3 Sex offenders at the same address ???

Fetishes are not interchangeable.

I'm having a hard time taking you seriously.

Certainly lots of them go the way of increasingly boundary crossing porn (eg violent or child porn) as they work their fantasies up until they do it to real humans.

In the state I worked for "the list" included everyone who had ever been accused/investigated for any child abuse/neglect whether arrested or convicted or even charged.

While this "list" was not specifically public it was easily accessed by almost anyone.

If we allowed kink, promoted safer kink, we would be much better off.

Yeah - there are some horror stories about what can happen to people who get 'outed' but on the other hand, I have to say, that I'm like Linkat.

If there's a sex offender in my neighborhood - I'd like to be informed before the fact and not after some horrible, tragic event has taken place- because all the parents thought their neighborhood was as safe as it's always been.

Also as I read a bit more of the facility it isn't supposed to be "a holding facility". It is one those places where you line up each day for a half hour to get in. So it isn't in a sense a "real address" of where they live.

If there's a sex offender in my neighborhood - I'd like to be informed before the fact and not after some horrible, tragic event has taken place- because all the parents thought their neighborhood was as safe as it's always been.

Go peddle your poutrage somewhere else.

aidan wrote:

If there's a sex offender in my neighborhood - I'd like to be informed before the fact and not after some horrible, tragic event has taken place- because all the parents thought their neighborhood was as safe as it's always been.

Does this reasoning lead us a fortiori to inform the neighbors of murderers,
attempted murderers, robbers, burglars, blackmailers, car thieves, pickpockets, etc ?

Does this reasoning lead us a fortiori to inform the neighbors of murderers,
attempted murderers, robbers, burglars, blackmailers, car thieves, pickpockets, et

Why? What would you do with the knowledge that isn't already common sense to do if you have a kid?

And as an aside, I think it's very odd that American society is more interested in the sex offenders than the murderers that are released. It's not surprising, especially since seeing Janet Jackson's breast causes more of an uproar than the violence and murder on TV every day, but it's a weird set of priorities.

Robert said:

If you are screening a babysitter, or a teacher it might make sense, but as it stands I think it endangers the community more than it helps. If the individuals on the list are gainfully employed, as opposed to always being between jobs and with little to lose, there is less chance of recidivism.

Right now there are so many people on the list that don't pose a threat to society that it makes it harder to track the ones who do, and there's no evidence that getting the public involved helps any. And consequently there is no demonstrable benefit of these policies. It's not helping at all.

I'd rather see a smaller list of more dangerous individuals that is available only to police and as a background check for working with children, and more resources dedicated towards preventing recidivism instead of feeding the nation's obsession with all that is salacious.

Robert: I for one think it's a perfectly sound idea to provide parents the knowledge if a child molester resides between yours and your child's friend's home down the block. This may very well influence whether or not you let your child visit on his own. This knowledge is a game changer that may very well convince you to keep your child out of harm’s way, when otherwise worrying about junior’s ability to walk a block would be seriously overprotective. I would certainly want to know if that friendly old man that’s always kind to my children was in fact a convicted child molester, rather than just a friendly, lonely old man who happens to like children. You wouldn’t? Really?

The day will never come when I think the peace and comfort of an ex-child molester (if indeed there is such an animal) trumps the safety and sanctity of their next potential victim.

Well, right now I allow my daughter to walk unaccompanied to her friend's house. If I KNEW that there was a registered sex offender living in a house between here and her friend's house - I'd walk with her or drive her.
Accurate information would change my thinking as to whatdoes and does not constitute common sense in this specific situation - as it does in any situation.

But I will say, that I think MOST habitual sexual offenders of children have a different psychological make-up and bent toward recidivism of that specific crime than do MOST murderers- unless those murderers are serial killers.

I think this is a viable concern and a good topic for another thread - as in 'What purpose has the sexual offenders registry come to serve- who uses it and why and what that says about the people in our society.'

But as Linkat broached this topic - I have to say that I understand her concern and also question the reasoning of those who would house KNOWN and admitted sexual offenders within close proximity of a library and a Y that children walk to and attend, often unaccompanied by adults.