AZRSOL’s Vicky Campo: Registry doesn’t keep communities safe
By Vicky Campo . . . Meet Ryan, who, as a young man, had a caring and consensual relationship with his high school sweetheart. After months of dating, just before her 15th birthday and shortly after his 18th, their relationship became sexual. These young people were in love, hoping to build a life together, but because of their slight age difference, Ryan will spend the rest of his life on Arizona’s sexual offense registry and will carry the label of “child sexual predator” forever.
Ryan is hardly the monster we imagine when we think of a someone on a sexual offense registry, but his case represents a common scenario wherein normal teen sexual behavior is criminalized. Studies show that your child is more likely to be placed on the sexual offense registry than to be harmed by someone on it. The highest rate of sexual assault offenders are 14-year-olds. One third of all sex crimes against a minor are committed by another minor, and 23% of those prosecuted for contact sexual offense are juveniles themselves.
Sadly, Ryan’s story is not unique. In an attempt to stop sexual offenses, we have cast a net so wide that it includes those who pose no danger and never have. Ryan is now 24 and a productive, law-abiding member of society. All of the data shows he is extremely unlikely to ever reoffend. His neighbors are no safer knowing he lives in their neighborhood. And, in fact, since 95% of all sexual offenses against children are committed by someone known to the family, the false premise that sexual offense registries protect communities does much more harm than good.
With over 900,000 people on a sexual offense registry nationwide, some as young as 9-years-old, the government has created a new class of “untouchables” under the guise of public safety. Living on the sexual offense registry is so much more than just having a name on a list. It imposes restrictions that make it nearly impossible for people like Ryan to attend college, pursue a professional career, live in a safe neighborhood, and build community connections.
Meanwhile, all the data shows registry restrictions do nothing to keep our communities safe.
An 18 year old boy with no ill intentions at all and totally unaware of the asanine consequences. And believes he is not doing anything wrong makes an easy target for the Witch hunters ! It is much harder for them to catch a real professional perpetrator . So they use the boy and anyone else who commits a first time one time offense . And crucify them so they will look good to the public . Look at all of the big bad Sexoffenders we are catching . So vote for us . We are tough on these animals . It’s like they are placing huge deer antlers on cows standing in the pasture. And taking pictures of only the antlers and telling everyone, look at all the big bucks we’ve gotten . We are GREAT deer hunters .
They use a play on words . Some of their favorites, Child , Registered Sex Offender, Molest . And they take a single horrific act and have it broadcast repeatedly over the media . And the public becomes terrified of anyone labeled, Sex Offender . The people believe anyone on the list is a kidnapping, raping , murdering pedophile . As long as they can keep the people terrified they can pass any unconstitutional law they come up with. They could care less about making the public safe . Their agenda is to use the passing of the asanine laws to make the people believe they are really cracking down on the SOs . And in the process advance their position . There is no empathy for the injustice being done . They simply do not care that the SOR is a joke . They do not care who they put on it . They do not care how many lives they have destroyed by putting them on the SOR . The only way the SOR will be abolished is when it comes to affect the authors of it in an extreme negative way .