Sex Offenders Don't Deserve ...
Rev. Debra Haffner says Sex Offenders Don't Deserve To Be Set Up For Murder ...You may have seen the news this morning that two men with a history of sex offenses were murdered in two towns in Maine on Easter Sunday. Their names, home addresses, places of employment, and photographs were on the Maine sex offender registry. Last summer, two other sex offenders were hunted down by a vigilante in Washington State.I agree. I detest pedophilia as much as anyone else. But I'd love to find out if there's ever been a study saying that registries really do accomplish their presumably preventative mission. Don't know how that could be measured, though.The Religious Institute stands firmly against violence against women and children and recognizes that child sexual abuse is a devastating social, personal, and public health problem. But I personally believe that computerized offender registries that don't differentiate between pedophiles and 17 year olds that have sex with 15 year olds -- and that basically provide a map to the homes where people who have served time and presumably have had treatment live -- offer little more than a false sense of security about sexual abuse prevention. ...
I'm sure there are more than a few people who think sex offenders deserve to be shot on sight. And I think that's wrong.
posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 5:18 PM
1 Comments:
I can tell you this much. I discovered a sex offender moved into my neighborhood in February. I told my neighbors that I talk with and we decided to let the neighborhood know. We printed the information off the registry and passed them out to every person in our neighborhood including the offender himself. Included was a letter to said offender explaining why we did so. The jist of it is this, there are children in this neighborhood. Prior to discovery, it was thought to be a "safe" neighborhood. I can promise you that now, however, ten year olds will not be allowed to ride thier bikes up and down the street unaccompanied. Children can not walk four doors down to see thier friend. A mother can not feel safe allowing her child, even if he/she is of age that it should be allowed, to go anywhere other than the backyard without her watchful eye upon them. It is possible that the offender is fully rehabilitated, but would you risk your child's emotional future on that hope? I guarantee you I wouldn't. People do need to be aware that thier children are not safe. The pain of sexual abuse doesn't go away when your offender is released from prison. It is lifelong and horrifically debilitating. I do not have any compassion for an offender just because he has to make his whereabouts known. I am thankful for the service and pray with all my heart that it will save other children from the life that I have known.
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