“Registered Family”
In a comment on another post someone used the term “Registered Family” and I thought it was very appropriate.
We are not just persons required to register, we are families required to register!
If you share a home with someone on the registry, the police regularly show up at your doorstep, the car you drive is registered, you cannot decorate your home on the holidays, you clean up the vandalism and the neighbors give you the same dirty looks.
If you are the child of someone on the registry, you are the one that gets bullied and shamed in school, you are the one that doesn’t have birthday parties or sleep overs, you are the one whose father (or mother) can never come to your games, plays or graduations.
If you are the spouse of a person required to register you need to carry the finances because your partner will be chronically unemployed or under-employed, you need to cover most if the parenting because your spouse can’t go to schools, parks, theme parks or other places your children will want to go, you will be banned from living in most areas on your city, you can’t travel to the places you want (or you will need to go alone) and you need to worry about aging because most assisted living facilities won’t take your husband.
If you are the employer, clergy or even just a friend of a person required to register you will suffer the scorn of merely associating with them or allowing them into your business, congregation or life. The registry does not only punish the registrant, it punishes everyone in their life.
We are not just persons required to register, we are families required to register!
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Aloha,
It is very interesting in reading about how we are affected in other states other than the one we live in. Obviously I live in Hawaii and was sentenced to time and probation which has all been well in the past. I also had to register and the law here states that if you are a tier 1 offender than you are on it for 10 years, (which is the end of this year) than I may request to be removed from the states registry in a civil hearing. Except when I inquired about it the courts say it’s a criminal hearing and it is basically asking for a pardon. (which would be absolutely impossible to get not because of the crime!!)
So instead of me going to a civil hearing, I would have to retain an attorney ($$,$$$$) with no guarantees and would have so much publicity that it would remind everyone here what happened over 12 years ago. Curious to hear what you would do???
I have all those same issues as far as family, friends,employment, travel and housing.
We just have to remain strong in our faith that we are people that made a mistake and deserve a second chance, just like anyone else that makes a mistake.
Aloha & God Bless
If it’s a criminal hearing, then wouldn’t the registry be a punishment for a crime in your state?
If that’s the case, ex post facto would apply in your state.
Nice post. 🙂 RC’s and RF’s. No SO’s
Jim
To be honest politicians don’t give a damn about your family because to show sympathy for them wouldn’t get them any votes. They would just say if you don’t like it you should not have done the crime. That’s there way out of any conversation about it and so they feel justified in anything they do and have lots of support.
I want implying the politicians would care about our families. I was starting that the courts would hopefully see that the families have committed no crimes yet their civil rights are being trampled on. Wouldn’t a court or jury be sympathetic to a 16 year old having to have their car and address registered because of something someone else did? What about the wife? What rationale could they possibly come up with. They did nothing wrong. The wife loves her husband and making that choice is not a crime. The child has absolutely NO control. They didn’t make any choice yet they must live in a house where they are in more danger than other children because of the possibility of vigilantes. If a child is EVER harmed in an attack on a registered persons property, you can be assured these laws will start tumbling. But it should not require that such a graphic event happen to fix stupid laws. I believe if an attorney paraded women and children that have committed no crime in front of a jury, there would be damages awarded and those lawyers would get paid.
You know I’ve been released from my convicting state and I have yet see where any of this pertains to help us all I see is a state that is doing what they want and getting away with it oh yeah if we had a $100000 dollars we be off in a min. Well I can’t get my contractor license cause I’m a sexoffender but yet my state realized I was not required to register so they released me but I won’t go into it I have a state that says check the conviction state and when you do it don’t come up with anything so all of this family have to register well I lost everything and nothing to live for I’m sick of having to go up there twice a year and I can’t nor do this no more. I also have asked the smart office if they are setting forth the guidelines how come this is not uniform? Don’t we live in the United States then shouldn’t the laws all be united. Hell I can’t vote nor do a damm thing so hear is what I say I will not endure another year of punishment for the same crime that happened in 1998 so rest assured that I will go out with bang
This is why I chose to live separately from my family to not bring the shame on them.
Maybe if all the families were to come together and approach Morgan & Morgan to do a class action against the government for civil rights violations, they would be interested. Morgan&Morgan don’t seem to be interested in us registrants, but maybe protecting wives and children would be something they’d be interested in.
If they won, it could only help or cause.