Regardless of how passionate people are on an issue, we shouldn’t allow emotions to dictate public policy.
Such is the case on immigration. Yes, there are many problems associated with illegal aliens, but deporting everyone isn’t the solution.
Such is also the case in our drive to rid this area of sex offenders or restricting where they can travel, locate, read, live, shop, etc.
It’s ironic isn’t it? I’m the biggest backer of throwing the book at offenders (the ones that are really guilty, not the innocent ones that get blamed for consensual sex), but let’s look at the logic and reasoning behind all of our “restricting sex offender” ordinances.
For one thing, the reason we’re so against where sex offenders can live and congregate is because of the system that forces sex offenders on the streets; much like our problems with illegal immigration are stemming from welfare and free education. Illegal aliens are merely the scapegoats. Sex offenders are merely the most visible components of a widespread systematic disaster.
I see it as restricting where we don’t need restricting. Yes, a notice should be mailed in a given neighborhood of the potential living arrangement of a sex offender, but what’s more, we ought to have a separate “justice system” for prosecutors and judges who allow these criminals (again, the guilty ones) to walk. What kind of justice? A recall mechanism for elected officials and appointed officials alike. Shorter terms for elected officials. That sorta thing would streamline this problem.
Or, how about a citizen-led drive to notify voters of the potential of a judge or prosecutor living in their midst that gives probation out like candy?
Restricting where sex offenders accomplishes feel-good emotional debate and nothing more. The Constitution applies to criminals just as it does to innocent individuals. Rather than get in the “deport them all!” mentality, let’s re-think some of these policies.
And go after the ones who are really the root cause of this problem…
5 Comments
March 18, 2008 at 4:15 pm
How bout we relocate the sex offenders next door to the DA and his pals that support the plea deals. They apparently think it’s A Okay for them to be out and about. Put the slime bags next door to their grand children. I wonder what they would “truthfully” think of that.
March 19, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Unfortunately, sex offenders have a right to be able to live somewheres other than being pushed to the fringes of society. If you push such people into a ever narrowing circle eventually such people will simply go underground and you will not be able to monitor thier activities. I have a sex offender that lives no more than a hundred yards from me, and I am grateful that I can keep an eye on the man.
March 21, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Sex offenders lose their “right” to live as they please the moment they decide to harm a child or any other victim. They are the scourge of our society and as such they should receive appropriate punishment which is hard time behind bars at a state run facility and once they have served their time our children should have the freedom to play and go to school without a sex offender preying on them. Thus harsher restrictions should be implemented in order to protect our children from further victimization!!
March 21, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I agree with all that… BUT… lets make sure that only TRUE Sex Offenders are the ones we are sentencing… a LOT of the Sex Offenders on the Regitrars page are NOT real Sex offenders. Some are just scape goats. Most of them did not do any harm to a child or an adult for that matter. There are more than a few on the Sex offender list for relieving themselves behind a bush on a camping trip… HOW is THAT a Sex offence? Some are on the list for things they did as a child themselves… kissing a girl on the playground, show me yours I’ll show you mine, playing Dr., etc… how were these CHILDREN (13 and under) convicted as Sex offenders????
The Campers should have been given a fine or some sort of reprimand, but NOT listed as a Sex Offender…. The Children should have been punished in some way to leave an impression on them but their lives need NOT be ruined because of innocence, naivity or ignorance.
So just because someone is on the Sex Offender list does NOT automaticly make them a preditor.
It is MY opinion, from what I have been reading lately in the Ellis County Press,and personal information, that a LOT of the REAL Sex Offenders are not EVEN ON the list… they are walking the streets scot free to prey on our families and childern as they see fit. A Dr in Ennis gets a slap on the wrist for semen on a victim… a Chiropractor in Ovilla not even fined for molesting is female patients?! Why are THEY not on the sex offenders list? why are THEY not in jail… why are THEY not being persicuted??
So maybe b4 you go on a witch hunt you may want to look out for those 3 fingers pointing back at you when you are pointing that one at others.
ticked off Mom
March 22, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Mrs. Kennedy,
Were the “child sex offense” conviction or plea deals made here in Ellis County? I’m not arguing with you on the skewed view of enforcing the laws here in Ellis County. I do not agree that a teenage boy should go to prison when he has consentual sex with his fifteen or sixteen year old girlfriend. I do believe men should be more careful about the places they decide to relieve themselves. You do not have the right to expose children or women to your private parts. This is something commonly done by sex offenders for a “thrill” but you would think a history of that particular behavior would have to be proven before someone is pegged as a sex offender. These are issues that should be reported to the Texas State Bar Association. Joe Grubbs and his friends can and should be reported. They managed to get the good ol’ boy system working to keep him in office but there are standards that the office REQUIRES him to fulfill according to state law. Report your grievance. I am not your enemy, I can assure you of that. I do strongly believe there are those persons in the community that our children should be protected from and there are those in office that are required to protect everyone in the community in an unbiased manner without influence of money and position. The Doctor in Ennis should receive prison just as a poor black or Spanish man would have received if they has placed a camera in a dressing room. The doctor who sexually assaulted his patients should have gone to prison just as a poor black man would have for the same crime. The chiropractore in Ovilla should have gone to prison just as a poor Spanish man would have for the same crime. They should in fact go to prison for a longer term because the women never would have put themselves in the same position if there hadn’t been the trust one puts in a doctor.
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