Sacramento -- The state board that oversees California's sex offender registration laws wants to thin out and overhaul the registry because they say it has grown too big and does not help law enforcement or the public differentiate between offenders who pose significant risks and those not likely to reoffend. ...This is political. People somehow believe that if you are born gay, then you are always gay, and if you are born a pervert, then you are always a pervert.
California is one of four states that require lifetime registration for sex offenders, regardless of the nature of the offense. Someone who made obscene and harassing phone calls to children is listed alongside a repeat molester.
The board recommends a tiered system similar to what other states use in which the length of time a person appears on a registry depends on their crime and risk of reoffending.
In Butte County, District Attorney Mike Ramsey said he knows of a man whose last sex crime was 40 years ago and despite not so much as a traffic ticket since, the man and his wife were recently denied housing because he is a registered sex offender.
"There is no need to continue to monitor some low-level offenders and waste those resources," Ramsey said. "We have to prioritize."
People should be given a chance to live a normal life. I am all in favor of imprisoning those who commit serious crimes, but a lot of those on the registry have only committed minor offenses.
5 comments:
I know a man who 50 years served two years because he had sex with a 14-year-old girl who told him she was 18. Since then, not so much as a traffic ticket.
I've seen 14-year-olds who looked 18 with the right make-up and clothes.
I've had sex with 14 yo's where the age of consent was 14 rather than 18. So these types of "offenses" are useless - other than to penalize men for being men, which is their goal.
Good point, but I know hundreds of men who didn't have sex with 14 year old girls and are fine and didn't go to prison.
'Someone who made obscene and harassing phone calls to children is listed alongside a repeat molester.'
This is a red herring. Making harassing phone calls to children is clearly reprehensible. The real issue is people who wind up on the sex register because at 19 they had sex with their 17-yo girlfriend, or because at 15 they sexted a pic to their boyfriend.
I have heard second hand of underage teenagers sending naked pictures and having no idea that there is anything wrong with it.
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