Abolish the Sex Offender Registry

From a Petition by Rickey Lucas of Evansville, IN

“The sex offender registry protects no one, and takes rights away from tax paying citizens who have paid their debt to society as defined by the courts. People can say what they want about the registry not being punitive, but in reality it is punitive. A person on the registry cannot work, cannot live in most areas, cannot use the internet, cannot travel without notifying the police in person and in writing, cannot have an email address unless they register it with the police in person and in writing, have to register anywhere they are located for more than 3 days consecutively, or visits more than 6 times in a 6 month period, is not allowed into any public parks or pools, cannot attend schools, cannot obtain a visa for travel, must register phone numbers in person and writing to the police, and must register any changes of any of the above in person and in writing, and the list goes on, along with ignorant and angry citizens taking vigilante violence against these ex-offenders who have paid for their crimes. What happens if the registered EX-sex offenders fail to abide by any of the above? 15 years to life in prison.

Okay, okay, okay.... What are the benefits of having the registry? None. When a person is charged with a sex offense the police take DNA samples, photographs and fingerprints and put them in a nice little file. Now, it is proven that less than 6% of the registered EX-offenders will commit a new sex crime; in fact, people who commit a sex offense have the second lowest recidivism rate. The lowest being murder. This is the same now with the registry as it was 25 years ago before the registry. More than 80% of all sex offenses are committed by people who are not on the registry. Not one sex offense was averted by the registry.”

NOT ONE SEX OFFENSE WAS AVERTED BY THE REGISTRY. Pretty cut and dried.  Not one.  Pretty much the only thing the registry does, as said so well by Mr Lucas, is to set the ex-offender up for angry citizens doing some sort of “vigilante justice”.  A vigilante is someone who undertakes law enforcement without legal authority, and since the registry is WHOLLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL, it makes anyone who enforces it, in my eye, a vigilante. Vigilante “justice” is not just perpetrated by citizens. Vigilante “justice” is also perpetrated by people in power who hold grudges against individuals—people like Sherlock.  Vigilante “justice” is also perpetrated by judges and attorneys who get $$$$ for guilty pleas in the petty little things (such as having an “alias” that consists of a typo of their name—see a previous post) that any ex-offender can be slammed upside the head with at a whim of these people.

I agree with Mr Lucas—Let’s abolish the registry.  Let’s let these people repent and get on with their lives.  Let’s take bullies with Napoleon complexes out of positions in which they can continue to take these people’s money and lives away from them and feel justified doing it.

More to come…

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