http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2006/04/25/sex_offenders_killer_studied_other_states_lists/Just a continuation of the above article. One thing really jumped out from this article:
A man who was convicted 19 years ago of having sexual relations with two underage students in the school where he taught said he is now married with two children, a master's degree and job as a consultant.
Since a new law made him register as of last November, his business has lost clients and his children have been ostracized at nursery school, said the man, who declined to give his name. But he is more concerned about his family's safety by being listed.
I had an essay "On Redemption" that I never finished. It was actually on this topic, the idea that you can never be redeemed, even if you do the prison or pennance. The person in the above quote did something almost two decades before, but the law sees that he can and will never be safe. I refuse to believe that no one can change after twenty years. Even the person I was ten years ago is not the me. Nor will I be the same person in another ten years.
Of course, the main idea of the "for life" lists is dedicated to people who cannot stop themselves. However, I think just putting them on a list isn't the right thing to do. Making lists of people just makes it easier to find someone that "doesn't" agree. Yeah, sex offenders are "terrible people" but not all of them are. Some of them were just stupid, or guilty of statutory rape (which is consensual and not really rape), or just in the wrong place. But, if you actually go to the sites that actually point out sex offenders, such as the ones from here:
http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/2005/07/google_maps_hacks_sex_offenders.phtmlYou'll notice that none of them tell you the crime they did, just that they are sex offenders. The Illinois site has three categories and has a little bit more information, including threat level, but it still just creates a list of people who are "bad." The concept of "bad people" I'm treating as a simplistic phrase, because it is. Many people view the world as black and white, either you are on our side or against us, never degrees. The more zealot someone is, the more likely they'll view the world in black and white, at least that is how it seems.
Even though it is a crime to attack, harrass, or do nasty thing that are on this list, it doesn't stop people. And, to prove that someone was rude or stopped doing business because they were on a list is just as hard as to prove racial discrimination in a job interview. And, do you really thing police officers, who are just as human as the rest of us, are really going to give their full effort to someone who says "I was harrassed because I'm a registered sex offender?"
