UK: This is what it means to live with the “sex offender” label.
In Glasgow, an angry crowd gathered outside an apartment complex after rumors spread online that two sex offenders had been moved into the property. Police ultimately allowed a small group of protesters into the residence in an effort to dispel the situation. Turns out nobody was there.
The public “sex offender” label has become an invitation for vigilantism. The risk to property, to innocent family members, and to the community is real. Combining the label with a person’s identity and location invites mob justice. Residences become targets. Families become collateral damage. Wives, husbands, children, parents, and neighbors all bear the consequences.
No other class of people is expected to live under the constant threat of a crowd outside their front door. We see it over and over, and over again. This label results in harassment, assaults, arson, murders, and countless cases of mistaken identity around the world. Public registries don’t simply “provide information”, they create targets and invite further harm.
The UK registry is not public – yet an online rumor led to this lynch mob. Here in the US, names, photos, addresses, and vehicle information are all publicly accessible.
The United States has now witnessed countless documented cases of people on the registry being harassed, assaulted, shot, beaten, set on fire, and even murdered simply because their names and addresses were made publicly available. Family members and innocent bystanders have also been threatened, harmed or killed as collateral damage..
At some point, can the government honestly continue to describe the registry as a “public safety tool”? The growing body of evidence suggests it’s a system that predictably facilitates violence. FAC suggests it’s a government-sponsored hit list.
END THE REGISTRY!
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I did not want to hurt anyone physically or mentally. I was not only very selfish, I was not in touch with reality!. I have had ptsd my whole life with depression and extreme anxiety causing me not to do good in school and because of adhd I did not learn the basic skills to learn to accomplish a goal in life to build a meaningful life to get a good paying job, also getting married having kids and a nice home, now I regret it all!. After quitting school at age 16, I learned how to do back breaking jobs but I liked it just not to have to deal with school every day. I had the potential to do better in school if I could have got a grip on learning the basics. Every job I have ever worked at i was considered exceptional at all of my jobs. I also had a very active sex life with many partners ” promiscuity” was not a healthy way to live but with all the underlying problems I didn’t realize or didn’t care at the time cause I was having “fun” working buying cars and having girls! Now I regret all of it! I was not stable mentally to keep one of the girls, that I always had loving feelings for all of them. I should have married one to have a stable meaningful relationship. I was careless, selfish with nothing but myself. After being so sexually active and nothing to show for it I got careless and did what I did to end up on the registry. In a way I kind of feel like an abused person from all the above reasons so now I still suffer from all the above! I have hated my life the whole time when I think about it now, and I always new i was not right in my head. So now I suffer the rest of my life from being on the registry!!!!.
Thank you sir for sharing 👍
I am genuinely flabbergasted that educated, thoughtful people — human beings with moral frameworks, families, and faith — cannot see past the rhetoric of shame that has been relentlessly heaped onto registrants. Some of the loudest voices come from people who call themselves Christian, yet they continue to defame and degrade an entire caste of human beings as if compassion and dignity were optional virtues.
What we are doing goes far beyond justice. When we restrict a person’s ability to live, work, worship, or simply exist in a community, we violate the Constitution’s promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” When states publish private information online, plaster addresses on maps, or circulate flyers and signs, they violate federal restrictions on the public release of personal data. And when we ignore the overwhelming body of academic research — grants, papers, longitudinal studies — all showing that public disclosure, housing bans, and community shaming do “nothing” to improve public safety, we are not protecting society. We are simply punishing people forever because we can.
We also ignore what many European nations have already learned: that privacy is not a luxury, it is a safeguard against dehumanization. Their systems prioritize reintegration, stability, and anonymity because they understand that successful reentry protects everyone.
Yet here, we cling to the illusion that we are wise. We refuse to make the historical connection between past racism and today’s prejudice against registrants — the same pattern of fear, mythmaking, and social exclusion dressed up in new language. And somehow, we convince ourselves that we are raising children in a culture of tolerance, forgiveness, and love, even while modeling the opposite.
It is heartbreaking to watch a Floridian and national society that prides itself on justice and compassion turn a blind eye to its own contradictions. Years from now, people will look back and wonder how we ever justified treating fellow human beings this way.
Exactly!
Jesus Christ (and other charismatic religious figures throughout history) all preached about Mercy. And the importance of not being merciless.
How did we get here????
Mr. D
What punishment do you consider to be a slap on the wrist?