Shame — Part III
By a daughter seeking kindness See also Part I See also Part II
Part III — What will the future be?
Dad is still going through the court system. They want him to take a plea, but he will not. He is not going to be intimated to plead guilty when he is not. It has been almost two years, and we are still at square one. His case is still active. My mom wants him to take the plea because they have not seen their grandchildren since March 2019. Healthy, happy children have been forcibly separated from loving grandparents.
This accusation is a lie. In 1983 his charge and conviction involved a minor female. This current case is regarding a male minor who is now twelve years old. This person has a history of making false accusations of a sexual nature, having previously made such an accusation against a fellow student.
My dad is old now and finally showing his age. I am running out of time with my dad. However, because of the internet, my name is permanently attached to his forever, even after his death. My generation and the next one, that of the grandchildren, need to live out our lives before there will be enough distance from my father’s name so the great-grandchildren have a chance, just a chance, to live a normal life without someone Googling them for work interviews, background checks, or dating and finding my father’s name.
Even if you get your name off of the list, you will never get your name off of social media and other elements of the internet. You are totally fooling yourself if you think your name is permanently erased when they say it is. My family home is attached to me as a former address, an address that was on the registry, permanently; therefore, so is my dad.
And as far as the registry goes, it is, and will be as long as it exists, a blight on society. With it, we as a society are encouraging shame. We never let people who have served their time be free. We never allow their families to heal. With this list, we put young children in grave danger. This list is touted as being created to protect children. Where was my protection from the darkness? With this list, we are letting strangers into our homes. We can’t protect ourselves, so how can we protect our families? With this list we encourage vigilantes, we encourage harm and destruction to the homes and property and lives of registrants and everyone connected with them.
A list like the sex offender registry cannot exist without hurting innocent lives. The families of listed registrants should be placed in a protection program.
Every family attached to this list will have to deal with losing friends, losing jobs, losing relationships, and will suffer from isolation. Many will be preyed on with blackmail or scams. Many will fall victim to addictions, suicide, and being sexually, physically, mentally, and verbally abused. As a group, the standard of living will be significantly lower than it would have been otherwise. In many cases, family units will be destroyed.
The days of doing the right thing for all life here in the USA is no longer.
Does it have to be this way?
