On any given day of the week you can turn the TV on and hear something about a sexual offender/predator on the news. In the last decade.. we've created sex offender registries, laws to keep offenders out of neighborhoods, moved bus stops, and beefed up our sex offender units in law enforcement. Society and the media has become obsessed with the sexual offender because they threaten our most precious possession... our children.
But is the threat real? Are the 900 registered sexual offenders living in Southwest Florida really preying on our children? For our story tonight we looked at the hundreds of sexual offenses that happened in 2006. In Lee and Charlotte county you could count on one hand those that involved a registered sexual offender. Collier didn't have the numbers available. We came to learn from the detectives who deal with the registry... the sexual offender is one of the last people to re-offend. Yes, part of this has to do with the fact law enforcement is keeping tabs on offenders... keeping them from preying on new/old victims.
Detectives pointed out a number of reasons sex offenders don't re-offend. The biggest reason: a lot of people on this registry shouldn't be there. There are cases where offenders are now married to their victim, even had children with them... yet that person will be listed on the registry for the next 25 years. Some cases involve a high school senior who had sex with a sophomore. That may have been no big deal when you were in school but the law takes a hard line now when 17 and 15 year olds have sex. I'm not condoning this kind of activity... but does that 17 year old really need to be on the registry for the next 30 years? Do we really need to warn our children about this person and treat them like a sexual deviant?
I realize and understand why the sexual offender gets little sympathy from society. But you have to wonder how many are out there being victimized by this registry. In speaking with a number of people on the list... we learned that being a registered offender makes it hard to find a job, a place to live, a break. Lets face it, that is exactly what society intended this list to do. We don't want a monster that preys on little boys and girls living next door to us or delivering our pizza. However for the aforementioned offenders who shouldn't necessarily be on this list... what is happening to them? They can't get good paying jobs. They can't live in a "nice" community. They can't move up or be a "pillar" of society. And for many of them... they end up becoming a victim of the registry... turning to a life of short lived crime. I say short lived because we have devoted our sex offender detectives to track them... and it's just a matter of time before they are caught screwing up. We of course applaud law enforcement for doing this job... because we're getting the "perverts" off the street.
If you're thinking about getting into law enforcement, specifically sex crimes, I would say you have job security. The list of sexual offenders is growing everyday. We continue to funnel any and all sex crimes into the registry. While other states have passed laws to protect the consenting teenagers from becoming a victim of this list... Florida has yet to take this step. You won't find a politician willing to propose such a change in the registry because it would be political suicide. As I said earlier... no one has sympathy for the sexual offender.
Of the hundreds of sex cases our police and sheriff's department are handling... roughly 99% involve new "offenders". That means the greatest threat to our children, ironically, are those not listed on the sex offender/predator website. That's scary.
I agree we must do our best to protect our children. That means the registry should include those who are a real threat to society... not everyone who committed a sex crime. How do you decide who's a real threat though?
Have you ever wondered why we don't have a public registry for convicted murderers? Take a look at this study on recidivism done by the State of Washington. I would be curious to see this study done in Florida.
http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/06-03-1201.pdf
http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/05-12-1202.pdf
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2 comments:
The age factor... whose to say what's wrong or right. My father is 11 years my mother's senior. He was 26 and she was 15 when they wed.
He was her teacher, but there was LOVE. Sometimes, people can't help but fall in love. She was pregnant with my oldest brother at 16.
They're married still over 50+ years, and I'm the seventh child (eight of us in all). It would seem ridiculous to me that my father be labeled a
"sexual predator"? Me being his daughter, would be greatly offended... so imagine the daughters of those in "THE REGISTRY". -G
A general comment about the criminal justice(?) system:
They kill, they maim, they do drugs and sell it to our children and teens, (and sometimes blame the drugs for their killing and maiming), then get exonerated because they were supposedly insane because they were on the drugs. We incarcerate them. However, they get free food, free healthcare, free clothes, books to read and get to play sports or get physical exercise so they can become stronger, everyday. They don't have to pay taxes, nor worry about whether or not there will be food on the table that night, if whether they can afford healthcare should they get sick, or get a job in order to buy clothes, food and healthcare, and utilities. Who are they, they are the criminals we feed, clothe and keep healthy, and they're just "dying" to get in and get everything for "free." We're running out of room for them, and we have to dig deeper into our pockets in order to build more housing for them. We are paying for their needs, everyday! -G
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