What is the purpose of the sex offender registry?

Question

What is it ACTUALLY used for though???

Do people use it to educate - or to harrass? Let me help you on this - other than the extenuating circumstance, people use this list to harrass.

Are you actually safer because that list is in existence?

It is amazing what the media can do...

Answer 1

Here is the information I found about Megan's Law. Hopefully it will answer your question:

"Megan's Law is named after a 7-year-old Hamilton Township, New Jersey girl named Megan Nicole Kanka. On July 29, 1994, she was lured into her neighbor's home with the promise of seeing a puppy. Instead, Megan was brutally raped and murdered by a two-time convicted sex offender who had been convicted in 1981 of an attack on a 5-year-old child and an attempted sexual assault on a 7-year-old.
Eighty-nine days after Megan Kanka's disappearance, New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman signed the first state-level version of what we know as Megan's Law.
The passage of Megan's Law in New Jersey eventually led to the May 1996 passage of a federal law which is also known as Megan's Law.
New Jersey's Megan's Law has specific mandates for active community notification which ensures that the community will be made aware of the presence of convicted sex offenders who may pose a risk to public safety.
Under New Jersey's law, if a convicted sex offender is determined to pose a moderate risk of re-offending then schools and community groups likely to encounter that offender will be notified.
If an offender is determined to pose a high risk of re-offending, then schools, community groups and members of the public, such as neighbors who are likely to encounter the offender, will be notified.
Parents nationwide have been under the false impression that they, too, would be notified of a resident sexual predator, because of the false assumption that New Jersey's state law is the same as each individual state's law.
The federal version of Megan's Law is drastically different than New Jersey's version of Megan's Law. The federal law requires all 50 states to release information to the public about known convicted sex offenders when it is necessary to protect their safety but do not mandate active notification.
If a state fails to comply with minimal release of information standards established by the federal government, then that state risks losing federal crime-fighting funding.
The federal mandate to release information to the public is often mistakenly referred to as community notification when, in actuality, the federal mandate requires just the release of information to the public--not active notification.
There is a significant difference between simply releasing information (making it available for the public to access on its own) and active community notification, when law enforcement officers go door to door to inform neighbors and schools.
The federal Megan's Law does not require all 50 states to enact active notification laws, whereas New Jersey's Megan's Law has specific requirements for active community notification. Not all 50 states allow this data to be viewed on the internet as well."

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

What it actually is, is ineffective. The only ones that registar are the ones not going to commit new crimes. Check out the stats on this. The purpose is to identify those convicted of sexual crimes so that the public can be aware of these individuals and thus dramatically improve the protection of children regarding sexual offenses.
Basic problems are as follows: Only the ones interested in obaying the law registar, it provides a means for harrassment and illegal activity directed at those individuals, persons that have registered have been assaulted, killed, denied employment, housing and so forth. It has become the means by which a second class citizenship status can be identified and persecuted.
Statistics-not the ones bent by including offenses that are not sexual offenses, show that convicted offenders by and large do not reoffend. The recividism rate is something like 26% nationally and only about 6% in my home state. This is the lowest rate outside of capital murder. The highest rate is for drug related offenses, followed by property crimes, then crimes against persons (not sexually motivated) and white collar crimes. Statistics also show that the rate of offenses have continued at roughly the same level, it has nothing to do with registration, people are still not watching their children, taking responsibility for their safety and so forth. Most offenses in this area are from non-registared or from individuals that have not been convicted of a sexual crime in the past. The registry is a joke and totally ineffective except to create a few new jobs in the police force and to waste money.

Answer 4

The sex offender registry was created to allow families to be aware and watch after their loved ones safe from preditors. All sex offenders are not pedifiles but families with children need to be aware if there is a danger to them in their neighborhood. Sex offense are a crime of unwanted advancement on another person. Sex offenders had no respect for the victim. Sex offenders tend to strike again. So we need to keep our families safe. Will I use the list to look you up and harrass you? The answer is no. But I will keep an eye on my family and make sure that temptation is not put in you path if you are in my neighborhood.

Answer 5

The fact is that the whole intercourse culprit registry demands to be overhauled. While I agree that repeat offenders, specially the violent ones, will have to be on a record, the opposite men and women will have to no longer. At least part of the men and women indexed at the intercourse culprit aren't going to be repeat offenders. People have got to become aware of that you'll be further to the intercourse culprit record for urinating in public, mooning, streaking, thin dipping and different dull matters that are meant to NOT manufacturer you for existence. With the outrageous legislation which were handed and people who are looking to be handed the one factor the intercourse culprit registry does correct now's turn up paranoia and persecution. And placing different criminals on a record is simply ludicrous. They cross to prison and serve their time. Next men and women will desire to tattoo peoples crimes on their foreheads, or might be simply bypass the justice approach all in combination and return to burning men and women on the stake.

Answer 6

so that when I look at it and say "holy muffins they're like, EVERYWHERE!" I can hide under my bed and know that they are actually there and i'm not paranoid.

it's to know if your creepy neighbor has a criminal record so you can justify the possibility of moving away to your other neighbors for a reason other than "because he's creepy".

Ok, seriously, it's for your own personal defense. I mean, like it or not, people believe being a sex offender is an offense that should be resolved with through capitol punishment (and this is not just me, but very many people who I know). Seeing the law does not share the same belief, people want something to compensate for the justice system's failure to protect the public.

Answer 7

I'm not clear on the details, but it CAN be used to look up sex offenders in your area, for safety purposes, and for employers to check on backgrounds. And Just about any info can be found on those things. Personally I think its a violation of privacy, for those who are on there for no good reason (there was recently a law passed that if you are accused of doing something inappropriate enough to be tried as a sex offender, you are automatically put on the register without an investigation. I think they revoked it, but I'm pretty sure they didn't) But yeah, it was basically put down for safety reasons for people like parents who do not want to like near or associate with them.

Answer 8

The S.O. registry is to inform parents and residence of the sexual predators in their area.

UPDATE: I should also add that I supervised a parole office for 3 years. Most of the clients I had were sex offenders. I also have a son and make sure I'm up to date on the S.O.'s in my area for that reason.

In response to the next answerer: You've never met me, so don't presume to know me.

Answer 9

Harass? Maybe its just me, but I would want NOTHING to do with an offender. It is helpful for people to know because it is something that you can NEVER rehabilitate. Therefore, if you have a child that walks to their friends house in your neighborhood, you would want to know if they were walking by an offenders yard. Trust me, no one hunts down these people to give them more attention. The point is to avoid them.

Answer 10

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