The new American witch hunt . . .

[OneBlueSky]

Demonizing sex offenders by passing tough, mindless laws rather than treating them makes little sense
By Richard B. Krueger, psychiatrist and associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.
March 11, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-kr...

(snip)

What is being created is a class of individuals that is progressively demonized by society and treated in such a way that a meaningful reintegration into society is impossible.

Yes, sexual abuse is a serious matter. Yes, individuals who commit sexual crimes should be punished. Unquestionably, a small percentage of sex offenders are very dangerous and must be removed from society. What's more, we know that sexual crimes are devastating to victims and their families and that we must do all we can to protect ourselves from "predators."

But demonizing people rather than treating them makes little sense, and passing laws that are tough but mindless in response to political pressure won't solve the problem either.

The reality is that, despite the popular perception to the contrary, recidivism rates for sexual offenders are among the lowest of any class of criminals. What's more, 90% of sex offenders in prison will eventually be released back into the community — and 90% of sexual offenses are committed by people known to their victim, such as family members or trusted members of the community — so rehabilitation is critical. It is not possible, affordable, constitutional or reasonable to lock up all sex offenders all of the time.

more . . .

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-kr...

[silverojo]

1. Methinks the writer is a pedophile

Why the hell SHOULDN'T sex offenders be demonized?

[slowry]

2. Erm.

Did you read the article? At all?

[MadHound]

3. Do you have any clue how easy it is to get branded with this label?

Go have a drunken pee in an alley where a kid can stumble on you. Ooops, you're now a sex offender. Say you're 17, having consensual sex with you sixteen year old girlfriend and her parents get pissed. Whoops, you're now a sex offender. For the rest of your life, you will be completely unable to work in certain professions, will in effect be excluded from most others when your employer sees your record. You will be restricted as to where you can live, and as restrictions become more stringent, you will have to move, time and again. You will also have a target on your back for any disgruntled person in the world. I've seen plenty of articles where sex offenders were shot by complete strangers, neighbors in the hood who were carrying out vigilante justice. This is going to be facilitated even more, as more and more states enact laws requiring special plates for those convicted of sex offenses. Talk about road rage.

Then there is the matter of the slippery slope. These draconian measures are slowly, but surely making their way into other offenses, thus we see the slippery slope going down, down, down, where all criminals will be forever branded, no matter their crime, no matter their time.

And so much for the entire notion that once you've served your time, you're square with society. This is a new, anti-American notion that brands people for life, no matter what they do. This isn't American, this is fascism.

But sadly, all for a false notion of security, more and more people are ready to abandon all that was great about this country, just so they don't feel as scared

What has happened to our country?

[Lindsay]

4. A lot of what's happened to our country has been

the Republicans, and their one-size-fits-all, punish first and ask questions later, three strikes (or in this case, one strike) and you're out culture. Plus a media that promoted their "Tough on Crime" slogan as though it were an 11th Commandment, so that non-Repugs felt pressured to follow suit.

Pedophilia is a very serious crime, and nobody has yet figured out a way to treat it successfully. I don't think people are wired from birth to be pedophiles, but I suspect their choices are made long before they start acting them out. Serial rapists don't belong in polite society either.

But you're right that there are a lot of situations that get characterized as sex offenses that shouldn't be, at least in terms of draconian punishments and permanent sanctions.

Now, if only I had an answer as to what to do about the problem....

[Odin2005]

6. Because not all people labled "sex offenders" are pervs and sickos.

a good chunk are college-age people who got slammed with a statutory rape conviction after going out with a 17-year old.

[BoneDaddy]

5. Child rapists

should be executed on the spot. The drunk guy who was pissing in the alley and a 4th grader saw it, needs to be let out of jail when he serves his time.

I could care less what happens to the serious pedophiles, but the "sexual offender" label is an easy one to give to people and there is often a huge range of what is considered a sexual offense.

[gollygee]

7. Sex offenders need to be dealt with toughly, but we need to be careful

with how we define "sex offender". It doesn't make a person tougher on crime to round up extra people and add them to the "sex offender" list. What would be good is to read a list of sex offenders and know that the people on that list were actually people who might hurt your kids. That list would be much shorter than current lists but it would actually tell me who is a problem. I don't care if a neighbor had a 16-year-old girlfriend when he was 18. I don't care if someone was caught having consensual sex in public for that matter. I do want to know if someone who, say, works at my daughter's school has victimized a child. I think the lists should be kept but they should ONLY have people who have actually victimized children.