I found out that a sex offender lives next door to me. I initially was pissed off, but I found out exactly what he did. He downloaded child porn 8 years ago. He didn’t touch a child, didn’t buy or sell the porn… he downloaded it. I talked to him and he showed me his PSI (pre-sentence investigation). He did exactly that – download child porn off of a newsgroup. Nothing more – nothing less. He Served 2 ½ years in prison and 3 years probation. I kind of feel sorry for the guy. I personally believe he got the shaft for what he did.
2006-06-23 08:14:35 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
My questions are these –
Do I have a civil duty to inform the neighborhood (they could easily find out themselves) or should I keep quiet?
If you think I should inform the neighbors, should I inform everybody on everybody else’s dirty laundry? I have good dirt on EVERYBODY - including myself.
Should I be pissed that he didn’t tell the neighborhood? I don’t think anybody would be as pissed if a murderer didn’t spill the beans on their past.
Is their a hierarchy on sex offenses?
2006-06-23 08:14:47 · update #1
Well crimes in child pornography are taken very seriously. I was doing research for my job and came across an actual manual for officers dealing witht the release of sex offenders. For his crime I don't think that you are obligated to tell the neighborhood. The manual's pretty long but if you just skim thru it you'll see the hierarchy listing.
2006-06-23 08:50:57 · answer #1 · answered by stephanie7938 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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2016-06-11 01:34:52 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have no duty to inform anyone. The state makes the information available as required by Megan's Law to anyone who wants the information.
Likewise, HE certainly has no obligation to go door to door.
And, as you've already started to see, the system does shaft a lot of people by treating every sexually based crime the same...What this guy did was icky, and bears watching because a liking for kiddie porn does sometimes escalate, but that should be between him, his shrink and his parole officer, not the general public.
Bravo to you for getting the whole story before you went off half ******.
Here's a bit more "food for thought" for those who believe all sex offenders are equally horrible and dangerous...no matter what the facts of a given case are, anyone labeled a "Sex Offender" gets painted with the same broad brush. All molesters, predators and actual rapists are sex offenders, but not all sex offenders are monsters... you gotta look at the actual "crime", not the label... it happens a lot that nothing horrible actually took place, no one was harmed in the least little way... There are thousands of cases where the "Offender" is the poor high school senior dating a sophmore,the 19 year old schmuck who lost his head over girl 2 months from the age of consent or the guy who got in a world of trouble over some experienced little hottie who lied about her age, it happens more than you might think that the only thing a guy did wrong was not ask for identification or make the mistake of turning 18 before his high school sweetheart turned 16. And then there is the married couple who gets nailed for "Lewd and Lascivious Conduct" because they were busted by a park ranger fooling around on a camping trip, 8 miles in, and a mile off the trail....In several states, you can become a "Sex Offender" for "streaking"...is streaking a pretty dumb thing to do? Yes. Should a drunken frat boy have his life ruined over it? I don't think so, but the law in some places says otherwise... finally, in Texas, a person can be charged with a sexual offense for purchasing or owning certain, commonplace "adult toys"... and I'm talking about married adults.
2006-06-24 02:05:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, you should not tell the neighbors. For one thing, his offense has not victim "by him". For another thing, there have been people arrested for that and did not even know it was there. The file had not even been open! Yet they arrest them anyway. It was piggy backed off something else.
He is a sex offender, he is not a sexual predator, a violent sexual predator, or a pedophile. He has more than paid his debt to society and has the right to life, libery and the pursuit of happiness just like the Bill of Rights states.
He has a less than 1% of recidivism. Please, be kind. you don't have to be his best buddy if you are afraid (which you should not be), but let him have what little peace and quiet he can. Bringing this out to your neighbors could even cause him to lose his job.
2006-06-23 14:34:57 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, it is not your duty to inform the neighbors. The laws concerning sex offenders need to be re-vamped, they are just rediculous. He may not have even known it was child porn when he downloaded it, who knows? I know of several cases of lives being ruinded due to being labeled a sex offender. One case involves a 19 yr old boy and 15 yr old girl. They were dating behind the moms back and got caught. Mom got pissed and filed charges on him. He got sentenced to 1 yr in jail, 10 yrs probation and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. When the girl turned 18, they got married and now have 3 kids. The dad, or sex offender, cannot go to any of his sons baseball games or his daughters soccer games, because they are on school property, he cannot even drop off or pick up his kids from school. Now that is messed up. When society hears sex offender, they often think a 3 yr old baby was raped, but that is not always the case. Sex offenders are grouped into too large a category, and they are all treated the same, like the scum of the earth. Yes, some deserve that, or worse, but a lot of them don't. The police and the judges just go crazy when they hear the word offender, plus, they don't want anyone thinking they let one off the hook becuase his offence wasnt that bad. Its all about politics.
2006-06-23 08:44:33 · answer #5 · answered by trebobnagrom 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, you don't have a "duty" to inform the rest of the neighborhood. If they were concerned, they could have checked out the same website you did (or if you didn't do that, they could have!). Plus, you're right, it is not your "duty" to spread dirt on the rest of the neighborhood. Also, if this guy is as "innocent" as you feel he is, he should have followed the sex-offender registration laws in your area. You can easily check on those laws by contacting hte police department and making sure he has registered properly. If he hasn't, then you definitely need to report him to the authorities. It is not our job to go around ruining peoples lives without just cause.
2006-06-23 09:23:10 · answer #6 · answered by Goose&Tonic 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You do not have an obligation to inform the neighborhood of the presence of the sex offender, though morally, I would as I would want to know if a sex offender was living next door. But that of course is a personal call, one you will live with. As for your comparison between sex offenses and murder, well the high recidivism rate for sexual offenders (in fact, they are more likely than any other criminal to be repeat offenders) justifies their treatment. Sex offenders are less capable of being rehabilitated than other criminals, and the law is concerned that releasing them poses a high risk of harm to the community; registration allows the state to keep tabs on this person and gives the neighbors notice to be on guard. Finally, child pornography, either making or viewing it, is easily one of the most heinous and vile crimes. Without the passive viewer, the market would not exist and children would not be harmed.
2006-06-23 10:10:12 · answer #7 · answered by leslie 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Our definition of sex offenses are entirely too broad. According to megan's law, the local authorities would have to report to the neighbordhood any sex offender who may have been a child rapist, or simply a guy who decided to moon the wrong person.
It's not your civic duty to cause trouble and be a gossip. It's the police's responsibility to disperse information.
Kinda sad how people keep on saying that "offenders" need to be rehabilitated and made into productive members of society, but nearly nobody wants to actually do that.
2006-06-23 08:20:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
ooh this is a very difficult position to be in!
He may not have touched a child, but he is obviously sexually interested in them. Are you 100% sure that his fantasies won't someday become a reality?
Paedophilles come in all different shapes and sizes. They are cunning, sly and are able to convince people that what they did was ok. It is NOT ok.
I don't believe that he got put in jail for downloading child porn and only that. There must be more to it. You will never know the absolute truth, he is telling you what he wants you to know so he will get the sympathy vote and you will think better of him.
As for telling the rest of the neighbourhood...... that is a very difficult thing. I have my own reasons for not advising you what to do but you will have to be extremely careful, especially if it has been seen that you have befriended him. You could also be accused of unthinkable things whilst being alone in the house with him.
Be careful what you decide.
2006-06-23 08:23:33 · answer #9 · answered by Gillipoos 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well, if he's a sex offender, then it's already listed on the sex offender website. So if you go on there, you can find out if one lives next to you or not. So he's not hiding it, it's out there!!! But if you feel that others may be in danger, then yes you should go and tell others. If you don't feel there is danger involved then leave it alone and let them find out on their own. If he had actually done something to a kid, or raped someone or something, it would be totally different! So it's all on you what you think you should do!
2006-06-23 08:19:58 · answer #10 · answered by SwtPrincess1128 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋