Registered Sex Offenders Denied Online Gaming

[Andara Bledin]

Article at Ars Technica

I'm a bit torn on this.

While I understand that there is a potential threat from these people, I don't really think it needs to be up to the government to do any of the legwork, but rather the gaming companies themselves (based on their own determinations as private entities) and parents to educate their children and be aware of what their children are doing and the potential pitfalls inherent in whatever it is.

Also, this will do is drive the more determined to go underground, whereas before, they were registered and trackable and in the open, now they will hide their tracks.

That doesn't even begin to get into the issue of the false sense of security people will now have since the sex offenders that were caught are now off the services. Nor does it get into the fact that a large percentage of "registered sex offenders" are nothing of the sort, but bear that label do to an overly broad interpretation of the law and excessive fervor in applying everything possible to pad the numbers.

^-.-^

[crashhelmet]

How different is the on-line game from a chat room? If they can limit the available options for these predators to find their victims, then I'm all for it.

[DrFaroohk]

Chat room = chat room

Game = game that happens to have a chatroom as a very, very minor part of its overall package.

[Greenday]

When are we going to stop punishing people for past crimes? Either they've been sufficiently punished or they haven't. If they haven't, then why are they free? Stop punishing people for who they used to be.

[Rapscallion]

When are we going to stop punishing people for past crimes? Either they've been sufficiently punished or they haven't. If they haven't, then why are they free? Stop punishing people for who they used to be.

I think the nature of the crime need to be taken into account. Paedophilia is generally a compulsive disorder as far as I understand it. Re-offending rates are, I believe, pretty high unless (and even if) monitored. The law may require one punishment as determined by statutes etc, but then the forces of law and order have to protect others when that punishment is over.

Rapscallion

[crashhelmet]

When are we going to stop punishing people for past crimes? Either they've been sufficiently punished or they haven't. If they haven't, then why are they free? Stop punishing people for who they used to be.

When they have done their time and proven that they have been rehabilitated, we can forgive them.

But there's an old saying...

"Not everyone who steals is a thief and not everyone who cheats is a cheater, but thieves will always steal and cheaters will always cheat"

A very good friend of mine is an up and coming singer and songwriter. Last summer she sent me a text asking me to do a background check on a producer she was supposed to start working with. A lot of the information he gave her about himself, like his age, history, etc started conflicting with other things he told her. She then heard a rumor that this guy was a convicted rapist and that's when she contacted me about him.

I ran him through my tools and found that he was really 42 and not 32 (she is 31 now, but was 30 at the time) and he wasn't exactly convicted of rape. He was convicted for the Statutory Rape of a girl under the age of 14 years old. he was 37 at the time.

So here he was lying about his age to make himself look more appealing to a girl younger than him, who just so happens to be tiny and petite. She looks like she's still a teenager.

Does he deserve the benefit of the doubt?

[Andara Bledin]

The problem is that the vast majority of people on the list aren't pedophiles. They've often never even done anything sexual or involving children in any way in their crimes.

Article at Statline.org outlining just how ridiculous the registry is.

Nevermind the fact that nearly 90% of all sexual offenders are never even accused of a crime, much less convicted and registered. The list is misleading, leads to a false sense of security, and bloated to the point of being practically useless.

^-.-^

[crashhelmet]

How can they be on this list if they've never been convicted of the crime?

[Anthony K. S.]

How can they be on this list if they've never been convicted of the crime?

I think Andara meant that most sex offenders are never put on the list at all, because most victims never come forward.

The list creates a false sense of security because the public thinks that they'll be safe by watching out for the people on the list, when in reality, there could be any number of sex offenders out there who aren't on the list.

[crashhelmet]

I think Andara meant that most sex offenders are never put on the list at all, because most victims never come forward.

The list creates a false sense of security because the public thinks that they'll be safe by watching out for the people on the list, when in reality, there could be any number of sex offenders out there who aren't on the list.

At the same time though, there are people on the list that don't report themselves as they're supposed to.

It's sad that many people don't come forward, for whatever reasons they may have. But let's make these lists work the way they're supposed to. Don't take the bravery of the victims that did come forward and piss it away as meaningless.

[Anthony K. S.]

The problem is that the vast majority of people on the list aren't pedophiles. They've often never even done anything sexual or involving children in any way in their crimes.

You have a point.

About two years ago, I came across this column describing two young men who wound up on the sex offender registry because of purely innocent accidents.

(This columnist, Lenore Skenazy, has often been critical of the way that the sex offender registries are handled.)

[crashhelmet]

You have a point.

About two years ago, I came across this column describing two young men who wound up on the sex offender registry because of purely innocent accidents.

(This columnist, Lenore Skenazy, has often been critical of the way that the sex offender registries are handled.)

Are those actually legitimate incidents or are they completely hypothetical situations of how the law can be interpreted?

[Anthony K. S.]

Are those actually legitimate incidents or are they completely hypothetical situations of how the law can be interpreted?

According to the columnist, Lenore Skenazy, they actually happened :

I spoke to the actual mom of these two young men. She's a fishing net-maker in Maine and she put it pretty succinctly: "We're all just one accusation away from the sex offender registry."

[bara]

Okay.. what about Joe Blow who had sex with a minor?

He (could be a she) thought the girl was of age.. she was in a bar courtesy of a fake ID. He gets her pregnant. He is now a sex offender. Doesn't matter that he thought she was old enough. Doesnt matter she was breaking laws to begin with. He now has this dark cloud hanging over him for the rest of his life not to mention payments for the next 18+ years that he cant make cause he cant get a decent job.

This happens as well. So much for 'lists'.

[Andara Bledin]

Are those actually legitimate incidents or are they completely hypothetical situations of how the law can be interpreted?

This is something that happens more often than actual sex offenders being put on the list.

In the link I put up last, it talks about kidnappers and people who hold others against their will (one case had one young man made another young man who owed him money to ride with him while he did something else entirely).

Another article about the same case, with more detail, including the fact that while everybody admits that the individuals in question committed no sexual act and never even considered committing a sexual act, that since it was possible that someone else in their shoes might have done so, then it's right that they be placed on the registry for someone else's potential future crime. Because some sexual offenders are kidnappers, they've decided that they all kidnappers are sexual offenders and must be registered.

This sounds like the plot of a bad near-future sci-fi thriller, but for thousands of people (possibly tens of thousands), many of whom are minors themselves, it's their reality.

^-.-^