NARSOL calls for end to sex offender registries
NARSOL calls for end to sex offender registriesCites overwhelming evidence of ineffectiveness after a quarter century |
| Why do we have sex offender registries?
Patty Wetterling, the mother of Jacob Wetterling, was largely responsible for the creation of such a registry in 1994 after Jacob was abducted in 1989. As early as 2007 she was questioning the wisdom of the registry. In a published essay she penned in 2007, she wrote, “. . . I’m worried that we’re focusing so much energy on naming and shaming convicted sex offenders that we’re not doing as much as we should to protect our children from other real threats. Many states make former offenders register for life, restrict where they can live, and make their details known to the public. And yet evidence suggests that these laws may do more harm than good.” This is what we need to be about, protecting our children, and for that we need facts and truth and laws based on them, not on emotion, especially not emotion in the face of tragedy. Responding to a Human Rights Watch report, Patty said, “The researchers examined whether we are building safer communities with these laws, and what issues policy-makers should consider. HRW found that many laws may not prevent sexual attacks on children, but do lead to harassment, ostracism and even violence against former offenders. That makes it nearly impossible to rehabilitate those people and reintegrate them safely into their communities . . .” Years later, in 2016, she said this: “What we really want is no more victims. Don’t do it again. So, how can we get there? Locking them up forever, labeling them, and not allowing them community support doesn’t work. I’ve turned 180 (degrees) from where I was.” 180 degrees. The abduction and murder of Polly Klaas in 1993 was coincidentally and horrifically timed to add fuel to the creation of the sex offender registry. Kidnapped from a slumber party in her own home with her sleeping mother in the house, Polly was molested, strangled, and not found for two months. Her parents, especially her father Marc, became a large part of the public face of the drive to create a registry. His fervor has not wavered. Polly’s two sisters Jess and Annie Nichol, however, have made their own 180 degree turn from their father’s views and closed ranks with those of Patty Wetterling, with their criticism going further, saying, “We don’t want our pain to be used to punish anyone else.” In addition to overly-punitive laws, they address the issues of mass incarceration and racial inequality. According to their October 2022 interview with the Guardian, “They say they want a different criminal justice system, one that focuses on preventing violence; accountability, treatment and rehabilitation for people who cause harm; and care and services for survivors.” They feel we are on the brink of enacting harsher laws and moving further and further away from what Patty Wetterling learned through research, that the laws that created the sex offender registry and all that it has spawned embody the opposite of what is needed for improved public safety. Why then do we have a sex offender registry? The premise on which the entire thing is built, frightening and high sexual offense recidivism, is a lie. The most comprehensive post-incarceration sexual offense recidivism study ever done shows a 5.3 rearrest rate for a sexual offense with a 3.5 reconviction rate. The collateral consequences for registrants, their partners, and their children are devastating. Where they are present, restrictions on where persons on the registry may live, work, and be and other blanket restrictions and exclusions affecting all registrants virtually assure rehabilitative failure to varying degrees, some drastically due to homelessness. The registry, “sold” as a tool to help keep children safe, registers children as young as nine, often for age-appropriate curiosity, and causes them irreparable harm. Jacob’s and Polly’s abductions are rare exceptions; the vast, vast majority of sexual abuse of minors occurs within the “circle of trust” of family, peers, and authority figures, persons who won’t be found on a sex registry. Every scholarly work done on the subject of sex offender registries finds them ineffective at lowering recidivism, protecting children, or providing a safer society and finds that often an outcome opposite to what is desired is produced. Members of two of the families who were instrumental in creating it, who suffered unimaginable tragedies, now denounce the registry for a variety of reasons. So . . . WHY do we have sex offender registries? # # #NARSOL is the nation’s oldest civil rights organization exclusively dedicated to defending the rights of registered citizens and their families. NARSOL opposes dehumanizing registries and works to eliminate discrimination, banishment, and vigilantism against persons accused or convicted of sexual offenses through the use of impact litigation, public education, legislative advocacy, and media outreach in order to reintegrate and reconcile affected individuals and restore their constitutional rights. |
Since Patty was pretty much responsible for the registry, its my hope that her opposition to it now may be listened to by Congress.
If anyone knows how to contact her, I wouldn’t mind thanking her for her change of heart and telling her how the registry has affected my family.
Nearly as great as the false fear that the registry has been founded upon is the industry it has created. Think of the thousands of jobs at stake (which are funded by tax payer dollars) if the registry were to be abolished; law enforcement, SMART Office, treatment providers, polygraphists, specialized prison facilities, etc. Capitalism at its finest. Yes, in the uphill battle to abolish the registry, we face false fears and unsupported claims regarding sex offender dangerousness. But we also face an equally daunting task of dismantling an industry that profits handsomely from the registry’s existence. It can be done though. So, buckle up for the ride.
The NCMEC with be the “final boss” in this battle. Society slowly needs to be weened off their “reliance” of using the registry as “safety tool.” They’ve been brainwashed for years by the media and lawmakers and it will take a while for the deprogramming to take hold. However, the NCMEC has used the registry exclusively to promote their exclusive brand of “child safety” propaganda to gain grants and funding for their so-called “good work.” I predict the pig to squeal the loudest be them.
Does anyone know what the NCMEC actually does with the $40+ million they get from Congress every year? I haven’t seen anything beyond providing a more comfortable living for its board members.
Their purpose is not in question. No one in their right mind has any disputes about preventing child abuse and so forth. By their own claims, everything they complain of factual, exaggerated, or outright made up – gets worse every year. Begs the question, why fund it solely for its intent when its results are so dismal?
I wish I could find one single politician with the balls to call the NCMEC what it is – an enormous government waste that accomplishes nothing toward it stated purpose. But I think I’d have better odds finding Amelia Earhart wearing the Hope Diamond at the edge of the Fountain of Youth than finding a politician with balls.
Don’t forget all the millions each state gets in federal dollars. Byrne fund, etc.
They never had “proof of concept” for public notification. It was all thrown together post-haste in a sloppy fashion as a reactionary measure to the 90s anecdotal events.
The registry – just like home compliance checks – is not “pro-active,” it’s redundant. It survives predominately as a vote-harvesting gimmick.
It’s repulsive how the lawmakers continue to humanewash it.
Reading this as Hillsborough County sends out not one but two officers to do compliance checks. And then blast it all over the news this morning. Because everyone knows a registered person tends to get very dangerous this time of year. Must be why they send two officers for safety. Not to mention in two separate cars. That’s a double waste of labor, cars and fuel.
Then came to my house and sat there for 45 minutes untill I got home and never once called me to see if I was home. WASTE OF MONEY. They ask me 100 times what time I get home from work. Then evey time they show up nowhere near the time I get home..
Got my number 100 times. Yet not once called and asked when I’ll be home..
I live in Hillsborough county they came to my house yesterday there were 2 probation officers and 3 sheriffs deputys all in marked sheriffs vehicles they were there for over an hour I live in a tiny little camper they looked inside then stood around going through my phone , checking my landlords grandsons car checking and re checking my paperwork walking around the property . even after they looked at my list of vehicles and seen the car was on it they went out to look at it asked if i had the keys even after being told the car is not mine, it has no tag and ain’t running ! It was like they were either trying to find something to get me on or just staying as long as they could so all the neighborhood would see all these cops at my house making a spectical . its not bad enough that I have lived here for almost 4 years with no problems with any of my neighbors then a new one moved in and within 2 weeks of his moveing in the sheiffs department notified him that I was a registered person and he went to my landlord asking her if she knew I was registered. this whole registry is a joke and the neighborhood notification bs is a threat to our safety and that of the rest of the public if they get a wrong address or the registered person moved out or collateral damage if they indiscriminately shoot at a property or if the registered person fires back … Oh wait we’re not allowed to have a gun for our protection I’m glad my landlord has one she can shoot back I made sure to give her some tips on hitting her target
It’s all based on fear and false information!! Every day we watch the news to hear about another teacher having a inappropriate relationship with a student, or a cop having sexual relations with a kid, or a priest doing the same. And of course the cases of kids being abducted and abused. Countless sting operations busting guys trying to meet the 14 year old (polk county) .. I just wish for someone to explain to me how any of these issues are being prevented by me going downtown to register 2 times a year, or a detective coming to my house to see where I live 2 times a year, or by me not living within a certain distance of a school or daycare, or by having my drivers license branded, how is any of this preventing what I see on the news daily??? None of this BS even prevents me from committing another crime if I wanted to. It’s all about money and funding these peoples budgets. It’s definitely not protecting kids!!!
Hmm you only get 2 visits a year from polk County sheriff office. I live in polk County and labeled an offender but they visit me 4 times a year. I asked them why since on the paperwork it also says offender from a bs sting with a single mother. They said polk County passed a bill that requires them to check where I live 4 times a year.
I see no such language in Polk County ordinances:
https://library.municode.com/fl/polk_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH10.5OFMIPR_ARTVIIISEOFDEPRRERE
https://library.municode.com/fl/polk_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH10.5OFMIPR_ARTXREFESEOFPRCAOFCOFE
Why am I not surprised?
Their residence restrictions are unusually onerous.
Thank you, I tried to look it up or find out the information but I’m not that good with the legal stuff. I’m curious as to why they lied and are doing it more than legally required.