Setting our sights on an important milestone: 10,000 signatures.
When we launched our Change.org petition, calling for an end to public sex offender registration and highlighting its conflict with fundamental human rights principles, we knew it would be an uphill battle. Yet thousands of people have already added their names, recognizing that public registries do not simply affect those listed on them—they impact spouses, children, families, and entire communities.
Today, we are setting our sights on an important milestone: 10,000 signatures. Because numbers matter. Every signature represents a voice demanding that policymakers, journalists, researchers, and the public take a closer look at the human consequences of public registration laws. A petition with a few hundred signatures can be dismissed. A petition with thousands becomes harder to ignore. A petition with 10,000 signatures sends a powerful message that this issue affects far more people than those directly listed on a registry.
We are currently at 9,188 signatures. If you have already signed, thank you. Now we ask one more favor: share this petition with your friends, family members, colleagues, and anyone who believes that human rights apply to everyone. Send it to human rights organizations and ask them to promote it. If you are in group, share it with the other participants. If you belong to a religious community, social group, book club, or anywhere else you have an audience, share it with them and ask them to promote it.
Together, let’s reach 10,000 signatures and show that there is a growing movement of people willing to stand for fairness, dignity, and policies grounded in facts rather than fear.
The petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/public-sex-offender-registration-is-violation-of-universal-declaration-of-human-rights
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I think it should be on a tier system . 5/10/20/25 life time. Lot of offenders would be off the system and get their life’s in order. They shouldn’t be targets for life.
I came across this website years ago and was struck by how simple it can be to mobilize a meaningful action agenda. I was genuinely pleased to find it again — and of course I signed on and added my thoughts. Thank you for creating a space where people can finally speak openly about these issues.
But curtailing the registry is only one part of a much larger reform landscape. There are several other areas where Congress could act far more effectively — and far more quickly — than the slow, state by state grind of litigation. For example:
1. End severe punishments for administrative mistakes. People are being jailed for paperwork errors with no intent to deceive — a level of punishment wildly disproportionate to the conduct.
2. Eliminate passport “sex offender” markings. These labels stigmatize citizens abroad, interfere with lawful international travel, and serve no demonstrated public safety purpose that cannot be achieved without invading personal privacy.
3. Eliminate the Florida driver’s license markings and identification requirement for sex offenders as it only serves to further humiliate citizens with information already available to LE.
4. Fix the fragmented, state by state registry system. Decentralization creates conflicting rules, unpredictable obligations, and major barriers to interstate travel — all for people who have already served their sentences.
5. End lifetime registration for non violent offenders. A lifetime penalty for a non violent, often decades old offense violates basic principles of proportionality.
6. Reduce the number of low level, non violent sexual offenses classified as felonies. Many of these offenses carry sentences under one year, yet trigger lifelong consequences.
7. Stop imposing lifetime registration when law enforcement already maintains complete records. Academic research consistently shows that reoffense rates drop sharply after ten years — yet the registry continues indefinitely.
8. Require collection of real evidence on registry effectiveness. Policymaking should be based on data, not fear or political branding.
9. Fund universities and researchers to study sex offense management and develop national standards. Grants could support evidence based approaches instead of the current patchwork of untested policies.
These are practical, targeted reforms — and they are achievable. Congress has the authority to address these issues directly, and doing so would be far more efficient than relying solely on the courts to chip away at injustices one state at a time.
I signed it.