Reason.com: Writing Sex Offender Laws Based on Fake Recidivism Numbers Is Rational, Court Says
Last week the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a state law banning sex offenders from public parks, overturning a 2017 appeals court ruling that deemed the statute “unconstitutional on its face because it bears no reasonable relationship to protecting the public.” The seven members of the higher court unanimously disagreed, saying, “We conclude that there is a rational relation between protecting the public, particularly children, from sex offenders and prohibiting sex offenders who have been convicted of crimes against minors from being present in public parks across the state.”
In reaching that conclusion, the justices relied on alarming claims about recidivism among sex offenders, even while acknowledging that the claims have been discredited. The decision, written by Justice Mary Jane Theis, shows how fear overrides logic in dealing with sex offenders and how toothless “rational basis” review can be, allowing legislators not only to draw their own judgments but to invent their own facts.
Disgusting!
One of the worst parts about such laws is that local and state governments can label almost any public property a “park,” and thus keep sex offenders from using them, even though their taxes build and maintain them. The sex offenders with children aren’t even allowed to be there to protect their own kids. Doesn’t stop drug dealers from preying on kids in the parks though. Those are the offenders with high recidivism rates.
Gerald Trudell – sorry if it seems I am picking on you but I am a teacher and certain things about posts glare at me. Yes drug traffickers have a semi high recidivism rate – that being said there is absolutely no evidence that they are doing their business by going to parks and preying on children. The scary drug dealer hiding in the bushes to prey on children is a fear mongering tactic that was used back in the day to launch the War on Drugs. The same tactic was used to launch the new War on Sex. It is based on bogus information. In addition, the War on Sex has morphed into a War on Men – for instance, if a man goes to a park alone it is immediately considered suspicious – as though men do not enjoy solitary recreation – how absurd!
Hi Karen. I wasn’t speaking about little kids. The drug dealers look for parks where teens hang out together, and peddle their wares to them. Happened when I was a teen in the 70’s. I still see it happening today. Had a friend last year who told me that’s where he buys drugs, at the park in the center of town. And he’s in his 50’s. Kids are in that same park all day. I don’t use illegal drugs, but I went down to that park to see it for myself. Families watching softball games, kids playing, and drug dealers in the parking lot. Police catch a few, but there are always more to take their place. They concentrate on young buyers whenever they can, because those are less likely to be undercover police. I hate it too, but I will not live in denial about what is happening there. Every kid on drugs got them somewhere up the line from an adult. And with the epidemic of drug overdosing going on now, the danger to kids is sky high. Ask any emergency room doctor. I didn’t want to get off topic into another area like this Karen, but you are simply wrong. Unfortunately, the response from legislators will be to increase penalties for drug offenses, while still insisting that convicted sex offenders don’t belong in society. No one seems to care what the real evidence shows, although federal courts are beginning to see how onerous the sex offender registries truly are. Hopefully they will continue in that direction. Can’t trust the politicians to make the right changes.
I do not doubt that there are parks in some places where people do the drug deals – in FL at one time there was a problem in rest stops – but those were few and far between. The point being that neither problem (RSOs in parks or drug dealers) is so rampant that it warrants barring any group of people. In my experience those that buy drugs go to find them – either from a dealer or at the place where it is known that the dealers gather. Very rarely will a person dealing drugs approach an unknown person to peddle their wares. If the dealers did not gather in the parking lot of the park the teens (or whomever) would go to another spot to get the drugs. I guess I have just gotten to the point that I realize that most of what people assume to be true is actually just the opposite. Any many people base sweeping opinions and policies based on one incident or experience.
Also, just to let you know I teach sociology among other things. We do have a drug epidemic in our country but it is opiates. Not the choice of teenagers. I do not have the statistics on hand (but I can look) but I would venture to guess that more teens die from alcohol related incidents than illicit drugs. It is well known that the opiate crisis has been caused by doctors over prescribing opiates and people become addicted – then there is no real place for people to get help with the addiction when the doctor cuts them loose. They go for something on the street. That is the drug addiction problem in our country today. As a matter of fact, overall illicit drug use by teens has fallen in numbers over the last 2 decades.
https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
I am not exactly sure what you are saying I am wrong about so I can’t address that. However, I do not go for the tactic of Look they are worse than I am! We have lots of problems in this country that many other countries seem to handle quite well and with a humanitarian outlook.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/16/health/teen-overdose-death-rate/index.html
“Although stories of teens using drugs and overdosing appear often in headlines, the number of teens dying from overdose is quite small. In 2015, 772 drug overdose deaths were reported for the 15- to 19-year-old age group. That represents just 1.4% of the 52,404 people who died of drug overdoses that same year. More than 33,000 of those deaths were from opioids.”
How many of those were suicide related,? Which means they would probably have used something else if they couldn’t get opioids.
DavidM – good question and I am not sure – I would think that suicide by overdose would be a hard thing to track unless of course the empty pill bottle is there.
I agree with you Karen. These laws are based on scare tactics that have no basis in fact.
Will this be appealed to the United States Supreme Court?
It is being considered and is likely
Oh boy! I hope this gets appealed again! That is absolutely nuts! For a court to acknowledge that their decision is based on an emotion??/!!! Unbelievable!
The decision based on emotion undermines their very position in authority. That alone is a very good basis for appeal. I sincerely hope this makes it to SCOTUS. There are many, many case laws that have been remanded simply because the courts have made a decision based on emotion rather than fact.
Just when you think things are starting to turn around !!! . If a 30 YEAR OLD LIE can still have this much power, How long do you think it will take before things REALLY change for the GOOD ??. It’s so sad that 5he People we vote for and hire to “RUN THIS COUNTRY” is really SO DANG DUMB !!!!. Or These same people KNOW that studies have PROVEN THAT THE REOFFENCE RATE IS SUPER LOW, But CHOOSE to keep passing these Crazy Laws BECAUSE THEY CAN Because they LOVE to PUNISH people ! And HATE everyone that’s “Not in their click” !!!!!. Either way, This Country is Gone To Heck !!!!!!!.
Sadly here in the USA reality aka FACTS have very little to do with our legal system and yet fear and ignorance are praised but not really a surprise (American is a country based on religion after all).
This ruling simple confirms what I and others have said all along which is that the classification of “sex offender” was done to create a bogyman which can be exploited by government and law enforcement to manipulate the people with the most basic fear we have as a species – which is survival of offspring.
Parents and society as a whole are perfectly willing to suspend and ignore reality in face of this falsely created threat. Facts are not important and it is terrifying although oddly refreshing to hear the truth of these lies being admitted openly.
Find out more about this at SexOffenderTruth.com and enjoy the reality that most ignore.