{"id":44390,"date":"2014-08-15T12:03:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T18:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/15\/the-problems-with-sex-offender-registry-laws.html"},"modified":"2014-08-20T17:13:27","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T23:13:27","slug":"the-problems-with-sex-offender-registry-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/15\/the-problems-with-sex-offender-registry-laws.html","title":{"rendered":"The problems with sex offender registry laws"},"content":{"rendered":"
It seems like a great idea: keep a system of state databases of convicted sex offenders so that police, and even parents, can keep track of these predators, and force them to both check in with the cops regularly and restrict their access to children. \u00a0What could go wrong?<\/p>\n

Well, just about lots of everything, including:<\/p>\n

– Growing evidence that recidivism among sex offenders is much lower than popularly thought.
– The fact that most sexual predation isn't done by strangers but by family and people who the family knows.
– The expansion of such registries beyond what we think of as sex offenders and predators (rapists, pedophiles) to include teens who have consensual sex, prostitutes, people who solicit prostitution, and people who publicly urinate — any of which you may or may not approve of, but which oughtn't put you on a sex registry for decades or for life.
– Extending the periods for which "sex offenders" are registered as such.
– Expanding what restrictions registered "sex offenders" live underneath, including checking in with the cops, procedures for moving, restrictions on jobs, restrictions on residences, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The problem being, of course, that (a) databases are keen and can always be trusted! and (b) no legislator ever lost an election for treating "sex offenders" more harshly.<\/p>\n

Don't get me wrong — I'm all in favor of strong punishment of rapists and child molesters. The problems is that these laws are aren't necessarily effective in stopping those crimes, are ever-expanding in who they sweep in, and are draconian (and often irrational) in their consequences. By treating a flasher the same as a rapist, or a prostitute the same as a serial child molester, not only are police overburdened in trying to keep an eye on the real<\/i> threats, the utility of such registries is sharply reduced (whether the public knows it or not).<\/p>\n

Slate has been running an an informative series about the matter this week:<\/p>\n

Part 1: How national sex registry laws started, and why one of the folks questioning such laws was the woman who started it. http:\/\/goo.gl\/c11tNi<\/a> (linked below)
Part 2: How a lot more people get legally labeled "sex offenders" than you might think.\u00a0http:\/\/goo.gl\/1y9bNJ<\/a>
Part 3: On the irregular durations (in California it's for life) of being on a sex offender registry. http:\/\/goo.gl\/3WZgn0<\/a>
Part 4: On what jobs a registered sex offender can't have (logically or not). http:\/\/goo.gl\/lbWO3v<\/a>
Part 5: What might be done about the mess (and why it's unlikely to happen any time soon).\u00a0http:\/\/goo.gl\/kxguvi<\/a>\ufeff<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

Sex Offender Laws Have Gone Too Far<\/a>
\n On Oct. 22, 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped while biking home from a convenience store. A masked gunman approached him, his brother, and a friend, and ordered the three boys off their bikes. After demanding to know their ages, he ordered Jacob\u2019s brother and the friend to run into…\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems like a great idea: keep a system of state databases of convicted sex offenders so that police, and even parents, can keep track of these predators, and force them to both check in with the cops regularly and restrict their access to children. \u00a0What could go wrong? Well, just about lots of everything, … Continue reading “The problems with sex offender registry laws”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49831,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/13\/we-dont-want-your-kind-around-here.html","url_meta":{"origin":44390,"position":0},"title":"We don't want your kind around here","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-Mar-15 10:35am","format":false,"excerpt":"The California Supreme Court has (partially) overthrown the residency restrictions on sex offenders passed in the state's \"Jessica's Law\" referendum. Now, in theory, keeping sexual predators away from kids sounds like a great idea. In practice, though ...1. There's no actual evidence that it works to reduce child molestation.2. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28042,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/30\/crime-and-perpetual-punishment.html","url_meta":{"origin":44390,"position":1},"title":"Crime and Perpetual Punishment","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 30-May-12 5:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"What a mess.- A category, \"sexual offenders,\" that can include anything from hardcore child molesters, to a flasher, to an someone who, a few decades ago, was 18 and was caught sleeping with what turned out to be a 17-year-old.- They've all done their time. They've all been released. They've\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9063,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/02\/24\/offenders_on_th.html","url_meta":{"origin":44390,"position":2},"title":"Offenders on the map","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-Feb-06 1:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I have various philosophical problems with public disclosure of sex offender addresses. If folks are dangerous, keep them locked up. If they've served their time for their crime, they're done...","rel":"","context":"In "Parenting"","block_context":{"text":"Parenting","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/parenting"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16710,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/02\/10\/unblogged-bits-for-wednesday-10-february-2010-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":44390,"position":3},"title":"Unblogged Bits for Wednesday, 10 February 2010","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-Feb-10 6:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Juveniles crowd Mich. sex offender registry - Like so many efforts driven by fear, sex offender registries have metastasized to encompass people that most citizens probably don't think of as sex offenders, and to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134696,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/15\/people-start-talking-getting-tough-sexual-predators.html","url_meta":{"origin":44390,"position":4},"title":"When people start talking about “getting tough on sexual predators”","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Sep-17 9:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"Nobody likes sexual predators. That's perfectly appropriate and praiseworthy. Nobody likes the subset of that group, child pornographers, either. I'm completely behind that sentiment. But as Inigo Montoya famously noted about certain terms, \"I don't think it means what you think it means.\" As in this case, where a 17-year-old\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/unnamed-20.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135517,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/04\/stanford-swimmer-rapist-appeals-conviction-asks-new-trial.html","url_meta":{"origin":44390,"position":5},"title":"Stanford swimmer \/ rapist appeals his conviction, asks for new trial","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 4-Dec-17 11:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Brock Turner is already out of prison, having served 3 months of his 6 month conviction for raping an unconscious woman. Turner, who apparently has plenty of money to spend, objects to having to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, and so is paying for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/brock-turner-stanford-swimmer-rapist.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44492,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44390\/revisions\/44492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}