Tracking Registered Sex Offenders in Your Community

The sex registries are bloated and highly ineffective because well more than half the people required to register are absolutely no threat to anyone. Law enforcement is being asked to do an impossible task and their need to focus on truly dangerous predators is impeded by the shear numbers of people registered in their local communities. This policy is OUT OF CONTROL!!!

We have been hitting sex offenders more than any other crime. They have such restricted lives that they try to hide their true identities.

I think if you commit sex crime, you should loose your rights and you should be castrated.

We need to change the people who have to register on this list. we need to only have offenders who are dangerous to society on this list not teen age boys having sex with their girl friend. But maybe a better idea would be to keep the real offenders in jail permanently

I agree with RWVNRAL. I provide treatment services to registered sex offenders in TX. The law has almost all convicted sex offenders register, and soon they will have to register for LIFE. This includes the 19 y/o young man who and sex with his 15 y/o girlfriend as well as other low risk individuals. The legal system does not use a valid system for evaluating risk. The inability to monitor truly high risk offenders will continue to get worse unless we reject hysteria and subscribe to science.

I agree w RWVRNAL. The media and many in this country are so quick to exploit and promote fear and hysteria. My biggest fear is that these rare cases drive legislation at the expense of the civil rights that have made this country a model of free and open society for hundreds of years.

To comment on the story …… I’m a mother of an 18 year old Registered offender. My son was convicted of possession of child pornography. His girlfriend gave him pics of herself and later told the authorities, after they broke up. He was convicted since he had them in “his possession.” This is some of the reason that the police can’t keep up with the true pedophiles that are a threat to society. If prosecutors and lawmakers would reform the laws to make only the 5% of the true offenders be on the registry, then police could monitor them and keep the citizens safe! See Reform Sex Offender Laws.com

This situation is going to get worse before it gets better. Most of the people on the e registry were not encaged in cild sex crime. You must thin the roster of sex offenders by first kicking out the ones that do meet the criteria as a protential danger then focus hard on those that really present themsleves as a deviant

If our system for monitoring sex offenders is in need of help, why not reach out to stay at home mom’s and dad’s that given the resources could substantially contribute!!!!!!

RWVRNAL: Why do I get the feeling you may have some personal experience. I am the relative of a Registered Sex Offender; now classified a Predator. He did not start out that way. He was a “so called” low risk. He started as a teenager and now, some 32 years later, he is so sick it is not even funny. He has been in and out of therapy. He knows how to play the game. The laws need to be MUCH, MUCH stricter. My relative has served a “whole week” in jail. He usually get probation and therapy. OH Yeah, he also has served “work release”. Work release makes him laugh, he thinks it is funny. The majority of these Sex Offenders need to be taken off the street. Yes, it would help if the police were allowed in their home. They would get an idea if this person is getting ready to re-offend. They should be allowed to see the “history” on their computers etc.

I’m glad the media is promoting fear and hysteria about these sick twisted sex offenders. It is a proven fact that these people do not change, cannot change. If they are convicted of rape they should be put in prison for life. What about our children’s civil rights?
Who is protecting them? Every time one of these sex offender monsters get out of jail they are at it again. All the bodies they found in Cleveland is proof.

I absolutely agree. Those sex offenders who are determined by professionals to not be predators or interested in young children for sex, like those who have had one time relationships with 15-16 year-olds, for example, and have successfully completed sex offender programs should not put in the same category as the really dangerous ones. People do make mistakes and have errors in judgment as far as relationships, so it is entirely possible that there are many, many “sex offenders’ who pose absolutely no danger to anyone, and deserve the chance to live as normal a life as possible.

The problem is what constitutes a “sex offender” differs from state to state. Urinating in the public or streaking are offenses (if convicted) the offender is obligated to register. Are THEY a threat to society? Most likely not. There are currently almost 100,000 offenders who are missing. I’m surprised this was not brought up in the broadcast…I agree that this policy needs to be revamped so we can focus our time and efforts on keeping our streets safe from those who are a real threat to society.

I feel that the sex offender should be given an option to be locked up for life or castrated and released. I feel that young innocent children and any other victims should be protected and we are letting them down by releasing these sex offenders to offend over and over again. I do not believe that there are any who are in recovery and changed their ways.

Another media broadcast creating hysteria and fear about registered sex offenders without looking real facts and statistics.
http://www.rsolvirginia.org/blog_145.html
http://www.rsolvirginia.org/blog_133.html
http://www.rsolvirginia.org/blog_128.html
You, your spouse or your child could easily be stigmatized Sex Offender in America today.
RSOL of Virginia

Yes, there are a lot of registered sex offenders, but there are at least that many more who are not registered and have gotten away with rape other sexual crimes for years. In cases where children are involved many of them never even admit what has happened to them (especially if it’s someone they know), and/or if they have spoken out the law hasn’t done anything about it. I have a 15 year old family member who has just admitted to being molested after nearly 7 years and so far the man who did it (her step father) is still a free man because of the steps that the law can and cannot take just because it originally happened in a state other than the one they currently live in. They said that if the other state doesn’t decide to issue a warrant for his arrest there’s really nothing they can do about it. This really upsets me and I pray that more will be done to get these people off the streets. Noone should ever get away with one sex crime let alone several, especially when it results in murder and/or long-term victims including children.

Elected Officials do what they can,
Law Enforcement does what it can,
Now, residents must do what we can because Sex Offenders do what they do!
I encourage everyone to do what A Hand To Hold is doing in Omaha. Hit all neighbors of sex offenders in your area, especially the child molesters!
Here’s a sample of what we are doing this Saturday.
October 26, 2009
To Community Leaders and Members,
A Hand To Hold would like to take this opportunity to introduce a program called ‘The Amber Harris Project’. This project is a proactive measure to keep children and families safe in Omaha and Nebraska, as she grows. There are over approximately 360 Sex Offender Level 3’s in Omaha. Level 3 Sex Offenders are high risk to reoffend, that’s why the Amber Harris Project was established in 2009.
Children are the community’s greatest asset and must be protected from harm!
A Hand To Hold and the Amber Harris Project is a non profit effort that researches the registry data base of Nebraska State Patrol for Sex Offenders for updated material. Then volunteers go out by two’s to area neighborhoods and participate in a Walk and Talk. This walk and talk is one of the greatest assets to make neighbors aware of the offender living near them. The offender or their homes are never approached.
We Share…Who’s in their neighborhood?
…the crimes committed by offenders
…to watch out for all children
…To call 911 if you see a known child sex offender with a child.
…Leave a picture and Information from the Nebraska State Patrol Website
A report is submitted by A Hand to Hold, and the Amber Harris Project after the walk and talk findings. If necessary, State Patrol and local police are notified if the offender, never lived there, moved, is absconded, and has children living at that address or any other important information from an offender’s neighbor.
What we are asking is if you or your organization can help with Volunteers?
The SE Police Precinct
25th & Vinton
November 2009
11:00 AM
KMTV3 has done a story on A Hand To Hold for this project:
<a href="http:####
The Amber Harris Project is not a retaliation effort but a community effort to keep neighborhoods safe!

The one size fits all label is being used and that is the problem. In NH a 17 year old boy improperly touches a 15 year old girl on 2 parts of her body (misdemeanors) and he is treated a multiple sex offender, appears on the State web site and is required to register for life. Change the laws, concentrate on the serious offenders and do a better job of tracting then.

I am totally against ANY form of abuse to any human being. And I believe anyone who murders another human being should be in prison for the rest of their life (until they die). I do not believe in the death penalty for anyone. Also, I believe that once a person has been in and out of prison and has served their probation and parole, done everything required of them, and what was signed on the “contract” when they took the plea, none of this should be required of them, none of it. The state cannot tear up a contract like this, which they are basically doing, it’s unconstitutional. Many people, if they had known they would be faced with all this, they would have NOT taken a plea deal. And the courts are very aware of this and this is why they made it retroactive; thus violating ex-post facto laws! They should be allowed to get on with their life as if nothing happened. I’m not saying for it to be removed from their record, but, the crime should be removed from public view and background checks, they should not have any more restrictions, shaming, etc. If they commit another crime, then they face a lot more punishment, like everything else is treated.
When are we going to move away from being “TOUGH ON CRIME” and move to being “SMART ON CRIME?” If you locked every single sex offender up, at this moment, or killed every one of them, do you think the problem is over? No, more will follow.
I’ve heard many people say “If these laws protect one child, then they are worth it!” And at the same time, if millions are tortured, it’s ok. Offenders are losing their homes, jobs, families, and children and cannot find new jobs or homes due to the insanity of these laws. The families are also made into outcasts for associating with or being related to an ex-offender and their own children are harassed and bullied at schools due to a family member being an ex-offender.
I know these laws are a sensitive issue, but as all issues, they must be discussed and we must come up with a valid solution that will work. The laws, as they exist now, DO NOT WORK! People are always saying they cause unintended consequences. These laws have been on the books for years now, so nothing is unintended anymore. When are we going to set aside fear, hate, rage and anger and come up with a real solution? History has proven that these feelings NEVER get good laws passed but only create bad ones that punish and torture many people. These knee-jerk reactions to a slim number of high-profile crimes, like Adam Walsh and Jessica Lunsford, MUST STOP!
When an ex-offender is forced to move from his/her home, thus having to sell it, cannot find another home within the law due to the residency “buffer” zones, get fired from their jobs due to being on the registry, cannot find a new job due to being on the registry, their husband/wife lose their jobs due to a significant other being on the registry, their children lose their friends and are harassed and bullied in school due to a family member being on the registry, thus destroying the children’s lives, ex-offenders are forced into homelessness and to live under bridges, harassed by police, neighbors and probation/parole officers, have to wear “I’m a sex offender T-shirt” or have a neon green license plate on ALL their cars, have “sex offender” on their drivers license and forced to renew their licenses every year, forced from shelters during tornadoes or hurricanes, cannot give blood at some places due to being discriminated against for being on the sex offender registry, denied housing due to being on the registry, signs placed in their yards inviting harassment and ridicule from the neighbors, forced to move when the neighbors start picketing outside the ex-offenders home, the list is endless.
I THINK THIS IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT, BEYOND THE EXTREME!

The punishment for sex offenders should be orchidectomy or life-long anti-testosterone treatment. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about long prison terms nor supervision after release from prison.

I think sex offenders should have a
GPS tracking device implanted in them.
That way they are monitored at all times and law enforcement will always
know where they are and if a crime happens they will be able to see if one of these offenders were at the location of the crime. It would really cut down on reoffending.

The sex offender registry represents the greatest human and civil rigths violations of our time, and a burning of the consitution for a group of people who RARELY re-offend. Recidivism rates are 1-5%. We are destroying millions of former offenders, there wives, families and childrens lives for political gain. IT DOES NOT WORK, AND NEVER WILL and must be abandoned. Sentencing and treatment should be the focus, not “feel good” retributive justice. This guy is a MASS MURDERER, not just a sex offender. Nothing would have stopped him. But lets stop destroying lives, and the very foundation of our society.

Im am the mother of a regestered sex offender. My son is sitting in prison for haveing pneumonia he had the papers from the hospital ect. He was violated for not going on his work search for the day. Sex offenders are the only ones that have to register. There are no levels of offending, such as there are for murder or durgs. A serial killer may move next door to you and you never know it. Same thing with drug dealers. My son was 14 when he “offended” with another child. Because he was oldest he got charged. They are not all throw away people. My son will have to regester for the rest of his life for something he did at 14, how many of us did stupid things as young teens? There is a reason we dont allow anyone under 18 to vote or serve in the armed forces, they dont make good desisions. We dont allow them to even drive till they are 16, drink till they are 21. Yet we hold those same kids to adult standards way before they even understand what it means. As a country we need to get a grip on the sex offence peneltys and use them on the adults as intended.

North America has to realign it’s priorities.
Marijuana? Big deal!! Legalize, tax it, make tons of money. It’s done with cigarettes…booze…things that kill people every day. Give the gangs one less thing to gang about…
Concentrate the money and the jail cells for serious offenders. Rape, child molesters, etc.
It’s time.

There are child predators, rapists, sadist, masochistic sex offenders that usually repeat and should not be allowed to be out without a monitor or regular house inspections. Part of the overload is that there are some who made a stupid judgement call that was blown out of porportion or an acusation was made from anger and these offenders have never before or after made another offense and they are lumped into the same name as those that I mentioned first. If these were seperated from the first group then maybe it would not be such a burden on the police.

THIS is why there are 700,000 people on the registry and why law enforcement can;t do their jobs. All of us should b afraid…anyone of us could be next. And with the way the laws are, people…your children are more at risk of being classified an offender than being at risk of molestation

A number of comments refer to the fact that sex offenders “do not change, cannot change.” In fact, according to Department of Justice statistics, most registered sex offenders never reoffend. The recidivism rate for sex offenders is 5-10%, which is the second lowest of any crime tracked by the DOJ. About 95% of all sex offenses are FIRST TIME OFFENSES, which means the offender is not on any registry.
To be sure, there are dangerous people on the registry. However, to treat everyone as dangerous places an overwhelming burden on law enforcement. Get the low risk offenders off the public registry and let law enforcement do their job. This case is horrible, but it is NOT the norm. The media contributes to public hysteria when they suggest that this is in any way a “typical” sex offense.
Our current sex offender laws make the public less safe, not more so because they are based on myths and misconceptions. This is an excellent example.

I am the relative of a registered offender. Nebraska had a law that used valid criteria to determine risk. thanks to the feds, that is being removed and replaced by a blanket system based of possible length. so now, instead of 10 years registered with law enforcement knowing the details, he is being stereotyped the same as the worst offender possible and for life. his sentence was done 3 years ago, which was probation, but thanks to the feds threatening to withold funds, nebraska had to comply with a ridiculous federal law called the walsh act. it should be considered double jepardy that they can go and change his registration length 3 years after his sentence was done. then on top of that communities make these ridiculous loitering laws that don’t make anyone safer. wake up and smell the coffee people. these registries and laws don’t work.

Hey Sally the registry is ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids in this country while saving none!
What about those kids civil rights? Where is their voice? I dont hear you sticking up for any of them. The term sex offender is now a meaningless term because we have misdemeanors, public urinators, streakers, and teens having consensual sex classified as sex offenders.

Of course law enforcement officers have difficulty finding time to adequately monitor high risk sex offenders. They have their hands and their day-timers full with monitoring the thousands upon thousands of individuals who have committed horrendous crimes such as urinating in public, soliciting a prostitute, “streaking,” “sexting,” engaging in consentual sex as teens, and other horrific acts which got them placed on a sex offense registry, some as young as 11 or 12. These people make up by far the greatest majority on the registries; their “crimes” are non-violent, non-predatory, never involved assault or rape of a child or woman, yet these often victimless offenses take up 90% of the time and resources allotted to monitoring those on the registries, leaving the remaining 10% who might pose an actual danger to an actual child or woman to stalk at will. Many have known this for years, but they were the “perverts,” and no one listened; now, with the horror of Mr. Garrrido and Jaycee, with the horror of Anthony Sowell, maybe someone will.I understand that even John Walsh acknowledges that the registries are too full of too many who don’t need to be there, which is the epitome of irony as it is largely due to the efforts of Mr. Walsh that the situation exists to begin with.

No country in the world have these kind of sex offender laws. Just think why is this. What the difference between US and UK? Why France have 8 times less prisoners? may something very wrong with USA.
Sorry for people who are proud to be americans

I watched your broadcast four hours ago. I have been thoughtfully reading the comments posted, and I agree with about half of them. I feel bad for the other half. I have seen the DOJ statistics and I know that crime has been steadily decreasing in this country for decades, not because of law inforcement or because we are putting more “criminals” in jail, but because our population is getting older. I am not afraid to walk down the street or answer the door. I am also not afraid of the neighborhood sex offender. He is loved and admired by many. He is my husband and I love him, and the comment I get most tired of hearing is”oh, but he is different.” No, he is not. There are many kind, humane persons who find themselves on the registry for all manner of reasons. These persons flood the registry and make it all but useless. Of the 3400 persons that the police were supposedly watching, they probably should have been watching less than 50. This horrific crime still might have happened, but maybe another might have been prevented. Don’t look to the registry to make your kids safer, it won’t. Know who is in your neighborhood, know your kid’s teachers, coaches, scout leaders, and any adult who pays attention to them. Teach them to be safe, not to be afraid. Almost nobody you or your kids come into contact with means them harm. This does not mean be unaware. It means be unafraid!

If we’d just pass laws making it a crime to watch porn, masturbate, engage in prostitution, or commit a homosexual act, we could just make the entire country one big prison. That way, everybody will be safe.

Anthony Sowell, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer. What do these people all have in common? The fact that they are sex offenders? No. The fact that they are SERIAL KILLERS. That Anthony and Ted and John and Jeff all had sex with their victims is incidental to the fact that they killed them.
Anthony Sowell has about as much in common with the “typical” sex offender as he does with the “typical” murderer (Murder is the only crime tracked by the Department of Justice that has an overall lower recidivism rate than do sex crimes as a group.) Yet, we portray Sowell as somehow being the norm in the same way that we portray the killer of Jessica Lunsford.
It is interesting that the case of Phillip Garrido continues to resonate with the media as a justification for “tougher sex offender laws” even though an article in today’s Los Angeles Times stated:
“For 10 years, parole agents in charge of supervising Phillip Garrido failed to pick up on some obvious clues that might have led them to find the kidnap victim and her children. According to a new report, it would have been relatively easy for agents to find that Garrido had a secret compound in the backyard and that he spent lots of time there. In fact, Garrido was barely supervised for several years, and agents often failed to even make the required home visits. Even when they did start visiting more often, officers failed to follow up on claims that girls were seen in his house. Out of 123 months that California was supervising Garrido, agents failed to follow protocol 90 percent of the time.” 
I’m sure this case will also be used as justification to call for tougher laws, even though both in fact suggest exactly the opposite. There are simply too many people on the registry who do not belong there for the police to effectively supervise all of them.
How quickly the horrible and tragic murder of Sandra Cantu faded from the media and from public memory. Sandra’s case was far more typical of those typically leading to the death of the child than are many that appear and reappear in the news. Sandra’s killer was someone known and trusted by her and her family. There was, however, no clearly identified group against the media and self-appointed “child protectors” could target invective (unless you count Sunday School teachers.)
The debate is not, never has been, nor ever should be between “protecting the rights of child molesters and pedophiles” and “protecting our children.” Rather, it should be about what makes sense and what actually makes the community safer. Most real experts believe that we should “watch some people smarter, not all people longer.” Sadly, this simple truth continues to escape the media and the politicians who use these tragedies to pander for cheap votes.
It really is possible to come up with solutions to this issue that are rational, compassionate, and commonsense. We just aren’t doing it. And that means everybody loses. 

A person should be sentanced according to their crime. In the case of a crime with a strong mental component, like a sex offense, the punishment should include psychiatric visits after release for a period of years.
The system is also labeling too many people as sex offenders. This category should be reserved for rape or violence, not sex between consenting teens etc. As usual the law got carried away with the category.
At the end of the day, when a person has completed his sentence, he has paid his debt to society period. If he needs counciling, he should complete that term also. Making sex offenders as a group into modern lepers, will only drive them further underground.

The registry is ineffective. You have people listed as tier three (which the media claims are the most dangerous)who in reality are no threat what so ever. But then you have the truely dangerous offenders who are grouped with 90% of the others. So the police and other authorities have a hard time keeping track of those guys. And the residency restrictions don’t protect anyone. There just give society a false sense of security! Time to throw these laws out and setup a truely effective way of tracking those who need to be tracked.

I think the fear of most sex offenders is ridiculous. The statistics show most registered offenders are on the list for peeing in public or having a underage girlfriend in high school. These people are not sex offenders. True sex offenders should be on the lists. Let’s get the laws changed so we can keep true sex offenders off the streets for life and let these kids who had a girlfriend in high school go free. Did you know sex offenders cannot hold a job, cannot live with their families, cannot go to church or to the store or anywhere else? What are we doing about those DA’s decline to prosecute because they are someone’s relative etc? We need a reality check. I want my son free. The girl he dated back in high school went on to date a 27 year old and now a 42 year old – and she is only 16. What are we thinking here? Each case needs to be evaluated individually, not collectively as we have been doing. The current laws are not working. I call for change – NOW.

Sex offender registry is growing by 10%
each year. Now we have 700,000 sex offenders, and you can do some calculations: how many sex offenders we will have in 10 years, in 25 years.
Finally most people will be registered.
This is american future.
Do not worry, the problem would be solved,
we just rename people to sex offenders, which become majority of population

Sally:
Unfortunately, the “bodies they found in Cleveland” is proof only that the registry is a useless tool in its present state. It’s so overblown with teenagers and people who don’t belong on it that law enforcement has no time to monitor those who present the true threat. If we’re really interested in protecting ourselves, our loved ones, and our children from persons who would commit this type of crime, we’d better wise up and start shouting from the mountaintops the absurdity of placing our youngsters and those who don’t belong on the registry, possibly for the rest of their lives.

sex offenders can not find jobs, so they are walking around without money and hungry, like typical predators
What can you expect??
Government must feed them, predator is not so dangerous when he has what to eat

It’s funny to read the different comments.Some people are angry and say things without thinking but thats ok. We all can see those for what they are and disregard them as emotional rants.Some quote that sex offenders reoffend no matter what and call it fact.The true recidivism rate on a national level is 3.7% for sexual offenses.Some go so far as to make it look like it’s a police officer making the comment”SE Precinct” lol what state and city? we all know thats not the police.The police are pushing for these laws to change. Read each state web site and they all say that sex offenders have a very low rate of recidivism “reoffense” for those who don’t know the word.Some say they think ALL sex offfenders should be killed.These are the people who have low self esteam and need someone to give them a pat on the back,even if it’s the emotional ranter who really doens’t believe what they are saying. I don’t think there is anyone who still believes the myths about sex offenders having a high likelyhood to reoofend.I think that most people know that isn’t true but they choose to repeat it just to feel like they have a say. So what do we do? I think we would all agree that laws should be written and policy should be formed based on facts not emotions.Wasington State has a law on the books that says all new laws must be fact based.If you are willing to take the time to post a comment here you should be just as willing to read up on the topic and base your feelings on facts. Google is a great tool to find many studies and reports from many sources.Find the ATSA report that just came out.Find any report as long as it’s fact

While I agree that most sex offenders need to be put away there are how ever perhaps a growing number of “offenders” that are miss labeled. Teens 18 who happen to be dating even a 17 year old or as young as a 16 year old and get caught having consensual sex. All a parent has to do is have the 18 year old (boy or girl) charged and they are labeled as a sex offender for the rest of their lives. This is wrong! Who of you made great wise choices at the ripe old age of 18? Something has to be done in regard to this atrocity….

wow this is a great debate, what is happening to today’s society well all going *insane*? people talk about children’s civil rights and what not yet bashing *low-risk* sex offenders.
so yet that ladies son wil never get a chance to be human even be able to change and be a member to society with people wanting to casterate him or have put away in a small box for life… whats the sence in that. i can understand if he keeps abusing over and over and over again. thats practical kill the SOB.
As for children’s rights stop acting as a parent and start doing it stop bashing every person thats on a list..
whats the percentage of mental illness out there in the world?? what it’s like 15% or higher?? they need more counceling and more therapy.
Sorry to use a line of your statement..
Who is protecting them? Every time one of these sex offender monsters get out of jail they are at it again. All the bodies they found in Cleveland is proof.
This is a general term used by people who only speak before they think..
WHAT about murders that get out after doing 15 years dont have to register and can be free to comit further crimes? so. casterate a sex offender but let a killer someone who kills children roam free with no reprecutions makes ZERO sence.
like they said before *focus* on repeat offenders *high risk* ones and I hope people that commited murder too should be on that list becuase not every killer gets life nor a death penalty..
I clearly am also sharing my thoughts to this debate and outcry, I do aggree but i think it needs to be handled more appropiately, and also be a parent;) you make the rules kids must follow.