If It’s “Not Punishment,” Then What’s $1.5 Million For?
For years, the government has insisted that being labeled a “sex offender” is not punishment. Courts have echoed it. Legislatures rely on it. The label, we’re told, is merely “civil,” a regulatory measure with no punitive effect.
Then along comes the case of Ashley MacIsaac…
MacIsaac, a well-known musician, recently found himself on the receiving end of a little technological hiccup when Google’s AI decided out of thin air that he was a registered sex offender. Out there in public. A declaration served up to anyone who searched his name online.
No big deal, right? After all, we’ve been assured that label doesn’t actually hurt anyone. It’s not punitive.
Except, strangely, his concert got canceled. His reputation took a hit. He reported concerns for his personal safety. And now he’s suing Google for $1.5 million. Which is interesting. Because if the label carries no stigma… if it’s not punitive… if it doesn’t affect a person’s standing in the community… if it doesn’t cost them their job… then what exactly is that $1.5 million supposed to compensate? A mild inconvenience? A clerical annoyance? Perhaps the emotional distress of being slightly misunderstood?
Let’s be serious!
In the real world — the one outside of court opinions and legislative talking points — being labeled a sex offender is about as far from “non-punitive” as it gets. It changes how people see you instantly. It affects your job, your housing, your relationships, your safety. But here’s where it gets interesting.
When someone like MacIsaac — someone not on any registry — is falsely labeled, everyone suddenly understands the gravity of it. The damage is obvious. The outrage is justified. The legal system recognizes it as the kind of harm worthy of a seven-figure lawsuit. Yet when the government applies that same label to hundreds of thousands of people and without any individualized risk assessment and sometimes decades after the offense took place, we’re told — straight-faced — that it’s not punishment. That it’s just an administrative tool for public safety.
So which is it? Because it can’t be both. Either the label is devastating, which is why MacIsaac is in court demanding big compensation, or it’s harmless. Of course, we all know the answer. The harm is real. It’s immediate. And it’s severe.
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The filing claims the musician is suing Google for $500,000 in general damages, $500,000 in aggravated damages and $500,000 in punitive damages. Should he win the punitive damage clause, certainly this would seem to set a precedence that is in in fact “punitive”. More than likely they will settle out of court.
Is the nomenclature label punishment or is the registry punishment? For years, it has been argued the registry itself is the punishing factor because society cannot be held accountable for their actions using it and the courts cannot be held accountable as a third party providing the public information to the public to use as they wish.
Do murderers find their label punishing as a PFR does with sex offender? Maybe a murderer should be called a life offender? The convicted life offender does not have to register (maybe they should), but the label does not go away upon release, whether murderer or life offender.
If there was no registry, would the nomenclature label still be present for those who have been convicted of a sex offense? I believe so given the sex offender nomenclature is well ingrained within society and given the way a murderer is labeled, it wouldn’t go away. The gent above suffered that indignation just by the title without ever registering. It is not a punishment as much as it is a consequence of the title w/o the bestowing of the title by the registry (which is a punishment).
Why write this? To get the impact straight in society as to what is the punishment and what is a label bestowed by others.