Rapists and Murderers living in your 'hood

[Boozy]

Your idea, tropicsgoddess, would amount to a life sentence. If a rapist or murderer truly deserves life, then they should be sentenced to that at their original sentencing hearing.

Otherwise, serving your full sentence means just that - you've done your time, and you're allowed to rejoin society.

[tropicsgoddess]

Your idea, tropicsgoddess, would amount to a life sentence. If a rapist or murderer truly deserves life, then they should be sentenced to that at their original sentencing hearing.

Otherwise, serving your full sentence means just that - you've done your time, and you're allowed to rejoin society.

Even if they serve their sentences, they aren't always fit to rejoin society, which was where my idea stemmed from.

[Dreamstalker]

It seems to me that the 'sex offender' brush is too broad. From what I've heard/read, if a guy decides to pee in the woods and a kid happens to see, bam, the poor guy's now a sex offender. Indecent exposure != sex offender in every case.

Eh, I'm of the 'live and let live' mindset to a point. If they've done the time and have truly turned around, let them be; there should be a system in place for getting wrongly accused and truly rehabilitated people off the list (something similar to statute of limitations, where after X years with no offenses and confirmation from a psych doctor that a person is not likely to repeat his behavior they drop off the list).

I also wish the prison system worked the way it should (yes, make people atone for their crimes, but offer ways to better themselves so they're not outcasts upon release).

[Greenday]

Even if they serve their sentences, they aren't always fit to rejoin society, which was where my idea stemmed from.

Apparently, the stats for repeat offenders for sexual crimes are extremely low. http://www.ipce.info/library_3/files/alaska.htm So that'd be pretty damn unfair for the majority of people who don't repeat at all.

Not sure about for other forms of violent crime, but still. If you think these people are unfit for society after serving their punishment, then we need to completely redo our judicial system.

[Slytovhand]

In the southern suburbs of my old hometown, there is a big outrage at the moment, as a convicted sex offender (who like the younger ones) has been put up in a government house. A lot of people there are on a hate rampage against him, but the government is doing the whole 'well, he's served his time, he's got a right to live there". It's gotten to the point that the police are having to intervene to keep him safe from the locals. (and this person is a bad repeat offender...)

So - what do you do with them just cos they've served the allocated time, but don't seem to show much remorse or inclination to change? Do we compare this sort of argument with the Castle Doctrine? Do people need to feel very personally threatened before doing something, and does that threat mean a person can do what they feel is necessary to prevent harm? Or, should something be in place so nothing comes of it?


Raps... you're partly correct... actually, when things went really bad, most were just shipped off anyway with no choice in the matter (we have the infamous 'stealing a loaf of bread' would get you deported to here.... so, don't trust us if we go travelling )

[Difdi]

I will agree that sex offender registries are a good idea, at least in concept. The problems arise with implementation.

For example, I read a news article a few weeks back about a 14 year old girl who was raped by a 13 year old boy. Since a 13 year old cannot give sexual consent in that region of the country but a 14 year old can, the 14 year old rape victim was immediately arrested for statutory rape -- the boy was not charged, since he was unable to give sexual consent, even as the aggressor in a forcible rape.

The way that law is written, it seems to be a slam dunk case. If convicted, she will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. This is an unintended consequence, but no less real for being so patently absurd.

[Boozy]

Difdi, I would love a link to that news story. It's almost too absurd to be believed.

Edit: Nevermind! My Google-fu is strong. Here's a short article for anyone else interested: http://www.kwch.com/Global/story.asp?s=6731396

[tropicsgoddess]

I will agree that sex offender registries are a good idea, at least in concept. The problems arise with implementation.

The sex offender registries don't always work. The thing is that with the sex offenders they have to update law enforcement every so often, and not all of them could register a domicile to their name. In my area (South Florida) there was an article about how quite a number of sex offenders are homeless and living under the bridges and underpasses since they can't find a place to live that their parole officers and law enforcement would approve of. Besides that, some would abscond as well.