We created a registry that has made families of registrant’s victims of colleterial consequences. Children are bullied, harassed, and targeted for attacks; these are the children of offenders as well as children on registries. Children as young as 8 years old, registered for life, restricted from parks, playgrounds, and schools. How can we expect a child to develop fully with these restrictions? Each and every state has different rules, and in some cases each county. My family has been affected in every way by these laws from victims, to parents of victims, to parents of offender, to registrant. My son was convicted of a non-contact offense against a child at 18, ten years ago, he is not the same. He is un-employable, and now he, his father and I are forced to move in with one of his sisters. He had a job, a vehicle, and was getting ready to buy a house then his employer found out he was on the registry, fired within 48 hours. The registry does not work, it does destroy lives, and create a second class of citizens. It allows vigilantes to stalk and target you. We live in fear, we’re not allowed a weapon to defend ourselves, we are sitting ducks. It would seem like it would be better to have a law that includes forgiveness, and healing for all concerned, instead of never-ending punishment. Prison should be enough punishment, it should also rehabilitate, and teach is that not what it is supposed to be? My youngest daughter was groomed for two years, and raped at 15, she used to wake up screaming for Mommy at night. She also walked out of her Civics class in protest of the Sex Offender Registry Laws, I was so proud of her, she said that they are unjust, they treat all the same but crimes are not the same. At 15 she had the wisdom to understand that ongoing endless punishment does not fix problems. We have to teach people to heal, we have to educate in order to prevent, the registry does none of this, it just punishes. It’s time we stop the “tough on crime” and start the “smart on crime”, we have to allow forgiveness for that. Patricia Wetterling has come out to advocate for changes, stating we have gone too far. Every year new laws are introduced to punish sex offenders, laws like sexting. Laws that punish for life those that had consensual sex with their b/f or g/f, its enough. Laws against sex dolls, and humiliating women who are prostitutes. Not only the people who commit current crimes but to go back and retroactively destroy lives, when is it enough?! We have seen more than enough hate, and violence this year it’s time for positive changes. Its just like the failed war on drugs. My son used to have hopes and dreams, friends, and family. Now he has no hopes, or dreams, no friends, no hopes of his own family, he exists, his father and I exist. The American dream is gone for us. He knows he did something terrible; he is sorry for that and the pain it has brought, but he is not 17/18 years old now, but he will pay for life. He had CP on his computer, and through LimeWire it was shared, terrible I know, but it was 10 years ago, and he served 4 years in prison. It should have ended with prison, but at least by now 10 years is enough. The human brain, the frontal cortex, does not fully develop until 25 or even 30, so why are we holding 8,10,14,18-year old’s accountable for life? It also has been shown that residency restrictions have no effect on crimes, they do however make people homeless. For me personally I live in fear of people I work with finding out, I live in fear of a person showing up and killing my son, of killing us all. My youngest used to love Halloween, she loved to decorate, now we can’t. She wasnt really allowed to have friends spend the night, because we didnt want her classmates to know, we wanted her to have friends. My grandchildren dont understand why their Uncle cant go with them to the park, or to their school plays, or games, theyre too young to understand. My son is only 28, and has no life. I read recently of a 93-year-old man on the registry, in WV, 93, he cant go into assisted living, or a nursing home, so what does he do? We didnt think of the consequences of the Registry, only punishing, its time to stop. People change, we need to as well. The data shows recidivism at between 1.5% and 4%, with isolation being a main factor, so we have taken away homes, jobs, friends and family from these people. We have shoved them into abandoned buildings, woods, empty lots, street corners, and under bridges. We have seen where lists, and rules on stamping passports, and special ID’s lead, the US condemned this behavior as human rights violations against Germany. But now we think it’s ok to use it? It’s ironic Germany has condemned it as a human rights violation and the registry violates right to privacy, against the US per German courts. We have become the monsters.