More churches are checking the national sex offender registry. Is it helping?
Earlier this year, LifeWay reported that 16,000 congregations and other church organizations ran background checks on men and women it hired through a service called backgroundchecks.com. (The Southern Baptist Convention has so far resisted calls to set up a database of its own, saying the national registry was more dependable.)
Other denominations are also increasingly using searchable databases on prospective employees as the #churchtoo movement begins to shift church attitudes toward sexual abuse and prevention.
Most background checks sift through more than 600 million felony, misdemeanor and traffic records. Perhaps most importantly, they also check the nationwide sex offender registry.
But that may give churches and other religious groups a false sense of security about preventing abuse, experts say.
Elizabeth L. Jeglic, a professor of psychology John Jay College, City University of New York, who studies sex offender registries, said such cases are pretty rare. Only 5% of people on the sex offender registry are repeat offenders, according to a recent study in New York state. The vast majority are first-time sex offenders.
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MJ, Bob, JZ, and others, your help for my husband and me has been tremendous. It has taken me 3 years to find you guys, and I cannot thank you enough. I covet your advice and will see where it leads.
Sarah, my desire is to help you and your husband ease into this ‘fouled up’ system as painlessly as possible. I’m sure that is the desire of all. It’s a ‘game’ and once you learn the ‘rules’ it can be a lot less painful. It may be tough at times, but helping the probation officer build confidence in your husband is important. I used to say that if all the folks my probation officer was monitoring was like me, he/she would not have a reason to come to work.
Good luck to you and your husband!
I don’t disagree with most of the comments, but I think many are missing an obvious misinterpretation of facts. Elizabeth Jeglic especially ,who people are look to because she is a professor. She has the facts 5% of those on the registry reoffend yet like an idiot has determined that that’s because too many like Epstein are getting away with murder. She must be professor with a degree from stupidville. She thinks the solution is more background checks , in other words more people on the registry to make up the other 95%. Is that what we really want to solve a problem . Is a bigger sor base really the solution? Or would it be better to cut the ones on the list down to those that are a danger to someone. And she is the ones that we have hired to teach our kids. No wonder things are like they are.
Dear David M, thanks for pointing out her misgivings. We here all know that the registries are filled with people who are not threats (especially the deceased ones still punished on the registries). I for one have proof from a renound psychiatrist who practices in sexual deviance and concludes I have none. Put simply, I’m proven to be normal in his words. Yet, I’m still on the Florida registry without any due process to be removed.
Bill, prior to my early release from probation I went through an extensive evaluation. The outcome was that there was less a chance of my committing a sexual offense than the man on the street who had never committed an offense. Yet, I am still on the Florida registry and as a 29 year vet still cannot vote. Of course I still get letters and calls from Republican organizations wanting my donation. Good luck on that one!
I think they should re-read their Bible before they do that.
B.Webb, I believe that many of our churches are reading the Bible and applying it exactly like many of our legislators are reading and applying the Constitution. Too many churches have morphed into businesses and are more interested in their business interests than their moral mission. They take their direction from lawyers vice God.
Capt– you are so right. So true.