Rolling Stone magazine posted a story yesterday about the murder of Lauren McCluskey a University of Utah student who was murdered by her boyfriend, who was on the sex offender registry.
The article asks the question, “what’s the point of the sex offender registry?” It didn’t help Lauren and, according to the research cited by Rolling Stone, it doesn’t really help anyone.
Below is an excerpt:
Rowland’s status as a registered sex offender has been highlighted in media coverage of the case, raising questions about how it could have helped prevent this murder. But the case actually underscores how ineffective offense-based registries are at crime prevention, a criticism made by groups like Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, amongst many others. Critics say that sex offender registries fail to make communities safer, and serve primarily as a lifetime punishment that unfairly imposes restrictions on a broad spectrum of people.
“Peer-reviewed research demonstrates that 95 percent of reported sex crimes are attributable to first-time offenders,” Guy Hamilton-Smith, a legal fellow for the Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, tells Rolling Stone. “That means that registries and other post-conviction restrictions on liberty have very little impact on the vast, vast majority of sexual violence.”
Federal laws like the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act (in 1994), Megan’s Law (in 1996) and the Adam Walsh Act (in 2006) required states to set up sex offender registries and impose restrictions on where they can live and work. They were all enacted on the premise that disclosing to the public the sexual offenders in their neighborhood would empower parents to guard themselves and their children from future sexual victimization, and work as a deterrent for would-be sex offenders. But not only has that been proven not to be the case, this premise serves to reinforce myths about sexual violence that don’t reflect the majority of reported sex crimes.
“Registries adopt this model that predators lurking in the shadows are the ones doing all this raping, but that’s generally not the case,” says Hamilton-Smith. “It’s people that we know, people that we trust, sexual violence takes places within the context of relationships, of workplaces, of schools, of churches, etc., not random acts of violence.”
These sex offenders are also not necessarily pursued by law enforcement to the fullest extent, let alone taken to court, found guilty and made to register. What constitutes a “sex crime” varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and in many cases can include far less severe offenses than rape or child molestation — like public urination, children and teenagers experimenting with their peers, or even sexualized breastfeeding. These registrants are often subject to restrictions that bar loitering, working or living within certain zones, making reentering society after prison next to impossible — and can actually encourage re-offending in other ways.“There is research that supports public registries actually increase re-offense rates by basically making it impossible for someone to be anything but a criminal by making their life so utterly miserable that they can do nothing but stay on the margins,” says Hamilton-Smith. “In many jurisdictions, maybe even all jurisdictions, the most common reason for people on the registry to go back to prison is not for a new sex offense, but is for so-called failure to comply offenses. So, it creates ‘crime’ by essentially making up all these new ways for people who are trying to survive to catch a charge, then also by draining public safety resource from places where investment might actually make a difference. To the extent anyone rehabilitates themselves, they do not do it because of the registry, they do it in spite of it.”
I sent a message to Rolling Stone Magazine to thank them for informing their readers about the true outcome of the Sex offender registration, and what it really does to my life. How I am always thinking that one day I will mistakenly violate the ” laws” of registration and be locked up because of it. That I can go to jail/ Prison not because I have committed a Sex Offense…but because I was too close to a Daycare center when I ate my lunch.
Terrorist are #1 problem not first time offenses , especially once who completed County court order without incidence , my blessings goes to A lawsuit filled in Supreme Court CRUEL and unusual punishment , Registry make it impossible to proceed, you can only imagine, Defamation of character.
i cant find the article [;ease give me the link I give u a shout out
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/lauren-mccluskey-melvin-rowland-murder-sex-offender-registry-746497/
i made a post on rolling stone but it not showing up
Normally I only refer to Rolling Stone for music reviews, if at all. I could care less about their politics and their history of investigative journalism is somewhat shady. Nonetheless, I agree that this is a very good article, but there are a few holes in the author’s overall point of the registry’s uselessness.
For one, the author wonders why the university police didn’t have the accused’s address. But why would they? He’s 37 years old; not likely a student or a campus resident, so he wouldn’t be in their jurisdiction. Any detective would then go to the registry to look up addresses and whatnot anyway as routine, but those are the sorts of details that chiefs/spokesmen wouldn’t reveal to the press.
Next, the author states the university police never contacted the Department of Corrections regarding the accused. Again, why would they? Their records would only indicate his conduct while incarcerated (apparently good enough to be paroled) and his parole conditions. What do they have to do with the crime under investigation? Absolutely nothing.
Then, the article points out that the accused was convicted of sex offenses in 2004, but didn’t state why he had “several stints behind bars” since. Were those stints because of other crimes of violence or mere status offenses like breaking curfew? Statistics and the absence of explanation suggest the latter.
And finally, to quote the author, “It seems that this is exactly the kind of case the registry could have assisted with — his address was right there on the publicly accessible list.” The author incorrectly concludes that the registry didn’t prevent this murder because it wasn’t “used properly” by law enforcement. How so? They already knew the accused’s name and address – what else was the registry supposed to do? What information does the registry provide that is not already immediately available from normal procedural detective work?
I have yet to see one single reporter ask that last question of any law enforcement official. On the subject, they’ll claim “it’s a good tool” or “there’s nowhere else to begin an investigation.” But there’s apparently an unspoken (or spoken behind closed doors) rule to never publicly point out how useless the registry is, even though many (if not all)
While the author’s overall conclusion is correct, I would go even further and say the registry actually caused this unfortunate murder. The list of hypothetical situations is unending and ultimately pointless, because one very significant fact remains unchanged: The chain of events that led to this crime began when the accused’s status was revealed. No one can say with any reasonable degree of certainty that this murder would have been prevented or have occurred anyway if his status were revealed earlier, or if at all.
A week ago, the Rolling Stone had a cover on the Grateful Dead with what looked like a “acid trip” painting..
I have always associated the RS as a rock band/music magazine. I guess I was wrong. Always sad to hear that someone was murdered. And doubly sad that a sex offender re-offended.
But even now the word is getting out that this registry crap is complete and utter BS.
Thank you Rolling Stone for this article.
Such a tragedy and Americans are drawn to reading tragedies such as this. Lets see if they finally get it that the registries do nothing but trigger unnecessary fears and punish those who have paid their debts for a lifetime. Glad Rolling Stones added the facts to this tragedy.
Rolling Stone Magazine what an unexpected place to see a cutting new paths for justice. Lead the way. What bravery.
Best read information in a while. Thank you Rolling Stones for the facts. Many without a doubt will read this.
Great article from Rolling Stones. Hopefully many people read this carefully and it sinks in their head about the uselessness of the registries and its oppressive laws.
Excellent article! from a widely read and popular magazine.
Hooray for Rolling Stone! We should all send them an email and thank them for this article.
You can start by posting a comment under their story.
Now that we had that win in our Internet Identifier challenge you don’t have to register posts on news sites.
Please have at it and give props to the Florida Action Committee while you are at it!
Doug, I emailed them actually.
Here is their email address:
[email protected]
I encourage ALL PEOPLE commenting and seeing my comment to stop whatever they are doing and send these guys an email. They are bringing MUCH needed awareness to this issue.