Comments on: Hey, Not Our Fault

By: Code Monkey Ramblings » Blog Archive » Registries are fun until they are used against the government

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:08:49 +0000

[...] mean like how sex offender registries often put people who committed minor sex crimes, or those who happen to move into a home they used to occupy, in danger of being injured or killed by blood-crazed vigilantes [...]

By: Micheal Price

Micheal Price — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:18:05 +0000

“Isn’t this just a law saying that it is against the law to do something against the law?”

Not it’s saying you can’t use the information on the sex offender registry to deny someone a job. That’s useful information to all the child care centre operators who otherwise would have.

By: Zeb

Zeb — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:11:19 +0000

“Information contained in the sex offender registry shall not be used to commit a crime against a sex offender or to engage in illegal discrimination or harassment of an offender.”

Isn’t this just a law saying that it is against the law to do something against the law?

By: David Chesler

David Chesler — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:30:42 +0000

A year and a half ago I blogged:
The Massachusetts Sex Offender Registration law, MGL Chapter 6 section 178N, Misuse of Information says

Information contained in the sex offender registry shall not be used to commit a crime against a sex offender or to engage in illegal discrimination or harassment of an offender.

It’s not clear from the statute what kind of discrimination is illegal. If it’s illegal on other grounds (such as race) this is awfully redundant. This is typically summarized, as when the local newspaper announces that an offender is living nearby, that the information may not be used to discriminate. If it can’t be used to discriminate, what good is it? Isn’t telling my kids “Stay away from that particular neighbor” or even after the fact noting that a re-offender is on the list discriminating?

By: Ruud

Ruud — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:14:00 +0000

Have any states approved the differently colored sex offenders license plate yet? I know that legislators in Ohio were pushing for pink ones. No one likes a sex offender, but that’s a little crazy – I can just imagine the road rage.