NY: Sex offenders who are not sex offenders
The Guardian has the story of Equan Yunus. Currently living as a “sex offender” in New York, subject to the same laws, restrictions and public shaming as other sex offenders, except that his offense has nothing to do with a sex offense.
In New York and several other states, the long laundry list of criminal offenses that require registration as a “sex offender” has been expanded to include crimes which are not sexual in nature. In Yunus’ case, he was involved in the drug trade and kidnapped the son of another drug dealer, for ransom. Granted, a heinous crime in and of itself, but not a sex offense. So some of the rules and restrictions he is living under are a bit illogical.
And they are illogical from the perspective of the public as well. If communities are supposed to have a public list to be used as a tool to identify “potential” sexual assaulters, wouldn’t it make sense if the list contained sex offenders and not “sex offenders and others”?
The story describes Yunus’ life as follows: “The regulations control virtually everything he does, from where he resides, to his job, when he goes to sleep, when he wakes up, where he travels, how and with whom he communicates, what media he consumes. They even govern the intimate conversations he has with his girlfriend.” Maybe the harsh conditions he lives under are just punishment for his crime? But the thing is; registration is not supposed to be punishment and Yunus already did more than a decade and a half in prison as his punishment. Why this?
A lawsuit brought by his attorneys, challenge Yunus’ placement on the NY sex offender registry.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
unfugkingbelievable !!!
I have a good friend right now who is in the same situation. In Michigan, if you are convicted of kidnapping someone under the age of 18, you get placed on the registry, even without any sexual conduct. Even worse in his case is that he was convicted before Michigan had a registry. He is hoping that the State revamps its law to comply with the ruling in Does v Snyder which bars retroactive changes in the registry law. However, for now, he is living under those rules, and branded a pedophile. Makes it difficult to respect authority when they treat you so unfairly.
Not surprising. Georgia crossed this issue about 10 years ago, give or take. Don’t remember all the details, but the argument was that the registry should be limited to actual sex offenses and the state supreme court pretty much shrugged and said something like “we can’t require the legislature have a perfect system.”
They just want the registry to be as big as possible. Before too long, the registry will include anyone that’s ever had sex at any point in their lives.