Bush signs bill to monitor child molesters

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

Does the law provide any protection for people once they have served their time, protecting them from the of indiscriminate violent retaliation that was seen in the UK when a major national newspaper 'experimented' with that sort of thing?

isn't that something they should have thought about before molesting a child?

Yes but the law generally doesn't sentimentalise in that way.

Generally speaking, if you commit a crime, you go to jail, you serve your time, you have a record.

Why is it we single out one particular class of crime (which is in the significant minority of criminal behaviour) as opposed to burglars, street robbers etc?

There's a certain amount of hysteria around pedophilia.

Hysteria? What if it was you that got molested or a close relative?

I would be more inclined to worry about false convictions and false accuasation "hysteria" than worry about singling out known and verifiable perverts. The truely guilty get zero sympathy from me.

I lose no sleep over the hardship imposed on these creeps. Their victims are traumatized for life. Children are the most vulnerable in our society and deserve the most stringent protection from predators.

What if it was you who got robbed, beaten up or had a gun held to your head?

The hysteria comes from the nature of the crime vs. the actual statistical probability of its occurence. Its horrible certainly - but so is every other form of violent crime.

There have been studies that show the fear many women have of walking home alone after dark is massively disproportionate to the chance of them being a victim of being a sexual assault or rape compared to the likelihood of a lone male aged 18-34 YO male being mugged.

People I think make too much of this one crime, that while certainly heinous and worthy of stiffer punishments than the courts often mete out, is far from a national epidemic.

The media has done a pretty good job of creating 'pedo-shock' scares over the last few years - no wonder so many people think that there are perverts on every street corner waiting to pounce on their children as soon as they step out the door.

actually, erekose, i've done a search on the convicted sex criminals around the local area. surprisingly, there are more than you'd think. there are none within about 8 miles of me, but within a town of say 25,000 there are - no kidding - about 25.

perhaps that is not much statistically, until you have one living within a few blocks of you. then it's 1 too many..........

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Does the law provide any protection for people once they have served their time, protecting them from the of indiscriminate violent retaliation that was seen in the UK when a major national newspaper 'experimented' with that sort of thing?

isn't that something they should have thought about before molesting a child?

Yes but the law generally doesn't sentimentalise in that way.

Generally speaking, if you commit a crime, you go to jail, you serve your time, you have a record.

Why is it we single out one particular class of crime (which is in the significant minority of criminal behaviour) as opposed to burglars, street robbers etc?

There's a certain amount of hysteria around pedophilia.

Hysteria? What if it was you that got molested or a close relative?

I would be more inclined to worry about false convictions and false accuasation "hysteria" than worry about singling out known and verifiable perverts. The truely guilty get zero sympathy from me.

I lose no sleep over the hardship imposed on these creeps. Their victims are traumatized for life. Children are the most vulnerable in our society and deserve the most stringent protection from predators.

What if it was you who got robbed, beaten up or had a gun held to your head?

The hysteria comes from the nature of the crime vs. the actual statistical probability of its occurence. Its horrible certainly - but so is every other form of violent crime.

There have been studies that show the fear many women have of walking home alone after dark is massively disproportionate to the chance of them being a victim of being a sexual assault or rape compared to the likelihood of a lone male aged 18-34 YO male being mugged.

People I think make too much of this one crime, that while certainly heinous and worthy of stiffer punishments than the courts often mete out, is far from a national epidemic.

The media has done a pretty good job of creating 'pedo-shock' scares over the last few years - no wonder so many people think that there are perverts on every street corner waiting to pounce on their children as soon as they step out the door.

actually, erekose, i've done a search on the convicted sex criminals around the local area. surprisingly, there are more than you'd think. there are none within about 8 miles of me, but within a town of say 25,000 there are - no kidding - about 25.

perhaps that is not much statistically, until you have one living within a few blocks of you. then it's 1 too many..........

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

Does the law provide any protection for people once they have served their time, protecting them from the of indiscriminate violent retaliation that was seen in the UK when a major national newspaper 'experimented' with that sort of thing?

isn't that something they should have thought about before molesting a child?

Yes but the law generally doesn't sentimentalise in that way.

Generally speaking, if you commit a crime, you go to jail, you serve your time, you have a record.

Why is it we single out one particular class of crime (which is in the significant minority of criminal behaviour) as opposed to burglars, street robbers etc?

There's a certain amount of hysteria around pedophilia.

Hysteria? What if it was you that got molested or a close relative?

I would be more inclined to worry about false convictions and false accuasation "hysteria" than worry about singling out known and verifiable perverts. The truely guilty get zero sympathy from me.

I lose no sleep over the hardship imposed on these creeps. Their victims are traumatized for life. Children are the most vulnerable in our society and deserve the most stringent protection from predators.

What if it was you who got robbed, beaten up or had a gun held to your head?

The hysteria comes from the nature of the crime vs. the actual statistical probability of its occurence. Its horrible certainly - but so is every other form of violent crime.

There have been studies that show the fear many women have of walking home alone after dark is massively disproportionate to the chance of them being a victim of being a sexual assault or rape compared to the likelihood of a lone male aged 18-34 YO male being mugged.

People I think make too much of this one crime, that while certainly heinous and worthy of stiffer punishments than the courts often mete out, is far from a national epidemic.

The media has done a pretty good job of creating 'pedo-shock' scares over the last few years - no wonder so many people think that there are perverts on every street corner waiting to pounce on their children as soon as they step out the door.

actually, erekose, i've done a search on the convicted sex criminals around the local area. surprisingly, there are more than you'd think. there are none within about 8 miles of me, but within a town of say 25,000 there are - no kidding - about 25.

perhaps that is not much statistically, until you have one living within a few blocks of you. then it's 1 too many..........

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

identity thieves? no listing for meth users available

con men and such? nearest used car lot about 10 miles

as there is not a list online of such, obviously i can't answer that eh? however, most of those above deal with adults versus adults....not exactly a fair analogy when we were talking about adults versus children.

i see where you are going with this. the above could be compiled if one wanted to spend the time going thru court records and then cross checking such with say the local phone book.

best answer - know thy neighbors

[Alex+R 0]

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

Those crimes are not even close to comparable with pedophelia. Ahem, statistically speaking most pedophiles were victims of abuse as children.

I am very interested in the reasoning behind releasing people who are supposed to be impossible to cure.

I do find it odd that the occasional 18-year-old who has an encounter with an older-looking 15-year-old is branded for life as a sex offender.

There are differences in severity of the crime.

[peejay 327]

Does the law provide any protection for people once they have served their time, protecting them from the of indiscriminate violent retaliation that was seen in the UK when a major national newspaper 'experimented' with that sort of thing?

isn't that something they should have thought about before molesting a child?

Yes but the law generally doesn't sentimentalise in that way.

Generally speaking, if you commit a crime, you go to jail, you serve your time, you have a record.

Why is it we single out one particular class of crime (which is in the significant minority of criminal behaviour) as opposed to burglars, street robbers etc?

There's a certain amount of hysteria around pedophilia.

Hysteria? What if it was you that got molested or a close relative?

I would be more inclined to worry about false convictions and false accuasation "hysteria" than worry about singling out known and verifiable perverts. The truely guilty get zero sympathy from me.

I lose no sleep over the hardship imposed on these creeps. Their victims are traumatized for life. Children are the most vulnerable in our society and deserve the most stringent protection from predators.

What if it was you who got robbed, beaten up or had a gun held to your head?

The hysteria comes from the nature of the crime vs. the actual statistical probability of its occurence. Its horrible certainly - but so is every other form of violent crime.

There have been studies that show the fear many women have of walking home alone after dark is massively disproportionate to the chance of them being a victim of being a sexual assault or rape compared to the likelihood of a lone male aged 18-34 YO male being mugged.

People I think make too much of this one crime, that while certainly heinous and worthy of stiffer punishments than the courts often mete out, is far from a national epidemic.

The media has done a pretty good job of creating 'pedo-shock' scares over the last few years - no wonder so many people think that there are perverts on every street corner waiting to pounce on their children as soon as they step out the door.

It is just what I said...I would be more inclined to worry about the "hysteria" of false accuasation and false imprisonment than the "hysteria" of stimatizing known perverts. Sure the media sensationalizes, but it is not like this stuff never happens. It happens more often than it should. The opposite would be to ignore it and act like these things never happen. The key thing to keep in mind is coming up with a rational policy that is in the best interests of society.

Comparing thieves to molesters is no comparison. It is about like comparing jaywalkers to murderers.

[desert_fox 32]

Too bad that the new law doesnt require them to wear pink clothes all the time with a target on the back.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

Those crimes are not even close to comparable with pedophelia. Ahem, statistically speaking most pedophiles were victims of abuse as children.

I am very interested in the reasoning behind releasing people who are supposed to be impossible to cure.

I do find it odd that the occasional 18-year-old who has an encounter with an older-looking 15-year-old is branded for life as a sex offender.

There are differences in severity of the crime.

Sure - but why is it people only want to know about pedophiles and sex offenders (statistically a very small percentage of all recorded criminals) as opposed to other 'repeat offending' career criminals with say violent histories?

What are they going to do with the information? What safety net is it going to provide?

This IMHO is a textbook Moral Panic

Edited July 28, 2006 by erekose

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

Those crimes are not even close to comparable with pedophelia. Ahem, statistically speaking most pedophiles were victims of abuse as children.

I am very interested in the reasoning behind releasing people who are supposed to be impossible to cure.

I do find it odd that the occasional 18-year-old who has an encounter with an older-looking 15-year-old is branded for life as a sex offender.

There are differences in severity of the crime.

agreed. one of those 25 i mentioned previously fell into that category. that is stretching it a bit to apply it to someone like that. most states have a romeo and juliet law for that purpose.

[Alex+R 0]

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

Those crimes are not even close to comparable with pedophelia. Ahem, statistically speaking most pedophiles were victims of abuse as children.

I am very interested in the reasoning behind releasing people who are supposed to be impossible to cure.

I do find it odd that the occasional 18-year-old who has an encounter with an older-looking 15-year-old is branded for life as a sex offender.

There are differences in severity of the crime.

Sure - but why is it people only want to know about pedophiles and sex offenders (statistically a very small percentage of all recorded criminals) as opposed to other 'repeat offending' career criminals with say violent histories?

What are they going to do with the information? What safety net is it going to provide?

This IMHO is a textbook Moral Panic

People just want to be able to protect their children, and obviously the state's release of a sexual predator is no guarantee that they won't 'strike' again. It's already been pointed out that most do. People want to know who to keep their children particularly safe from.

That is pretty obvious to me.

A violent criminal perhaps has a lower risk of offending if they have been released, and people tend to assume they can figure out who the violent criminals/shady types are, where pedophiles could be anyone. That seems to be the general root of the fear of pedophiles to me.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

Those crimes are not even close to comparable with pedophelia. Ahem, statistically speaking most pedophiles were victims of abuse as children.

I am very interested in the reasoning behind releasing people who are supposed to be impossible to cure.

I do find it odd that the occasional 18-year-old who has an encounter with an older-looking 15-year-old is branded for life as a sex offender.

There are differences in severity of the crime.

Sure - but why is it people only want to know about pedophiles and sex offenders (statistically a very small percentage of all recorded criminals) as opposed to other 'repeat offending' career criminals with say violent histories?

What are they going to do with the information? What safety net is it going to provide?

This IMHO is a textbook Moral Panic

People just want to be able to protect their children, and obviously the state's release of a sexual predator is no guarantee that they won't 'strike' again. It's already been pointed out that most do. People want to know who to keep their children particularly safe from.

That is pretty obvious to me.

A violent criminal perhaps has a lower risk of offending if they have been released, and people tend to assume they can figure out who the violent criminals/shady types are, where pedophiles could be anyone. That seems to be the general root of the fear of pedophiles to me.

I understand the fear behind it - but sex offences are a very very small percentage of violent crime (which is itself a very small percentage of all recorded crime).

Time to post this again I think - Pedo-Geddon

It is an irrational fear, and I don't see what difference knowing where a particular group of deviant individuals live will make. It's a false sense of security IMO.

There is also an argument that subsequent villifying and finger pointing of such deviant individuals actually increases the likelihood of their reoffending.

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

I understand the fear behind it - but sex offences are a very very small percentage of violent crime (which is itself a very small percentage of all recorded crime).

Time to post this again I think - Pedo-Geddon

It is an irrational fear, and I don't see what difference knowing where a particular group of deviant individuals live will make. It's a false sense of security IMO.

There is also an argument that subsequent villifying and finger pointing of such deviant individuals actually increases the likelihood of their reoffending.

perhaps a small percentage. although the number of those on the list around here indicate it's not uncommon. whether or not it's an irrational fear depends on one's stance on that. if you have kids, don't you really have a duty to be informed about what's around? especially something like this?

i'm not implying go burn a cross or something to that effect in the person's yard, but it's someone you'd tell your kids to stay away from and you'd keep an eye on that person.

as far as knowing where they live, being forewarned is forearmed eh?

and if they don't like the finger pointing and such, move!

(maybe they should have considered that before they committed the crime)

[Alex+R 0]

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

Those crimes are not even close to comparable with pedophelia. Ahem, statistically speaking most pedophiles were victims of abuse as children.

I am very interested in the reasoning behind releasing people who are supposed to be impossible to cure.

I do find it odd that the occasional 18-year-old who has an encounter with an older-looking 15-year-old is branded for life as a sex offender.

There are differences in severity of the crime.

Sure - but why is it people only want to know about pedophiles and sex offenders (statistically a very small percentage of all recorded criminals) as opposed to other 'repeat offending' career criminals with say violent histories?

What are they going to do with the information? What safety net is it going to provide?

This IMHO is a textbook Moral Panic

People just want to be able to protect their children, and obviously the state's release of a sexual predator is no guarantee that they won't 'strike' again. It's already been pointed out that most do. People want to know who to keep their children particularly safe from.

That is pretty obvious to me.

A violent criminal perhaps has a lower risk of offending if they have been released, and people tend to assume they can figure out who the violent criminals/shady types are, where pedophiles could be anyone. That seems to be the general root of the fear of pedophiles to me.

I understand the fear behind it - but sex offences are a very very small percentage of violent crime (which is itself a very small percentage of all recorded crime).

Time to post this again I think - Pedo-Geddon

It is an irrational fear, and I don't see what difference knowing where a particular group of deviant individuals live will make. It's a false sense of security IMO.

There is also an argument that subsequent villifying and finger pointing of such deviant individuals actually increases the likelihood of their reoffending.

'

muahahahahhaha this video is hilarious. Especially the paedophile disguised as a school in Sheffield.

I wouldn't advocate anything about the current system of dealing with pedophiles. It's ridiculous, and they are human beings with a disease and should be treated as such. But they can't live among children if they're all going to reoffend, can they?

[desert_fox 32]

How many identity thieves live near you? What about con men? muggers? or people with histories of violent assaults and robbery?

Those crimes are not even close to comparable with pedophelia. Ahem, statistically speaking most pedophiles were victims of abuse as children.

I am very interested in the reasoning behind releasing people who are supposed to be impossible to cure.

I do find it odd that the occasional 18-year-old who has an encounter with an older-looking 15-year-old is branded for life as a sex offender.

There are differences in severity of the crime.

Sure - but why is it people only want to know about pedophiles and sex offenders (statistically a very small percentage of all recorded criminals) as opposed to other 'repeat offending' career criminals with say violent histories?

What are they going to do with the information? What safety net is it going to provide?

This IMHO is a textbook Moral Panic

People just want to be able to protect their children, and obviously the state's release of a sexual predator is no guarantee that they won't 'strike' again. It's already been pointed out that most do. People want to know who to keep their children particularly safe from.

That is pretty obvious to me.

A violent criminal perhaps has a lower risk of offending if they have been released, and people tend to assume they can figure out who the violent criminals/shady types are, where pedophiles could be anyone. That seems to be the general root of the fear of pedophiles to me.

I understand the fear behind it - but sex offences are a very very small percentage of violent crime (which is itself a very small percentage of all recorded crime).

Time to post this again I think - Pedo-Geddon

It is an irrational fear, and I don't see what difference knowing where a particular group of deviant individuals live will make. It's a false sense of security IMO.

There is also an argument that subsequent villifying and finger pointing of such deviant individuals actually increases the likelihood of their reoffending.

'

muahahahahhaha this video is hilarious. Especially the paedophile disguised as a school in Sheffield.

I wouldn't advocate anything about the current system of dealing with pedophiles. It's ridiculous, and they are human beings with a disease and should be treated as such. But they can't live among children if they're all going to reoffend, can they?

treat them??...either shoot them or put them back in prision....with the general population.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I understand the fear behind it - but sex offences are a very very small percentage of violent crime (which is itself a very small percentage of all recorded crime).

Time to post this again I think - Pedo-Geddon

It is an irrational fear, and I don't see what difference knowing where a particular group of deviant individuals live will make. It's a false sense of security IMO.

There is also an argument that subsequent villifying and finger pointing of such deviant individuals actually increases the likelihood of their reoffending.

perhaps a small percentage. although the number of those on the list around here indicate it's not uncommon. whether or not it's an irrational fear depends on one's stance on that. if you have kids, don't you really have a duty to be informed about what's around? especially something like this?

i'm not implying go burn a cross or something to that effect in the person's yard, but it's someone you'd tell your kids to stay away from and you'd keep an eye on that person.

as far as knowing where they live, being forewarned is forearmed eh?

and if they don't like the finger pointing and such, move!

(maybe they should have considered that before they committed the crime)

Sure but as I said before - its not the job of the justice system to sentimentalise, but to punish people appropriately according to the severity of their crime.

That said, people who commit crimes often bear the consequences of them for many years. That said I simply don't see why pedophiles are singled out for this specific kind of treatment based on the statistically low occurrence of this type of crime (based on the national average) and the fact that other (worse) criminals such as crack dealers and people with a history of violence

To me, the national prominence of this specific issue simply illustrates how politically charged this has become. I think people lose perspective...

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

they are human beings with a disease and should be treated as such.

a disease..and here's the cure