Victim’s Advocate Group Does Not Support Residency Restrictions
I read an interesting article out of Pennsylvania concerning some members of the public who wanted their state legislature to pass a sex offender residency restriction.
These articles are usually written the same… You have the archetypal “concerned parent” who discovers the presence of someone on the registry living in their community, too close to anything. You have the oblivious registrant, who likely has been living in his home without issue for years and is mortified to be thrust into the spotlight (and will likely be losing his job in the next day also). You have the opportunist politician who will jump at the opportunity to stand up for votes – I mean children… And generally you have the unpopular reform activists to present the opposing view.
In the case of this article, however, the role of lone dissenter is played by an unlikely character; a victim‘s advocate!
“Kristen Houser, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, says her organization supports victims, but not residency restrictions.“Our tendancy is to focus on the people we have already been caught,” Houser said. “That distracts us from focusing on the majority of the offenders who are not caught or not on the list.””
Ms. Houser and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape should be applauded and appreciated for taking this very brave and insightful position! They are another of a growing list of victims rights and public safety organizations, including the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, that oppose residency restrictions.
Yeah it’s becoming hard for folks to ignore the vast amount of research beginning to take hold. And this is just the beginning. Florida is going to keep on and not only will they be forced to change the laws, they will have to deal with thousands of lawsuits. Folks are just beginning to realize how these laws hurt communities, wait until they find out, that in their quest for revenge, the huge number of people upon whom they’ve needlessly inflicted such severe psychological and emotional damage – making what they once thought was a big problem into a huge human rights atrocity. Kind of the like the Tuskeegee Sphylis Study or the Japenese Internment. Oh, this is far from over and i predict that they’ll be some on BOTH sides who will be shaken of their rocker. See, the part where we as an organization have to be willing to look square in the eye and admit and understand is that these laws indeed are SO bad, that not only have they inflicted horrible, unjust pain upon hundreds of thousand of people, they’re bad because in the the process of administering this scheme they’ve also allowed some VERY dangerous people to be free and roam amongst us all the while promising the public that they’re safe because of all of the residency restrictions and the registry, etc etc… see that’s going to be an eye opener for BOTH sides. One of the things that I try to get people to realize is that the public is also being taken for a ride because they aren’t asking the right questions. They should be saying, “wait a minute, if these guys are so darn dangerous that we can’t allow them to (fill in the blank) then why the hell are they out on the street?” Also to those who are really for these laws, i encourage them to find a sex offender close to their house (and there will be one) and look them up on the registry, get all of their information and then call the police to express your concerns and find out what can be done. Answer? not one damn thing. You just have to now sit there in fear and say nothing and continue on living in your house with your family knowing that you have a “horrible sex offender” living close by and there is nothing you can do about it. So they say wait a minute, why did i have to know that when i can’t do anything about it? And if they are so dangerous why are they out of jail? So the public is slowly beginning to realize that they are totally getting duped! Remember, we all want the same thing. No one anywhere is saying “let’s close down the jails and let dangerous people roam free.” A safe, happy, healthy community is EVERYONES concern and responsibility. Thanks for the ear, ya’ll.
Yep. Can’t wait for it to be common knowledge. The world is round, folks. We just need to spread the myth-shattering news in the most effective way we can.
I am donating to the coalition. It’s not everyday we have such a strong voice in our favor. A victim advocate will be heard and accepted much more than a registered citizen. We need to encourage more of these advicates to have the compassion to speak out regarding our plight while understanding their point of view. Which is one we should all agree on. That rape/molestation is not acceptable behavior! So let’s all work together on refocusing our police hours away from vengeful based monitoring of ex-offenders to rape prevention and education.
Quote…”So let’s all work together on refocusing our police hours away from vengeful based monitoring of ex-offenders to rape prevention and education.”…Quote
From your mouth to God’s ears Gustavo, I couldn’t agree more. I am a monthly donor also because of the great work that FAC does in our behalf. The more truth and education that can be spread, the closer we are to start being treated like human beings again here in Florida.