Comment
I was a kid from a really horrible situation of abuse that went unchecked by everyone- my teachers ignored my swollen face, my bruised arms.
I was a kid that 2 years later would be raped, and suffer a miscarriage during drivers training.. but I never told because I felt like I deserved it.
I have never reoffended because I wasn’t a predator then- and I’m not one now.
What I am is a college graduate that fears the day state cops show up on my door stoop to make sure I’m not lying about where I live, what I drive, where I work, what my email address is.
Because I wear a scarlet letter.
I was a 13 year old. They made me do probation at an office where I was bullied by middle aged women because I didn’t want to tell them why I was on probation.
But my probation officer fed me sometimes.
They made me have a pelvic exam- I was a Virgin. Do you know what it’s like to have a speculum forced up you at 13? I remember Donald Duck on the ceiling while I begged them to stop.
I could go on and on, but they’re just my facts. They’re my crosses to bear.
Below are the facts of so many others.
Here are some basic facts about registrants:
No other group of offenders, including murderers, arsonists, those who commit violent assaults, etc., is subjected to the draconian restrictions of being placed on a public list. No other country (with the exception of North Korea) has a public list, although many countries’ law enforcement agencies maintain nonpublic lists.
•Over 95% of new sexual crime is committed by persons NOT on a registry.
http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-18509-003 https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/231989.pdf page 15 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232505213_Does_a_Watched_Pot_Boil_A_TimeSeries_Analysis_of_New_York_State’s_Sex_Offender_Registration_and_Notification_Law
•Public urination, sexting, underage sex, and indecent exposure can trigger a requirement to register.
https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/09/11/no-easy-answers/sex-offender-laws-us third section
•Many registrants face unemployment, homelessness, instability, and personal danger.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1043986204271704?journalCode=ccja ; https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/231989.pdf page 9
•Only a small fraction of those on registries are truly high-risk.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/231989.pdf page 11
•“Stranger-danger” is rare; 90% or more of victims know their attackers, higher for children.
https://www.rainn.org/statistics/perpetrators-sexual-violence https://www.innovations.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/105361.pdf page 7
•Re-offense is rare. The DOJ has reported a 5.3% re-arrest rate, and a 3.5% reconviction rate after 3 years.
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/rsorp94pr.cfm https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/231989.pdf page 7
•Research studies have found no relationship between having a registry and a decrease in sex offenses.
http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-18509-003 https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/225370.pdf pp. 7, 41
•Sex offender registries put innocent family members of registrants in harm’s way.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12103-008-9055-x https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/231989.pdf pages 9-10
•Registrants are frequently denied special housing such as nursing home care and section 8 housing.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/06/aging-sex-offenders/528849/ http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1386&context=elders
•Former sex offenders are less and less likely to reoffend the longer they live offense-free.
https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/09/11/no-easy-answers/sex-offender-laws-us http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260514526062 https://ofm.wa.gov/sites/default/files/public/legacy/sgc/sopb/meetings/board/2015/10/research_outline.pdf https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/024_hanson_decl_11.7.12.pdf
•Current sexual offense laws create conditions that lead to increased crime.
https://qz.com/869499/new-evidence-says-us-sex-offender-policies-dont-work-and-are-are-actually-causing-more-crime/ https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1078&context=article
