Group pushes to take children off Minnesota’s Predatory Offender Registry
She never imagined her pursuit would lead to the creation of a list of more than 18,000 predatory offenders in Minnesota that could include children as young as 10 years old.
“It was never intended to have 10-year-olds on the sex offender registry,” said Wetterling, whose son Jacob was abducted and murdered in 1989 when he was 11. “It would be laughable if it wasn’t so devastating.”
Wetterling was one of more than two dozen members of a legislative working group assembled last year to examine the state’s Predatory Offender Registry for the first time in three decades. In February, the group recommended changes supported by a majority of members, including the removal of most children from the list.
Children do not belong on that list. To be branded for the rest of their lives.
Jerry, With All Due Respect…………..
……..NO ONE BELONGS ON ANY DRACONIAN LIST!…………
Thank You!
No one belongs on that list to be branded for the rest of their lives.
Exmedic
And not to throw anyone under the bus, but especially those of us who were added “Retroactively”. There was no registry when my incident happened. No registry when I was arrested. No registry when I was sentenced. No registry when I went to prison, and just started right as I was being released.
I / we in that position did not get a chance to plea bargain based on being put on a registry so some of us may have been sentenced harsher than those who got a chance to plea down based on the registry. All I am saying is, even though the registry is not fair, it is even less fair to those added “After the fact”.
But in truth, if you did your time, then yes, no one should be on a registry. And the fact it is for life with little chance to challenge it, is in fact punishment, regardless of what the pathetic courts rule. They are not living the daily nightmares we and our families endure on any given day. I could go on for pages but do not want to go into a rant.
God save us all, we are going to need it. The old saying “It gets worse better it gets better” has already happened to us. The difference is, just when we think it cannot get any worse, it somehow does.
I agree with CherokeeJack, there are many forced to register now that were sentenced long before Megan’s Law existed. I often wonder how many currently on the registry are first time offenders and have never been rearrested since what happened to put them on it in the first place? Unfortunately, most of the public believe all registrants are repeat offenders, but I believe that statistics would prove otherwise.
Candy
Yes
I worked in law enforcement before my arrest (but had left before the incident took place due to major medical issues that conflicted with my duties)
I had never been arrested before or since. It has been 31 years since all that happened. Not so much as a speeding ticket in 31 years. Of course the nay sayers always use the line “Oh you just haven’t been caught” routine.
I messed up, I did my time 10 times over but the registry was never a factor until they pass the law as I was getting released. The next day I was home I had to go and sign up for a lifetime achievement award that keeps on giving every time I have to go register again.
There are never any changes and I look the same as I did the time before, so much so they do not even change my photo as it is wasting tax payers money. I zombie walk through the questions. No new vehicles, no new address, no arrests, no new email address Blah blah blah blah.
To Quote the late, Great Willy Wonka:
“Be careful what you wish for: it may come true.”
Be ironic if some of those who pushed for registries got on one themselves.
It would be ironic. It’s also inevitable, and it would also be justice.
To quote the great David Byrne, “Watch out, you might get what you’re after”
We are graced by the presence and commentary of our troll, Val Parkworst.
Thanks for this info. I will write it up at my blog.
I was in MN when that happened- the entire state was like it was under a spell- which it was! The Jordan Daycare scandal during the Satanic Panic- it took years to vindicate the falsely accused.
The ultra-right political geniuses in Carver County were sensing a loss of power, as non-white migrants from larger cities came there for the welfare/ state benefits, and lower crime rates.
And too, Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon were waging their sex and porn wars all over that state too, claiming that rape is everywhere.
A distinctly perverse trance formation was ( still is) occurring there, and Wetterlings case shook the witch hunters in that area right down to their water boards and torture racks.
Crazy that a law intended to protect children has now ensnared them for what was once normal behavior. Nobody should be on a registry because people do irrational things, but shouldn’t have a misleading label for life.
Politicians and media shouldn’t use horror stories to enhance the fear of the misguided public. Just because a story is juicy doesn’t mean it should be sent to print ASAP. Truth of the matter is the Stearns Country Sheriff fudged the Wetterling case from the start and hundreds of thousands of people have paid the price due to incompetence.
Kids playing Cow, especially in the country, shouldn’t be penalized. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” is a healthy right of passage and a step up from browsing National Geographic magazines for photographs of naked natives.