Please stop needling Seeker. I don’t know if he’s still trolling about or not, but the one time I ran across his comments I found them to be a reasonable and well reasoned attempt to discuss a point of view I disagreed with…and I even agreed with some of what he said.

Even if he was a complete tool whose comments were embarrassing to even attempt to read I would disagree with the childish manner in which I’ve seen his name bandied about in multiple forums. It’s beneath the generally intelligent discourse on this site, please stop.

Highlights include the following:

* Released prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were robbers (70.2%),
burglars (74.0%),
larcenists (74.6%),
motor vehicle thieves (78.8%),
those in prison for possessing or selling stolen property (77.4%), and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%).

* Within 3 years, 2.5% of released rapists were arrested for another rape,

and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for homicide.

* The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 had accumulated 4.1 million arrest charges before their most recent imprisonment and another 744,000 charges within 3 years of release

To my way of thinking, if law makers were serious about PREVENTION. They need to only be concerned with:
1. The REPEAT offender

2. The VIOLENT offender

3. The offender who DID NOT KNOW THEIR VICTIM!

See: STUDYS:
http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=showcat&catid=83

Laws cannot save any one determined to commit a crime. Prevention through education is the only way to prevent crime. 93 percent of all new sex crimes are committed by people NOT on the registry.

They are your family members and those known to you. Wake up folks, you have been blinded by the entertainment news media and politicians for ratings and votes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA8ArddZgLk

Actually, leprosy is not highly contagious. Between 90 and 95% of the population is naturally immune. Mostly, it was the disfigurement caused by the disease that led to lepers being ostracized.

Of course, that (among other legislation I might propose) is why I would never be re-elected.

That is the real problem. The general public hears “sex offender” and they can’t get passed the negative emotional rush. Certainly not enough to even comprehend that huge number of people on the sex offenders list for actions that aren’t even remotely related to child rape.

If we want real change, we need to start talking about how many people are unjustly placed on the SO list. That’s the only way we can get the general public to start seeing this draconian approach to sex regulation.

That said, your comment here forced me to go chew some rage before I could respond:

Here is the problem I have with these sex crimes. You can inflict serious pain on someone in any way that is not considered a sex crime and it is almost always considered less of an offense than merely having physical contact with someone’s “intimate areas”. …

The best way to reduce the devastation caused by sex crimes in this country is not to make sex offenders live under bridges. It’s to get society to stop the ubiquitous preconditioning of kids (and adults) and treating victims in a way that ensures the very worst possible psychological impact.

It’s true that people can survive and heal from the psychological impact of rape and sexual abuse. But the best way to reduce the devastation is not to spread the message that one will recover; it’s to spread the message that it’s not okay to impose your sexual desires on someone who does not consent, full stop.

The term “sex offender” has been trivialized through overuse and abuse; that doesn’t negate the fact that rape – and unwanted touching and fondling, for that matter – are a violation of the integrity of the person. I agree with you that most people who commit these acts are not sick, perverted, inhuman – so it ought to be possible to prevent the crimes by teaching them from the beginning that no sexual act is permissible without (meaningful) consent.

Nicely stated, as always. I should learn to be so concise.

The other problem, as Dave K points out, is that the media and gov’t have so thoroughly convinced people that sexual abuse is ALWAYS traumatizing and ALWAYS takes years or even decades to recover from that yes, if someone is sexually abused, they respond as directed. I’ve heard of cases–documented in one of Camille Paglia’s books–of rape “counselors” telling women that “you will never get over this.”

Just another reason we’re so screwed up as a country. Legalize prostitution, give pedophiles treatment and therapy instead of prison, and a lot of sexual BS will go by the wayside.

Or is that too reasonable? Yeah, probably.

#18 Deoxy

If I were in such a state, I would seriously consider the “blaze of glory” option.

I suspect that there are plenty of guys out there thinking the same thing. No responsible justice/penal system does as much to actively promote an absolute sense of hopelessness that the sex offender registry does. I think we can rest assured it’s only a matter of time before someone takes that way out. Heaven help those who become the collateral damage.

#23 Marty

looking back on my junior high and high school hockey teams, I’d say 80% of the players were guilty back then of ‘crimes’ serious enough to be registered as ’sex offenders’ today.

That makes me wonder. Is there a statute of limitations for playing doctor? If not, I may need to start looking for a bridge with wifi.

Steve: taking a leak and exposing yourself would not, under the language of the statute, be “sexual battery” because there is no touching. That said, I am sure someone will find a reason to lock up some poor kid.

I didn’t say it was sexual battery, but that it could land you on a registry. Indecent exposure to a minor and all that.

I couldn’t hurt someone like that either. But I can say that with conviction only because of the life I have lived. I wonder how many years of being on that list undeservedly, living in the woods, on the streets or under bridges, it would take before I no longer stay true to my convictions.

Good point, but I’d like to think that I’d still focus my ire and wrath on those who deserve it.

Personally, I think real pedophiles (those attracted to children when they are clearly adults) need to be locked up for good. If they are so terrible that they need to be registered to be out… well, don’t let them out.

Yes, but that actually makes sense and we can’t have that, we’re a democracy for Christ’s sake!

By the way, yet another thread without the wisdom and insight of that apologist for the State seeker6709. Who is going to speak for the poor abused children?!?! We certainly can’t let the parents speak for their children.