok 🤷
I am 77 and got arrested in 1993 and been on registry since 94 , went to court 2 times and got turned down , and the last time I talked to my lawyer he said the way Florida is I may not get off the registry because the age of the victim ,
While Judge Aquilina did say registries don’t keep people safe, her reasoning was all wrong. The registry doesn’t provide safety because it is overpopulated. It’s because it’s over-policing a population that isn’t committing sex crimes. Public notification and all the obligations and restrictions have absolutely nothing to do with sex crime prevention.
Registrants are routinely arrested for registry violations, inadvertently more often than not. Registry violation arrests have also been due to misunderstanding and indifference of law enforcement officers. But even when a registry violation is deliberate, it’s usually to keep a residence or job. I’ve seen a few stories where a person dodged registration for months or years, yet were never implicated or suspected of another sex crime while absconding. Not to mention that the very few registrants who do recidivate are always totally, completely, 100% registry compliant.
In summary, the registry is the epitome of government waste. It doesn’t accomplish anything it was established to do. It doesn’t prevent sex crime. It doesn’t affect recidivism. It doesn’t provide anything to law enforcement investigations (less registry violations) that couldn’t be discovered through routine detective work and has, in fact, hindered case closures when used as advertised. And all for an 8-figure price tag that does nothing but increase every year.
I agree Dustin, you could throw 10X or 100X the $$$ into registry monitoring, enforcement, etc. and you still will have sex offenses. Florida is a perfect example. Florida is seemingly the most aggressive police state in the nation, and yet we hear of sex based crimes happening out of Florida all the time. A small fraction of these are recidivists who are on a sex offender registry.
The registry is a useless endeavor, if you want to stop sex crimes. If, however, you want to control, shame, dehumanize, and terrorize a disfavored population of people, then the registry is the perfect tool.
This clip is only a truth with a bad,bad twist,
It is true that registries don’t keep people safe.
It is also true that only about 5% ever re-offend-a fact she not only leaves out, but she makes it seem that compiled data cannot be trusted because everyone cannot be accurately accounted for( which is a ‘half-truth), and therefore everyone should throw empirical data and recidivism statistics to the wind as though they mean nothing, and THAT kind of mindset is dangerous!!!!
There is no ‘good’ side about this clip, and it would have been better if it was never made.
A good point, and one that I intended to address when I wrote my other post.
Judge Aquilina’s claim to fame is from being the judge that presided over the Larry Nassar case. That she appears of the mindset that all registrants are out assaulting everyone they come across and cannot be tracked due to their sheer numbers is not surprising. I would be surprised if she gave any weight to the data we are all familiar with regarding recidivism and whatnot, even in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
If people only took a second to rationalize through these statements being made, it would be obvious to all that there is malicious intent behind their words.
If we are all out assaulting innocent people, at 1,000,000 plus registrants there would be complete and total societal collapse. Hopefully smart people out there can smell this for what it really is.
Anonymous
They would simply rationalize that the registry is working and that it is the ONLY thing keeping us from offending every single day of our lives. The registry must be some sort of secret force field, like as soon as they would allow us off the registry there would be nationwide mayhem. LOL
Funny but not funny at the same time, depending on what side of the issue you are on.
And yet, as I said above, when a registrant is arrested for another actual sex crime (very seldom), there is never a concurrent registry violation charged with the new offense.
I’ve heard the argument that DAs simply might not charge a registry violation in the case of a recidivating registrant, but nothing short of sledgehammer induced hypnosis will persuade me of that. Registry violations are felonies (despite the registry being “civil”) and DAs live for as many felony convictions as they can get, facts and circumstances be damned.
I’m 74, and just celebrated 25 years on the registry. My offense was 1 count of child pornography. I’d love to apply for removal, but from what I’ve heard, that’s simply not an option for any of us. Apparently, the registry is a cash cow for many municipalities, so reducing the size of their piece of the pie makes no financial sense for them.
I live alone in my home, a 3/2. I never wanted roommates, as it never has a happy ending. Otherwise, I considered renting to two registered people. But with a registry that most people don’t review very well, they don’t see how many years a person’s been on the registry. Who knows if they bother looking at the offense either. My neighbors have accepted me for over 8 years. But imagine if I made my home a safe house for a bunch of registrants. We’d be tarred and feathered in no time!
If it’s been 25 years without an arrest since you’ve been released from all sanctions relating to the registry, you can petition for removal.
They won’t allow me off and who knows if I will live to 76 years old.