Sex Offender Registrants Attacked
42 year-old Jason Vukovich, targeted and attacked three strangers, beating one man so badly with a hammer that he fractured his skull and knocked him unconscious.All because their names were on the state’s sex offender registry.
“We’re lucky we’re not dealing with a murder charge,” Assistant District Attorney Patrick McKay told the judge. “People do not get to take the law into their own hands just because they don’t like a particular group of people or a particular person.”
Unfortunately that’s what’s happening. deranged individuals who view themselves as “vigilantes” are using the sex offender registry as a hit list. As the Anchorage Daily News reported, “the men Vukovich singled out and attacked were complying with the law. They had gone through the court system, received their sentences and put their names on Alaska’s public sex offender registry, where Vukovich found their addresses.”It was not the purpose of the registry to allow people to do their own brand of justice,” the Judge told Vukovich. “The purpose of the registry was to keep the community safe.”
Sex Offender Registries Do Not Work
As more of these instances occur, we are realizing the registry does anything but that. It’s failing to keep the families of registrants safe.
Florida’s Sunshine Law gives anyone Public Access to RSO records as well as DOC information. I fought this several years ago with Google the main reciprocal of Sex Offender listings. Not only did I lose the argument, the FDLE became involved and treated myself as a agitator. The public does not read your case. They see a so called Monster and they automatically hate you. Yes, the cops want to hear if your rights have violated or worse you have been stalked and assaulted.. but. Here in Florida its so bad for the Registrant that investigations into Vigilantism is very rare if it involves a sex offender.. MEGAN’S. LAW in retrospect has become a Murderous Law!
JEV
What a diplorable individual. 23 years isn’t long enough. The people on the registry should only be known to law enforcement for the vigilante reason. Having that scarlet letter branded upon them publicly is detrimental to their safety.
It is tragic that three men were attacked in Alaska solely because they are required to register as sex offenders. The silver lining to this very dark cloud is the comment made by the assistant district attorney (ADA), “people do not get to take the law into their own hands just because they don’t like a particular group of people or a particular person.” In that comment, the ADA recognized that registrants are people, people who deserve to be protected.