Perhaps the often onerous post-prison regime sex offenders have to adhere to facilitates that, along with some serious therapy? I doubt it’s just due to the self-control of the sex offenders (depending on the crime).
Since 1986, hasn’t there been widening of the category of “sex offender”? Also, “sex offender” is a broad category, that can encompass a lot of crimes that aren’t involving children, and I’m not sure that the article really works to address that difference effectively.
You maybe right that the fears of sex offenders are overblown, but at least some of that probably comes from the fact that they are more highly surveilled.
Because their targets — being so numerous, often psychologically damaged (ofttimes for life) from the abuse, relatively easy to get at, and clearly powerless as opposed to other types of targets for criminal behavior — were sexually abused, and sexual abusers by definition have demonstrated that they can’t control their urges and therefore should remain under suspicion even if they’ve served their time.
Most of the sex offenders on the news that are charged are white guys. The legal system (from local police to the District Attorneys) has a good amount of people of color. I don’t think it’s like that 1950’s timeframe movie “The Green Mile” anymore, especially in the south where we have many African-American police officers.
Thank you. Is @J_Striker saying (or more likely dog-whistling) that whites are charged only because they’re white? I’m pretty sure it takes a lot more evidence than that. And usually a lot less evidence for ‘existing while black or brown’.
There’s a vast spectrum of what’s labeled “child sex offenses”, from the most heinous of crimes to things that are extremely questionable.
A relative of mine used to be an elementary school teacher. He gave one of the students a bad grade on an essay, and a few days later, as he was leaning over to point something out on her desk (this is 4th grade), his hand brushed her shoulder. She screamed and claimed he was groping her. Despite testimony from the other students, that’s all it took; he was fired and can no longer teach due to being a “child sex offender”. Now that’ll be on his passport for life? I’m having a hard time seeing how it’s fair that he’s treated the same way, forever, as an actual child rapist.
That’s because number of years on the planet is a poor predictor for intelligence, social skills and maturity.
Exactly. And now all of them can carry their prison with them in their pocket!
Permanent stigma are not as effective for preventing further lawbreaking as the death penalty, but far less controversial. And it’s way cheaper than warehousing them for life, yet still meets the goal of oppressive cruelty.
When that happened to me as a young man, I was able to plead down from an “indecent exposure” felony rap to an “open lewdness” misdemeanor. I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had been a poor person.
