Patch is hard at work putting out their registry maps
As Patch continues to put out their fall maps, they have started toning it down a bit, as this is the second year that they have included information on why these maps might not be as helpful as they once touted them to be.
This particular article lets the reader know:
- Registries play only a limited role in preventing sex crimes against minors.
- Most perpetrators are known to the child.
- The U. S. Department of Justice estimates that only about 10 percent of perpetrators are actually strangers.
- Nearly a quarter of perpetrators are juveniles.
Last year, NARSOL sent a letter to Patch informing them of what research has shown concerning registrants and Halloween. The letter was signed by many prominent, knowledgeable people and groups in the field of sex offense therapy, research, and law. This was a powerful letter that made a difference with Patch.
At the same time last year, FAC posted research debunking what Patch was saying and doing on every Patch.com article that was published. Because of what FAC was doing – putting the truth out there – Patch stopped their commenting section as it was, and now will only let you make comments if you register with them, create a profile giving them information about yourself, and live in the community for which they are posting the map, which tends to be small communities.
FAC already had an account with Patch for posting purposes through Facebook, but Patch has now “temporarily disabled our account” – more like permanently. But that is okay as long as they have discontinued much of the propaganda they once put out there.
These are the kinds of results that can occur when we unite for a cause. As a result of what NARSOL, FAC, and the many individuals who contacted Patch did, Patch had no choice but to listen and make some changes for the better.
As the president of FAC always says, “With unity comes change.” We have the numbers in our organization to make a difference
At the bottom of the articles, Patch is now posting a link to the NARSOL letter and other letters objecting to what Patch is doing to people forced to register. Underneath that link, they have a link to an article on why they are publishing these maps every year for the past 6 years: because a young girl who was trick-or-treating was brutally raped and killed in 1973. The man who did this to the girl was NOT on any registry. It will tear your heart out when you read what he did to this innocent child, but Patch is not able to cite any other such incidents occurring on Halloween night. As horrible as this crime was 48 years ago, how has banishing hundreds of thousands of citizens and their family members done anything to prevent such a future crime? How has turning Halloween into a nightmare for so many registrants and their families done anything to prevent a future sex crime against a child? What does help to prevent such crimes is for parents to accompany their children when they go trick-or-treating.
Best advice I have for Halloween: either surround yourself with people you trust, but not Halloween parties, or if you don’t have anyone available, go somewhere there are lots of people and good lighting. Make sure you note your presence, such as a noatble conversation with a bartender, etc.
Every year at Holloween we shut down the house.. the wife and I go to a movie or out to dinner or someplace where I have a receipt for where I was and I am not home. Gives us a great reason for a date night. And if we need to have a Holloween party situation… we ask the host in advance of sharing the details to make it the weekend before Holloween.. as to not interfere. It always works and never an issue. Stay safe.
Ben
Or if you are at home, a good security camera can be the difference to exonerate you from any false accusations. We have cameras on all 4 corners of our property.
They also helped law enforcement when kids denied throwing rocks at our house. We showed the cops the video of them throwing the rocks. I said I didn’t want the boys charged since there was not real damage but to let them know they won’t get a break if it happens again. I never saw them on my street again.
CherokeeJack
It wasn’t me I was in school at the time and have my yearbook as proof. Besides why break windows when we used silly string, eggs, and toilet paper. Heck I would of cleaned it up the next day. I was young once but I wasn’t a jerk either.
I’m glad that Patch has made this change and hope that many more publications follow suite; maybe with enough of the general public and (wishing) lawmakers get informed, SORN can be abolished as the discriminatory public hit list that it is.
In a discussion with my federal supervising officer regarding registries, he acknowledged the low SO recidivism rate and nearly non-existent “stranger danger.” But he continued to defend the registry by stating that people need to feel safe as well as actually being safe. I totally agree.
It is important to remember that those are not the same things. It is quite possible to: 1) feel safe while in no danger; 2) to feel safe while in danger: 3) to feel unsafe while in no danger; and 4) to feel unsafe while in actual danger. Only the first and last represent a rational relationship between fear and danger. The other two are maladaptive.
The registry itself contributes to condition number three by creating the fear of non-existent danger it proports to protect against. Persons assume that since a registry exists the danger must also. Many also wrongly assume the registry reduces sex crimes in some meaningful way, or somehow deters reoffending. The latter belief puzzles me. How could the threat of registration inhibit those who are already registered?
Imagine if there were no registry. Since somewhere in the neighborhood of 93%-95% of sex crimes are perpetrated by unregistered persons, any potential small increase in crimes by former offenders would contribute little to community danger. The community would be no less safe, and not be induced to jump at every shadow.
Needless to say, he just grunted and did not acknowledge my analysis or my assertion that promoting truth and factual data would be the best route to the community feeling more secure. Overcoming fear and prejudice with truth is not easy. However we need to never waver in our attempts.
Veritas.
@Ed C
I want to feel safe with LEOs at all times, all the while knowing a small percentage of them are a problem that ruin the name of the whole bunch (and more so in some localities). Until they understand the other side of the danger thinking about PFRs (and LEOs), they will always spout the company line to protect their jobs. They just want their doughnut and to eat it too.
Props to you for trying to reach this Fed on this topic.
FAC, I think you are making a mistake with, “the man who did this to the girl was NOT on any registry.”
Remember that the most typical rejoinder to this kind of statement is, “that’s why we need a registry.” That’s because the general public assumes that registries help prevent crime. “If only there’d been a registry, that girl might have been safe,” is not the conclusion one should draw from this tragedy.
I THINK what you mean to point out is, “the man who did this to the girl had NO CRIMINAL HISTORY.” But correct me if my facts are wrong. Had there been a registry back then, he would not have been flagged as dangerous, because he lacked sexual criminal history.
This is not to nitpick an otherwise excellent FAC article. It’s just a rhetorical trap that I’ve seen advocates fall into before.
One of the studies we sometimes cite, I think, points out that sexual re-offense rates were no different after public registries were rolled out, as they had been previously.
Good point, but only when speaking of crimes that pre-date the registry
You are right Jacob, words and framing do matter, and differ for pre-registry and post-registry crimes.
When a sex crime occurs today, the perpetrator is either on the registry or not. If on the registry, my response is that the registry obviously does not prevent nor even reduce crime. If not on the registry it supports the fact that most sex crimes are committed by unregistered persons. Either way, the two primary knee-jerk responses to a sex crime and the registry can be blunted.
Veritas.
The huge problem with trying to segregate any large segment of society because of actions of any one person is that every segment of every society will always have ONE horrible person that does one horrible deed.. There will always be 1 Christian, 1 atheist, 1 white, 1 black, 1 brown, 1 muslim,1 hetrosexual, 1 transexual,1 doctor,1 pastor,1 pilot, 1 cop, 1 anything /everything,something,or nothing that does something society finds deplorable.. Always and in every single segment and walk of life we will finds someone that has done or will do soemthing horrible..we can not forever live in fear and brand every single segment of society for fear of the one person that eventually will exist and for which the branding will not matter because they will commit the attrocity anyways.. Elizabeth Smart is a perfect example.. Her captor was a lunatic on the registry/on parole, and in the public eye and none of that stopped him.. Perhaps if a little more logic was applied and a little less sterotyping that crime would have either never happened or been caught much sooner. registrys dont work ..logic does.
A list won’t stop someone from committing any kind of crime. How’s a list isn’t going stop anyone that has intent, it’s a feel good useless way to make communities less safe.
Back in 2017, Patch did publish a statement by NARSOL. But the Patch countered with a fear mongering OpEd that relied heavily on emotional appeals. They brought up the over 40 year old murder of Lisa French, leaving out the fact the killer would not have been on any registry had it existed back then. It also relied on the underreporting myth.
The Patch is not interested in the facts because facts do not sell ad space.
Patch should change tactics with articles with your kid could be the next red dot. Wonder what would happen if readers read that and had a deer in the headlights moment.
Look how that registry is really helping to deter people from committing sexual crimes. Or maybe she just didn’t know there was a registry;
https://www.newsweek.com/florida-teacher-jailed-allegedly-having-sexual-relationship-14-year-old-2-months-1635515