All I’m saying is that when we allow worry to be the end-all, it becomes hysteria–and when hysteria is deemed normal, there is no longer the will to exchange the useless for the useful. Politicians in numerous states have gone on the record stating the laws are ineffective, or counterproductive, or other politico-code for “stupid,” yet they state there is no “political will” to make a change for fear of the next election cycle.

That’s why the laws continue to escalate, and every escalation has its corresponding justifications that keep fear at a low boil. Lower courts have already determined the legislature need not be correct in its assumptions underlying intent; legislators merely need to prove they believe they’re right.

In any event, I think that states really need to take a look at sex offender registries and what we’re doing. Resources are finite, which means that they should not be squandered on a “one size fits all approach”. That said, remember, a sicko like Lawrence Singleton was paroled . . . .

Again, I understand what you’re saying, but believe that’s a superficial presumption about what it is to be a parent. More children are killed each year horseback riding than are killed by sex offenders (previously convicted and not). But I’m sure if a movement started to prevent all children from riding horses, and to remove all horse-related activities from place where children may gather, you’d call that, at the very least, an overreation. Ditto for childhood sports, bike riding, and being a passenger in a parent’s car.

A parent’s responsibility is to take personal action to reduce the risk of harm coming to their children–no doubt about it. But if we took the same approach to nearly any other childhood danger, it would be deemed ridiculous. We don’t ban horseback riding; we teach children safe riding techniques and outfit them with protective gear to minimize risk. We don’t ban children from riding in cars; we use seatbelts and safety seats to minimize risk.

“If there are sex offenders nearby, then you’ll worry about them, and you’ll do anything to not have them live near you.”

But that’s the insidious underbelly of res-res. Parents may feel safer that they no longer know of a sex offender in the neighborhood, and behave as if the risk to their children has been minimized. In fact, just the opposite has happened. That “safe” neighborhood, where all the parents feel just fine about letting their children roam, has become easy ground for the sex offender who has yet to be caught. (Convictions of first-time offenders account for about 90% of all sex crime convictions, btw.)

As for “do anything” to not have a sex offender live nearby, that’s not entirely true. Parents who fear the sex offender seem uniformly unwilling to move, even while spending a year or more to make the offender move away.

Sean, I do understand what you’re saying. However, it’s hard not to dismiss the lengths people are willing to take to see such laws implemented and upheld as hysteria. More than once I’ve told folks that such restrictions are opposed by VICTIM advocacy groups, and that DOC and treatment specialists show uprooting offenders INCREASE the risk of recidivism–and the response has been “I don’t care!” One even went so far as to imply victim advocacy groups opposing them must be “pro-pedophile.”

When shown data that indicates folks living next door to the few offenders who re-offend are at LESS risk than those living more than a mile away (Minnesota found recidivists traveled from their residence to avoid identification), people still say “I don’t care!”

When shown courts have upheld res-res not by “taking away” an offender’s rights, but by finding there is NO right to be violated in the first place (the Iowa decision), people still say, “I don’t care!”

When it is shown an offender has lived offense-free in the same home for a decade or more, and now has children who must either lose a parent or lose their home, people still say, “I don’t care!”

That’s hysteria.

I think a lot of the sex offender stuff is overkill too. I think we waste finite resources over this stuff, and that has costs as well.

Remember, I was the helpful reader.