A local Michigan news paper ran this story yesterday, which spoke about the state of Michigan’s sex offender registry and how out of date and inaccurate it is.
Essentially, since U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland declared parts of the State’s registry unconstitutional, Michigan has not been enforcing it. That means information on 44,000 people on their list has not been updated in months. Old information still appears online, new information has not been added. And things appear to be in limbo until their legislature can pass a law that will comply with the constitution. That’s something they have been working on for a long time with no resolution in sight. In the meantime, the people of Michigan are effectively without the registry.
The article talks about how terrible it is for people in Michigan to not have this tool, but don’t you think the real story should be what’s happened since? Have the instances of sexual assault skyrocketed? Have people on the registry used this as a hall pass to go out and commit crime? Have children started getting snatched off the sidewalks? Isn’t that the important information we should be looking at?
A few years back, when FAC’s president served on a task force in Palm Beach County, they were successful in rolling back the county residency restrictions to the state’s 1000 feet. And guess what happened? Nothing! Cutting the exclusion zone in half didn’t result in sex crimes doubling. In fact, in the years since, there’s been no remarkable change whatsoever.
Don’t you think, with all this ranting about the Michigan registry being out of date, the journalist should have investigated whether it’s had any impact? Isn’t that an essential part of the story?
Michigan registry held up indefinitely:
https://www.thealpenanews.com/news/local-news/2020/09/courts-stymied-as-sex-offender-laws-still-stalled/
One thing I appreciate about this article is its avoidance of the term “sex offenders” in favor of the more accurate “registrants.” It would have been better had they not relied on a single non-survivor to explain how it affects survivors.
Thank you Will Allen.
Point well taken. I am in my 60’s and all of my life we have referred to people who commit crimes as “sex offenders”. We don’t stop and think of the labels that we put on people. Like calling blacks “N”. The first American, Crispus Attucks”, who died for this country was either a free black or mixed race, partially black.
When people refer to Americans of African decent with a derogatory term, we erase all of the incredible sacrifices made by thousands of Americans who have fought for this country.
Those of my generation and the following generations have been raised to think of sex offenders as evil people. By placing a label on people, we deny that they can mature and change. The sex offender registry holds many people forever bound to mistakes made in their youth even if they have changed.
I am down to the last decade or so of my own life. Any change in my vocabulary at my age is difficult as well. Perhaps it’s too late to try to change the attitude of my children’s generation. But the younger generation is the future and perhaps we can keep from drilling the myth of the sex offender bogeyman into their heads so they are raised by reason, not fear.
The term registered citizen seems to be gaining in popularity. This is probably an accurate term and salient as politicians push for all of these other registries. Perhaps we should be pushing for “registrant” rights rather than “sex offender registrant” rights.
Here in Michigan we have the drunk driving registry, even though it’s not public. We also have a child abuse registry, whose access is limited to law enforcement, child care providers, etc. How long until these other registries become public due to the public’s “right to know”? And how many other lives will be destroyed?
Even if a person is not bothered by “compliance checks”, this is an extraordinary and unnecessary restraint on individual liberty. I think of my own life. I have traveled all over the U.S., Canada and Mexico on motorcycles. If I had been forced on some type of registry and forced to sit at home waiting to verify my residence and jump through all of these hoops, I would have been denied to live my life on my own terms. My heart goes out to all of the young people who have been denied the life that I have been so fortunate to live because they are tethered to a mistake they made in their youth.
Oakland County Michigan and the Attorney General Office severely tampered laws and literally kidnapped / defamed / extorted 100’s of actually INNOCENT men.
http://www.SpeakAgainstTheCharges.com EXPOSES the fraud BY the Court
Refer ANYONE arrested and prosecuted in an online sting op,,,they are 100% UNAuthorized,
1000s of unlawful prosecutions Statewide have occurred for 20 years
My question is have there been a spike in sexual crimes since all of this? (We all know the answer is no) You’re doing nothing but fearmongering, yet its quite comical since you don’t do the same for other crimes of violence such as murder. The most idiotic thing about the sex offender registry and SORNA in general is in no way can it stop sexual crimes.
One could register as ordered, then drive to another town and commit a crime and NO ONE would even know they were on a list because they wont know their face! The fact is the registry is useless, and people stop committing sexual crimes, because they learn about the damage it can cause to said victims, not to mention their own families and they don’t want to go t prison again!
Don’t freeze to death. Go to Restoration Community Outreach, 1205 Norman, Saginaw, Michigan, 48601 for emergency housing. You can stay for free up to 2 years.
The Michigan sex offender registry has been a mess for more than a decade. Many sex offenders found out it was easy to fall off of the radar by moving to Detroit. Enforcement is so sparse now, that many sex offenders outside of Detroit haven’t registered in years. The most important thing for registrants in Michigan to know is which cities and counties to avoid. Avoid Sterling Heights and Ann Arbor. You should also avoid Livingston and Oakland counties. Both cities are known for doing “compliance checks”. Both counties do compliance checks on occasion.
Sterling Heights is clearly the worst town in Michigan for registrants. By and large, compliance checks are rare for Michigan sex offenders. I have a friend who has been on the registry in Battle Creek since 1994. He says the police are incredibly nice, he’s usually in and out within 5 minutes when he does his registration and has yet to have the police show up at his door.
It’s probably better for all registrants to list which jurisdictions that are good and bad to live in. Why stay in a jurisdiction if you are being harassed by “compliance checks” and the police are rude. Concentrating registrants in cities that aren’t strict in enforcing registration will build up political clout for registrants. Look at Saginaw. Saginaw is such a good town for registrants, they now make up 1 1/2 % of the city’s population. That’s because the police leave them alone. You can complain about registration or move somewhere you are left alone.
Most of this post confuses me.
Why do so many of you insist on calling people who are listed on the Registries “sex offenders”? When you do that you are helping to support the propaganda that “sex offenders” are special people who deserve special harassment. It’s insane. How about call them “People Forced to Register (PFR)”?
And why are people so concerned or care about “compliance checks”? What the heck do these law enforcement people do that is so harmful? Point guns at your family? If they show up and want to see your face, BFD. Is that a big deal? And frankly, if they bother people so much, if everyone would stop allowing them to do whatever they like, they could be stopped. But most people are afraid to stand up for themselves. Personally, I’d recommend that PFRs live where law enforcement can’t get near them. You can do that on even as little as .25 acres of land.
The registry is a waist of tax payers money, It does nothing to protect anyone or has it ever prevented a crime. Politicians use it as a weapon against the citizens to hold them down . All it does is disabilitates those on it.
“As a mom or dad, you’re gonna wanna know those things.”
Just because you “want” to know, doesn’t mean you reserve the “right” to know!
Selfish idiots.
They obviously have no right to know. If they did, then I’d know about my new neighbor that shot his last neighbor. Or broke into his last neighbor’s home in the middle of the night to rob them and ended up “having” to beat the family nearly to death. Or the one who got drunk, drove home one afternoon, and “accidentally” ran over her neighbor’s child in her own yard and murdered her. Or got mad that his neighbor’s kid cut through his yard so he beat his face in with a shovel and permanently handicapped him. They have no right to know.
And as a dad, what I want is for those irresponsible moms and dads who “wanna know those things” to mind their own f’ing business for once and stop harassing other families. Big government isn’t providing me with a dossier on them. They don’t deserve one on me.
The media hates facts. They love click bait. No one wants to read about how the list of bad people really don’t do anything to protect them from sexual Violence. It’s a dog and pony show used for political gain. Always has been and always will be.
Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if the number of sexual abuse crimes committed by those on the registry were actually reduced during this time of registration suspension?
Nothing is happening with regard to increased crime because it was never about crime in the first place, it is and always will be about banishment from the community that does not want you living near them.
Someone in Michigan should look at the stats and see what the change is? Is there an increase? Doesn’t the FBI keep stats on this? Has this been in limbo long enough for data to be gathered. If the MI legislature does not act ….is this not a big enough issue or important enough. Advocate cutting off their Federal $ and see if they make it a priority.
Politicians do what benefits them. They are risk averse and if it does not benefit them to do something, they won’t. Bottom line, at the risk of loosing Federal $, what benefits them personally, loosing federal dollars or loosing their elected position.
Doing nothing, keeps the dollars coming in and not one of them has to risk their most honorable (my a**) job by making a decision that may be constitutionally illegal or perceived as soft on crime. Call for de-funding the Michigan SO registry. If its illegal and as we know, ineffective and unnecessary, its time to cut the fat from the fathead politicians. Austerity programs have a way of clearing the head.
MSM doesn’t care about relevance. If it bleeds it leads. “Dirty Laundry” will always be the perfect song to describe journalism for the past 40 years.