Sexual Predators

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One of the worst things that can happen to anyone these days in America is not landing up on the TSA’s No-Fly Terrorist watch list but rather on the sex offenders list. Chris Hansen even assumes the role of our children’s protector though his popular TV show ‘To Catch a Predator‘. Parties that have such ‘morally corrupt’ individuals (remember Mark Foley) in the Congress are likely to be booted out of power. Almost every city in the United States now has a sex offender list which you can easily access on the Internet. A while back, I found a postcard in my mailbox that was sent by the city of College Station. It informed me that a certain sex offender had moved into my neighborhood after serving a prison sentence. The postcard had his photo, physical description, and home address including the type of offense (‘H’) which indicated that the offense was against a 16-year-old kid. Consider what a living hell your life would be if such a postcard was mailed each time you moved to any neighborhood. In addition, the city of College Station also has an interactive map [powered by GIS] that pinpoints the locations of all registered sex offenders in the region (developed by one of my colleagues in the department).

Not that I would ever condone the seemingly heinous actions of a sex offender but the manner in which all privacy is stripped off that individual making it impossible for him to resume his life is disturbing. I don’t see rapists and murderers whose crimes are equally if not more heinous being treated that way. Some may argue that sex offenders suffer from a ‘mental illness’ which makes them impossible to recover from their depraved feelings toward minors. And probably they may be partly right as they certainly may have those inherent traits but we are a society that believes in punishing actions and/or imminent intent to harm while giving the offender a second chance. If these sex offenders are indeed beyond cure, they probably should never be allowed to live free in the first place even after serving their prison sentences. If we are already violating their privacy rights under the guise of protecting of children, why even let them out in public? Vigilante justice can often lead to dire consequences.

Am I a bit weird for even sympathizing (a little) with them? Is it because I don’t understand because I don’t have kids of my own? You probably may be right. If faced with the possibility of a sex offender living in close proximity of my home when I have kids, I will be mighty disturbed and paranoid and may even threaten physical harm if he came close to my kids. But then again do we judge them too harshly?

We recently saw the movie, Little Children that centered around the issue of a sex offender moving into a suburban neighborhood that sends ripples throughout the community and even leads to a “Protective Parents” association. However, the movie reveals secrets within the community’s residents that might lead to you believe you are living in Disturbia. The fact that everyone has a disturbed past that influences their future actions and levels of prejudice. It isn’t as obvious as the racial elements of Crash but at the same time, it doesn’t really make you sympathetic toward any character in the movie, including the protagonists. The sex offender character is clearly a demented individual judging by the experience during a blind date set up by his mother but toward the end of the movie, circumstances make him want to change himself even though he really can’t. The movie doesn’t tell you to get rid of your prejudices or even guilt you for feeling them but instead it subtly asks of you to keep them within limits so as to protect the other person’s dignity.

I know many of my readers are parents with small kids. How do you really feel about this issue and how do you protect your children? Although you might bash the sex offender in your neighborhood if he came within 100 feet of your kid, given the opportunity would you?

“Sexual Predators” [Short URL: http://www.ipatrix.com/?p=2047] was published Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 8:58 am by Patrix, filed under Law, Recommended, Society Culture, United States, and tagged as child abuse, crime, discrimination, Law, sex, United States. Both comments and linkbacks are closed.

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sqrl
As you said it correctly.. why only the sex offenders? I’d like a list of the murderers, rapists..and also the people who have been charged of dealing with drugs… I’d like to know where they are, and keep them far far away from kids…but then if you give a list of all of these people, maybe the whole neighbourhood would light up like a Christmas tree…
http://http:mavericksmusing.blogspot.com Sakshi
I shudder to think such a person in a close proximity (within 100 feet or so) of my neice. So my response is emotional – I would like to know if such a person has moved into the neighbourhood.
Most sex predators are repeat offenders. And children can be easily manipulated into keeping quiet. So it is wise to keep an eye on them. On the other hand, if a person has paid the price for breaking the law, should we be making him pay the price eternally? I don’t know. As I said, when it comes to the young ones, logic is thrown away :)
http://ashujo.blogspot.com Ashutosh
I think I agree with you. Sex offenders of course should be harshly deplored, but considering the fact that many sex offenders are people who the victims know well, while this fact makes the offense even more heinous, it could possibly also mean that the crime was a crime of passion. If that is the case, it is quite likely that the person was a “normal” person who slipped into depravity that one time. Of course it was his fault, but it also makes sense to give him a second chance after serving a severe sentence. So I do think the surveillance may not be all that good, and in fact could make him even more disturbed and possibly likely to commit another kind of crime.
That said, I quite agree that even I would be pretty wary if I had children and a sex offender was around in my heighbourhood.
http://www.ipatrix.com Patrix
Sqrl, Exactly! Once we start marking up any offender not only will it light up like a Christmas tree but I bet many in the neighborhood will land up on that list one way or the other be it drugs, rape, murders, and other offenses. How about having a map for those with speeding tickets? I bet the whole neighborhood will be on that one.
Sakshi, I guess protecting children justifies everything but I like to see some evidence regarding repeat offenders by sex predators. I’m sure that will exist at least in some measure but then so will it for rapists, right? BTW if you look closely at how they define sex offenders, you would be surprised how easily one can make it into that list.
Ashutosh, as you say we do tend to agree on monitoring sex offenders when it hits home. But then we aren’t doing anything to solve the issue and merely going on defense and living in fear. And why just sex offenders? Why not rapists? The women must be protected too, right? From then on, it is a slippery slope.
http://courtneytuttle.com Court
Thanks goodness they have that list online! I got looking through it one day in my area with some friends and we figure out that a guy that worked at the local gym was on it. Bad, bad idea.
http://www.ipatrix.com Patrix
Court, I am sure almost all parents feel relieved to have that list but lets hope you don’t judge anyone too harshly before knowing the entire truth.
Gazal
Patrix,
Your thoughts will change if/when you have a daughter.
This is an article from yesterday’s news. Its a about a sexual offender who was granted privacy by the law because he was assumed harmless.
http://www.komotv.com/news/7658542.html
http://www.ipatrix.com Patrix
Gazal, I am sure they will. But if we think about it why just discriminate against sex offenders against children and let rapists and murderers live around undetected. and as your story mentioned, most sex offenders against children are those that are known to the family or are even close family members. No law or mapping system is going to protect our children from them.
Intro
Funnily enough, we just had one move into the corner home. This is a tough situation. When it comes to privacy, well, I have to say as the Father of three children, I need to know. The right to privacy is not isolated – none of our rights are; instead, they are inseperably linked to our ability to responsibly manage all of our rights. If you cross one, you compromise many. The minute a person crossed the rights that sexual laws are built around, they also cossed the right for those acts to remain private, the right for me to protect my family, etc. So I don’t mind the awareness, proportional to the danger or degree of harm to others (incidentally, rape is a sexual offense and rapists are listed, along with many others . . .). But, what I do struggle with is how to bridge the fine line between deterrance and recidivism; how does one take an overt stance to protect family, yet allow another to exercise the freedom to grow and change? Herein lies the complication. If I am less than vigilant, then I wait, with a consequence being that something awful happens and it becomes “too late” to act. If I proactively gaurd against someone two doors down, then I imprison myslelf and place a ceiling on the offenders perception of change. The truth be known that these individuals are ill, seriously ill, and they need help. I want this man to grow and change and live as normal as a life as possible, but on the other hand, I don’t want my neighborhood to be his proving ground.
http://blogulate.com Blogulate
Nice post man !
Keep up the good work

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