Changes needed in sex offender registry rules
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a rare spate of high-profile child abductions and murders, mostly sexual in nature, terrified America. With constant media coverage, parents across the country were easily led to believe that their children could be in imminent danger. As demands from the public, as well as a few prominent parents of missing or murdered children escalated, legislatures responded, and the sex offender registry was born.
This primal need to protect our children from any possible harm resonates in us all. Human logic supports instincts – if we identify and track those who have committed these crimes, we can better protect those we love. False information surrounding the risk of re-offense by the perpetrators only increased the willingness to do anything to reduce that risk.
That was 30-plus years ago, and in those years the sex offender registration system has grown to the point that children as young as 9 can be registered, and teenagers having consensual sex and sexting can be registered. The rules, restrictions, and background checks often dictated by the registry can be onerous and destroy any rehabilitation initiatives and lifetime registration with no path off the registry destroys all hope for a better tomorrow.
Something else has happened in those 30 years. We now have a massive body of evidence showing that every premise upon which registration was built is false. It does not reduce sexual recidivism, neither violent nor nonviolent. It does not reduce first-time sex crimes. Furthermore, the purported high rate of re-offense is non-existent.
Finally, the American Law Institute is calling for changes. The institute is an independent organization of thousands of lawyers, judges, and scholars who published The Model Penal Code in 1962 to encourage the states to standardize their criminal codes. Even though it is not legally binding, it proved to be influential as a majority of states adopted it, either in part or in whole. Their current revision to the sex offender codes has taken nearly a decade to complete and is intended to guide the states in updating their laws based on the empirical knowledge we have gained since 1962.
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The registry has been a nightmare from it’s inception, as we all can attest. I find the lack of specific information particularly frustrating though. My situation is a Federal CP conviction. I lived in Florida at the time, but wasn’t arrested or investigated by the state. Went to Federal Prison (2002), completed all the “aftercare” and Supervised Release (2005). Now, I want to move to another state, but the rules for out of state registrants are confusing at best. I am willing to go just about anywhere to get off this ridiculousness. Most of the resources I have found list the out of state registrant requirements if any, but am I subject to Floriduh or Federal?
The Florida Registry Failed Again:
https://www.wesh.com/article/teen-sexually-battered-security-guard-ocala-movie-theater/42557095
The Registry should just be abolished. I do not see this happening. Most changes thus far have been for the worst. You have to realize that the registry has created a lot of government and law enforcement jobs. The fines they collect for their stupid violation of requirements, such as vehicle registration which this information they already have access to through their computers in their vehicles. Any more this pretty much public knowledge. You can go into any auto parts store and give them a license plate number or vin number and they can pull up all the info on that vehicle. The registry is all about money and jobs, it has nothing to do with protecting the children. The government has limited ways to create jobs, and even more limited in the way the manage these jobs. Of course I still hope for a miracle.
Changes don’t need to be made. The registry needs to be abolished. Period.
Exactly right. People think big government is capable of fixing their illegal, idiotic mess?
The Registries, and especially the idiotic laws/restrictions/harassment/extras that they have enabled and promoted, are a GIANT pile of feces. There is no fixing that pile. “Changes” are just pushing the feces around into different shapes. It will always be feces.
@Dustin
100% correct.
The registry must be abolished! No carve out. If anyone thinks differently, you’re wrong.
WV Registry Has Failed: New child abuse data shows INCREASE in reported cases to advocacy centers
https://wchstv.com/amp/news/local/new-child-abuse-data-shows-increase-in-reported-cases-to-advocacy-centers
I wholeheartedly agree with the premise of abolishing the registry.
That said, I would love a nomadic lifestyle but the registry makes that difficult at best. I have no electronic restrictions. Wouldn’t it be nice at least for me if I could just send a lat and long to a respective body that needs my location? On cannot reasonably see into the future enough to assume the spot you were thinking about occupying will be available when you get done with registering. An app would do that and no I dont have the technical know how to pull that off.
Complete abolishment would be better though.
Just putting it out there because one never knows. 😎🏕