In which I take an unpopular view...

[conuly]

In a community I'm in, somebody asked if you'd move if you knew you lived near a registered sex offender. And one of the replies was "No, I'd make them move".

*sighs*

Now, I in no way think highly of those who would harm children. We'll assume, for the purpose of this discussion, that the only people who are on those lists have either molested children or raped people - no Matthew Limons, no "Well, she told me she was 19!", nothing like that.

So, you do whatever it was, and you go to prison, and you get out... and you have to live somewhere, right? Where do you live? Where, that there are no children around, at all?

As far as I know, there are no lists of convicted burglars, or convicted murderers - or even convicted rapists, unless they raped a minor. So, it can't just be about protecting ourselves, it's got to be about punishing others...

And let's say it is all about protecting our kids. That's fair, nobody wants kids getting hurt. I can see keeping people from getting jobs as teachers, pediatricians, and so on.

The vast majority of children who are molested, it's by somebody in the family, or a family friend. The rest of them, it seems, are mostly victims of authority figures - priests, doctors, teachers, that sort of thing. While some kids certainly are taking candy from the nice man down the block, and others certainly are being snatched from the streets by men in ski masks, that doesn't seem to be very common.

And here's something else. If you're any good at your criminal activities, whatever they are, you don't get caught.

So you want to protect your kids? You won't do that by shutting off your neighborhood. In fact, the false sense of security this gives you may be more dangerous, I think, than not doing that. Best way to protect your kids is to educate them. That's the only way to protect them, not by trying to remove oh-so-dangerous elements from your world.

Besides. Harassment is a crime. You want to be a vigilante? Go put on a mask, and douse yourself with dangerous chemicals like everybody else.

Comments

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

I realize there are 18 year old boys who date 17 year old girls and mama gets upset and suddenly he's a sex offender.
My problem with giving sex offenders a second chance is jail has probably just made them meaner. Maybe if they had to do some residency in a half way house with intense psychiatric counseling I'd be more ready to believe they had learned something.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Oh, I would definitely support counseling. And I wasn't actually thinking of statutory rape in cases where it's really questionable that it should even be a crime, but true molestation. I just feel there is a big difference from case to case, and you don't want to treat everyone like an adult someone who snatches up 5 year olds and rapes them. Sure lock them up and throw away the key, no objections. But there are lots of fuzzier cases. The only person I know IRL who has sexually molested a minor was never tried for it, but he wasn't even 12 years old yet. Did that make it any easier for the victim? No. Did it make it less of a horrible thing? No. But would I want to totally destroy his life for one misjudgement as a confused child? No.

And I'm sure there are many other cases like this, and I have heard of other cases. Because many children who are abused end up abusing other children, because it's the model they have. Some of those people will have serious issues and may still be hurting others when they are older, but what they need is extensive psychological counselling. And when it is felt that they are no longer a danger to anyone, then why keep punishing them? They've often suffered so much to get to the point that they were abusing others anyway.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

I feel for anyone who was abused, but we have to save the current children more than the adults who had abuse. I realize that may sound cold, but as a mom I simply have to think of my children and this generation of children first.

[conuly]

Yes, you do. And when somebody isn't considered a danger anymore...?

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

At what point are they not considered a danger? When they are armless, legless, toothless? Dead? I mean who knows when somone is cured or at the very least not a danger. I don't want to take the chance that sometime down the road they will snap and then a child is hurt again. And it's one child too many.

[conuly]

But everyone's a potential danger, that's the thing. You don't live out in the middle of nowhere on the offchance that one of your neighbors could be hiding that deep, dark secret.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish I did. It's such a scary world and I realize I overreact, but damn it, it is tough. Every time I see or read something it's like a little of the good dies with it.. it's a really hard subject for me to be reasonable or even sane about. I realize wanting to put them all in the desert isn't really realistic, but sometimes realistic doesn't compute, and it's all gut reaction and fear.