By Sandy . . . We are sometimes asked, “Don’t I have the right to know if someone who committed a sex crime lives near me?”
The simple answer is “No.”
There is no such right given anywhere. In fact, when we think of rights, we generally and correctly think of our Constitution, and that document, rather than granting the “right to know,” grants instead the “right not to know,” better termed the “right to privacy.”
Knowing where persons who have been convicted of sexual crimes live carries with it no value. You do not know where the person who plans to break into your home; to hijack your car from your driveway in the dark, killing you if necessary; to sell your children drugs on the way to school lives. And incidentally, those things –with the exception of the killing — are statistically more likely to happen than a person on a registry committing a new sexual offense.
You do not know which of your relatives or friends or your child’s peers or authority figures might sexually molest your child, or might already have done or be doing so, and that is a far, far more likely scenario than it happening at the hands of a stranger who is on the registry.
So instead of focusing on who might commit a crime against you or your children, focus on what you can do to eliminate or reduce the risk. Have strong doors and locks and a barking dog; flood your driveway with brilliant lights and be aware of your surroundings; start anti-drug conversations with your children young, encourage them in extra-curricular activities, and stay involved with their school activities and who their friends are; and starting young, teach them the parts of their body that no one may touch without their permission, who to go to if someone is doing something that makes them uncomfortable, and that no one has the right to ask them to keep secrets from you.
Doing everything in your power to keep the lines of communication open and letting them know you love them and that nothing could change that will go a hundred time further in keeping them safe than a lifetime of looking at the sex offender registry.
Sandy, a NARSOL board member, is communications director for NARSOL, editor-in-chief of the Digest, and a writer for the Digest and the NARSOL website. Additionally, she participates in updating and managing the website and assisting with a variety of organizational tasks.
Everyone has a right to privacy including ex-convicts! You do not have the right to know anything about anyone that they do not want you to know.
No human has ever been born having the right to know.
No human has ever been born having the right to know the date of their demise.
Now human has been born having the right to know your parents, or what your children will look like, or if your able to have them at all.
The right to know is about human desire or want.
The right to knowledge is in the bible. It was a choice. That’s where the human story begins. These things are matters of fact. Forgetting all religious connotations, we can surely except humans create humans. As humans contemplated their environment natural survival demands knowledge. Thus Eve convinced Adam and that’s how SOR came to be. Through the perception of need for knowledge to alter fate such things arose. Thus its human perception is at it’s most foundational concern about child rearing. That is Roe v Wade at it’s foundation. That is also why the founders left child producers out of the political discourse, because historically including child rearing in political discourse always led to collapse. Thus the founders took great care to sustain the distance between State power and child rearing. Thus SOR is about child rearing. This is why SCOTUS upheld registration in manifest respect and congressional determination. Thus it also put federal power very close to child rearing via the DDI. This is how Roe was able to fall. The feds don’t need to( Roe precedent) any longer, they have the cemented DDI. And their using it for political security, and so they have opportunities to know about rising treats to the entrenched.
We’re past the point of no return. Entire neighborhoods took absolutely no care for the cruelty of their “silent war” against those who were singled out. They worked behind the scenes and blackballed otherwise decent people. They betrayed friends and family over peer pressure, worldly possessions, and their own social status. They got twisted around and forced to take sides. They used each other and got used themselves.
All to perpetuate a system where the people on top get it all and the people on the bottom get to screw with people’s lives. They became false Gods. They hoarded power, they manipulated votes, and they acquired the unconstitutional means to do their deeds under the guise of “public safety”. Ruining lives doesn’t matter to these people. And neither does ending them. Everything that was not meant to be has become reality. The police state. They just needed a target that nobody cares about and a cause that nobody would disagree with.
a lot of truth in that statement
We were warned about this very thing.
Upon the initial completion and acceptance of the US Constitution, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government have you given us? To which he replied, We have given you a republic if you can keep it.
Well we haven’t. What was initially a great government scheme has deteriorated to a fascist police state.
We are not so different from 1930s Germany. We just don’t realize it because of the incrementalism that has been used to enact it.
In Germany in the 1930s when the Nazi party came to power one of the first things that was enacted was the registry of all owners of firearms and a list of the weapons possessed. Then came the registry of the Gypsy people under the guise of their propensity towards theft and other vagaries.
Then came the Jewish registry under the guise of protection due to them having the majority of the wealth.
I think from here we can see history repeating its self.
The noted philosopher George Santayana penned one of the great truths about human history: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
History is no longer taught and what is taught is changed so that it is politically correct, which in it’s self is another part of past history.
Our nation is farther down this path than most are willing to admit and until it is recognized by “The People” nothing is going to change. Unfortunately the education of the populace has been left to the very government that is the source of the corruption.
I believe that the majority of those that are leading this cause, our cause, are seeing this and are working to figure out a way to overcome it, and I thank them for it.
Educating and removing the illogical fear that has been instilled over generations of fear mongering propaganda will not be an easy task as it’s very difficult to deal with people who are standing around with their fingers in their ears going nananana.
To hear the truth and admit it is a very hard thing for the indoctrinated to do. It’s called Cognitive dissidents.
We are plagued with it.
Keep hoping and praying if you are so inclined.
When presented with the opportunity, share the truth, but be prepared with the facts. We have to be logical, not emotional.
Machines value exceeds human value renders human value to null. Just as predicted by Asimov. The people themselves do not understand its implications but they will. After the human feelings of powerlessness will come the human rage. And it will be proclaimed progress.
I like that piece Sandy well said well said! I forget exactly who said it and how it was stated regarding the risks to live in a free society is what makes us truly free individuals if anyone remembers!
I don’t know if anyone read about the registrant in North Wales that was murdered. He was a registered offender for flashing. He blead to death after having his genitalia cut off.
Another example of how the registries keep people safe.
I appreciate all the effort that this organization puts forth to try to benefit and bring some relief too those of us that are under a lifelong punishment. I thank them for their efforts to educate the ignorant and misinformed, but until this becomes no longer profitable for the Law Makers and the DOJ and other law enforcement organizations, I fear that the fruits of the labors will be very very rare and very very seldom.
I like the idea of taking this to the UN and even to the World Court, but as long as power and wealth are involved I have little help and I know that it will be on a case by case basis again costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars for each.
Unless we can get strong representation in the Houses and Senate’s of the individual states we will be beating our heads against a political brick wall.
I keep reading about The Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but this is not technically a Federal Law. It is a law that the Federal Government extorted the states to implement or lose Federal funding for Law Enforcement.
If we could bring enough pressure to bear on our local state representatives then I believe that we could influence for change.
But as it currently stands, I believe that the majority of these representatives are as ignorant of the fallacies as the general public. They live in fear for their children as is intended by the perpetrators of this facade.
They need to be shown the truth and be as outraged with it as it deserves.
I also believe that at the rate that these registries are growing that the cost of maintaining them will eventually out weigh the benefits perceived. When it starts costing more to maintain than it earns they will look more closely.
Morality and justice have little or no bearing because these people have no real sense of morality or justice. Just emotional reactions to misinformation and knee jerk solutions to isolated incidents.
If you were the State and made a ton of “laws” hoping that nobody ever challenged them, even though they were infringing on people’s rights…think about what’s the bigger “enemy”.
Remember… I said State. So now that you have the bigger picture, think about the kinds of “power moves” you as the State would do. Or rather, think about what you would do to keep your image looking clean.
And “constitutional”.
Think about the worst level of a cover-up that you could possibly pull in order to evade being exposed. Think about how deep the corruption would go if it was all just a game to you. Think about the lives you would ruin or take in that pursuit and how you might even get away with it. Think about how far you’d go if you were that evil.
Because that’s what’s going on. This is the con, the whole scheme that Medicare and Marvel blinded the masses with and that they don’t want anyone to wake up to.
So now imagine being the other guy. The one that suddenly has a target on their back for figuring it all out…and manages to stay alive maybe one more day.
I’m not going to go out on any whimsical philosophical limbs here. I will just say that until the registry is killed at the Federal level, lawyers will just keep raking in the cash. This has always been about money just like prisons, jails, commitment facilities, and half-way houses. You may say “Well it’s all publicly funded,” but it just goes to the people running these enterprises. So, it’s still about money. Until we stop treating the justice system and government like a for-profit business, things will remain wonderful for those who profit from the system. All other arguments apart from destroying the Registry are a waste of time. This is because the lawyers get rich handing your freedom back to you piecemeal. The Registry is the cause of all these secondary issues.
I’ve never understood this. Wouldn’t you like to know if a convicted burglar or someone convicted of a violent crime lives in your area? Why isn’t their a violent offender registry? I’m definitely not calling for that because they have done their time already. However, if you insist that the SOR makes you safer, then why not any other kind of registry?
This is because it is not about safety. It is about additional punishment for crimes our society puts above all else even murder. It is also about Government control and removal of civil rights. This is irresistible to any government official that craves power over the people they are supposed to serve. Few people will stand up for a RSO, but many for a murderer, or other criminal. It is because they have been told for years that the RSO cannot change, that they are forever a danger to children. Even the courts repeat this lie. RSO have been singled out and discriminated against, and until the truth is known by all this will remain.
There are States that have violent offender and drug registries as well. Kansas is one and there are many others.
In Oklahoma it is the Sex and Violent Offender Registry. So violent offenders do have to go through a one-time registration here. There is also a Meth Registry here. Because us Okies are as dense as poundcake. I just want you to understand this. Because there exists a “registry” of any kind, this is where it goes. A never-ending series of rules and regulations without any substantive due process whatsoever and no real way to challenge it.
Funny you mention that of a “violent offender” registry. Well Indiana has what they call the “Sex and Violent Offender Registry” which fits exactly what you are talking about. Reality is that there are NO statutes or conditions for judges and prosecutors to require and sentence, yes SENTENCE a violent offender to said “Sex and Violent Offender Registry” so that just leaves sex offenders to be sentenced to registry.
Google reaches settlement with Illinois over biometrics collective unknown to users in Illinois and other states. 397 million is a drop in the bucket AND there’s no way to delete this collection because most of it was already copied and sold to other data brokers. This is what I meant with unfettered use of the database.
Connecticut AG Wong claimed “…an historic settlement for consumers..who rely more on technology…”
His statement sounds good but it’s an empty one!
Hi, here are the registers I found :
At least five states (Montana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana) have violent offender registries; Ohio is contemplating one. Some states have them for meth (Tennessee and Kansas), others for drunken driving (Ohio’s has over 5,000 people on it). Florida has a “career offender” registry for people convicted of three violent crimes or who have been designated a “habitual violent felony offender” by a state court. Some jurisdictions require registration for narrower categories of offenses like violent crimes against children or animals.
But the government forgot to tell everyone.
FYI:
Unlike most or all other states, Arkansas does not have a 3-tier system, but a 4-Level structure. Level 4 is designated as “Sexually Violent Person”, and remains the one Level for which lifetime registration is legally mandated/required.
i am concerned with a widespread belief that cops have a duty to protect an individual because they are not held accountable for not protecting an individual.
I only want to comment on one part of your piece here:
You said to teach children not to let someone touch certain parts of their body “without their permission”
I think this plays too much in the gray area, because once children achieve the age of puberty, they have many emotions regarding sex and their bodies. They may even be a little confused prior to that if something physically “feels good”. This can lead to children giving “permission” according to your statement and that is used as justification by many offenders for their crimes.
The bottom line is, children cannot consent… period. So they are not authorized to give permission for this kind of contact… at all.
Forceful, clear point made Sandy! I think you guys need to get this published/picked up by the broader print media sites.
If this is a fair and totally justice system then, every single person has to put any and wrong doing of any kind on a registry with all there info. If you have the right to know about sex offenders we all have the right to about all of yours period. Fairs fair.
If we created registries for ALL types of violent and invasive crimes, then the majority of people would be against them. The majority of people would then see just how unfair the registry is. That is why I advocate for registries for EVERY crime- all carried out the same way, if we have a registry for just one.
Imagine the uproar. Imagine how fast the registries would be deemed unconstitutional.
Maybe we are going about this the wrong way?