After years of panicked and excessively punitive lawmaking against sex offenders, cooler heads are beginning to prevail. The U.S. Supreme Court, for example, last week struck down a North Carolina law that effectively banned registered sex offenders from using any social media that is also accessible by children.
Lester Packingham did indeed commit a sex crime: He pleaded guilty in 2002 to having taken “indecent liberties” at age 21 with a 13-year-old girl. Years later, he had a traffic ticket dismissed and posted a celebratory message on Facebook — and was arrested for violating his state’s internet restriction against sex offenders.
Defenders of the North Carolina law argued that the ban was much like the ban many states have on sex offenders entering playgrounds. They are gathering places, the argument goes, for children. Because the perpetrator has already shown his willingness to commit crimes against a child, the state should block his access in order to protect other children from being victimized.
But as the Supreme Court properly noted in striking down the North Carolina law, barring access to all social media also bars access “to what for many are the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge.” The law, in effect, stripped Packingham of his First Amendment rights. The court’s ruling left room for a law more carefully tailored to protect children.
Elsewhere, states are grappling with what to do with sex offenders (unlike Packingham) whose crimes were committed against adults rather than children. For example, what if an offender is convicted of sexual battery against an adult, or he gets drunk, relieves himself in public and then is arrested and convicted of indecent exposure — a registerable offense in some states. Should such a person be kept away from playgrounds, schools and social media, and required to register for the rest of his life if he has no history of targeting children?
Many lawmakers and voters have in effect said yes in the emotion-charged but factually unsupportable belief that any person who has committed any variety of sex offense is automatically a heightened risk to commit any other kind of sex offense, and against anyone. It is not uncommon for lawmakers to conflate “sex offenders” with “child molesters” — or pedophiles, sexually violent predators, mentally disordered sex offenders or any of a variety of other categories of criminal that are not, in fact, interchangeable.
If the purpose of post-sentence restrictions is to protect children, it makes little sense to restrict low-risk, non-violent sex offenders who have never victimized children nor shown any likelihood of doing so. It makes sense instead to distinguish among offenses and offenders, to ensure that laws protect the public without unnecessarily restricting the perpetrator’s ability to return to normal life after punishment.
PLEASE HELP ME MY SON IS IN PRISN AND HAS NEVER SEEN HIS CHILD.THEY SAY WE HAVE TO HAVE AN EVALUATION DONE ON HER FIRST.SHE IS ONLY 15 MONTHS OLD .DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN HAVE THIS DONE.
Evaluation done ON HER? or on your son?
Being a sex offender not only punishes the offender but his whole family even years after the only offense (which was not a violent offense). The offender has done all his prison time (which was very harsh ,16 years, and so now is on probation. Now he is on probation/parole for the last 5 months of his term. He has been released from prison only to be informed he has nowhere to live. He is having to do his probation while living in a tent in the woods . His curfew is 7 pm til 7 am. He is free to go most places during the day but must be in his camping spot by 7 pm. Does this even make sense? Children are running around everywhere freely during the day and should be home at night. If he were going to offend again he would have more opportunity during the day to do so. He cannot get a job …how is he supposed to shower or keep his work clothes clean? Also what about transportation? How is he supposed to get to and from a job? Bus service costs money and is very unreliable.. He does get some help from food stamps. There is no place for him to keep food. He has a bike but how does he go look for a job when he has to carry all he owns on it every time he leaves his site. Who is going to hire someone like that? There are places and people he could live with but they are not approved as the are too close to places children congregate. He is not the only one at the site as the probation people are sending other offenders to the same site..one of them is a young female. Now they are in the direct path of hurricane Gordon and have nowhere to go.
His out of state mother is struggling to help him . Her only income is her social security check. Her rent is $600 per month and includes utilities. She has had to send him money for a tent and a bike and various other things. She has about $200 a month left each month for food and medecine.
How does the State think a person can live or work with all the restrictions and no help..are the just going to send more and more people to live in the woods like an animal with no help?
I agree with proper counseling and understanding what caused the act or acts to happen in the first place is key to recovery .
The perception is we all
Are lurking at parks and beaches waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting teenager.
There is a great injustice when the laws are applied Ex post facto which is the case with most sex offender
Laws
Even if a person does inappropriately touch a child that does not mean that the person is going to continue to do that for a lifetime. There are all types of situations that may have lead to the touching…none justifying but none the less causing someone to fail in a moment of weakness. With post conviction counseling and evaluation based on background of the individual and remorse, certainly one can be cleared of any future propensity for such behavior. I know…it happened to me. My daughter…the victim…and I have now reconciled and are enjoying a good father/daughter relationship short of the un-called for restrictions placed on my ability to be a father for all times and events. It’s a shame and she thinks so too.