Karl Gets Political Once Again
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the same court that legalized gay marriage) has recently ruled that the state can post photos and address information of Level 3 Sex Offenders. I’m not sure what I think about this.
I checked out the website (apparently, a lot of people have because the Boston Globe reports that the server has been overwhelmed and the site was very slow when I tried) and I couldn’t find a clear definition of Level 3 versus Level 1 or Level 2 (aside from the simple “low risk”, “moderate risk” and “high risk” labels). My assumption is that Level 1 is a person that got caught masturbating in the woods or fooling around with another person at a rest area (which I personally don’t consider a sexual offense…but I digress). And I would assume that a Level 3 sex offender is a person with severe mental health issues leading him/her to rape adults and/or children.
There are a few things about this whole website business that worry me:
First, if these sex offenders are considered such a high risk…why are they out in the first place? I mean, if they are so risky to the general public that the state feels it needs to warn (actually, advertise) to neighbors that a predator is in their midst, shouldn’t the person be some place else getting rehabilitated instead? I don’t know enough about prescriptions/psychiatry, but it seems to be me that these predators have a psychological problem. After prison, couldn’t there be some sort of post-prison/pre-societal half-way house where they could live? They could work normal jobs during the day, but receive psychiatric help at night and have professionals on-site to manage and adjust medications? I mean, I know people with OCD or other behavioral issues that take prescriptions to put those urges under control. Aren’t their medications that could be assigned to reduce libido or re-assign such urges?
Second, this is too reminiscent of the Witch Hunts in 1692. I mean, people are going to abuse this knowledge (that a sex offender lives in their neighborhood). Some day, we’re going to hear reports of people throwing eggs at his/her house, people vandalizing his car and calling him/her names at the local store or on the street. Neighbors will run the other way and give no eye contract…meanwhile, chances are that this sex offender is probably wanting to get on with his/her life. And if this predator is still unable to control his urges, I refer to my first suggstion and don’t release him/her to the public.
Third, if advertising sexual predators is the wave of the future, why are only sexual offenders being targeted? Why aren’t gay bashers being posted? How about violent racists? I mean, I’d like to know if my next-door neighbor has attacked a gay man, and I’m sure an African-American (or Asian, or Middle-eastern, or Latino, or American Indian) would like to know if there is somebody on their block with a history of violence.
Don’t get me wrong. I am 100% for protecting people from sexual assault and think the state/government and community-at-large should do all it can to to protect each other. I’m just not so sure this is the best way.
On a lighter note, it’s nice and cool out there today (and I wore shorts).
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Completely unrelated, but yet still significant….where the heck are the pictures of your gastronomic efforts? Its been a LONG time Karl….LOL
Also completly unrelated – I just found out according to that web site that I am only worth: $1,913,360.00 – <sigh>
I was hoping for at least 2mil 🙂
I know, I know. But posting my meals on-line was a rude awakening for me. It made me realize that I do, in fact, only have a revolving menu of 6 meals. Actually, it’s even less since of those 6 meals, 3 of them include the same veggies as sides. I’m an embarrassment to foodies the world over. UGH.
Take that as a challenge Karl! Create NEW culinary delights for yourself (and Matt)…Either that or re-name your blog….
if i had kids, id like to know if a convicted sexual predator lived in my neighborhood. as a gay man, id like to know if there were are convicted gaybasher or serial killer living in the neighborhood,absolutely!
if youre inclined to commit such crimes repeatedly, then you must suffer the consequences of such actions. if youre mentally incapable of helping yourself to gov’t services that deal with these issues, perhaps incarceration/group homes are your best options.
to print names of convicted criminals in the newspaper, OK. to print their photographs in a newspaper just creates shame and fear.
Oh yeah….btw I am worth $1,927,334.00.
What’s the website to see how much you are worth.
Oh and Karl, there are meds to render people impotent.
And or surgical procedures.
i can tell you as a psych nurse that they do have medications to treat sexual offenders, but it’s rather hit and miss. chemical castration is useful in some cases. in general though, treating sexual offenders is very difficult and there is a high incidence of relapse. my hospital has a juvenile sexual offender program, which futher complicates things. treating adolescent sexual offenders can be most frustrating. i don’t think there is a single program in the country with a perfect success rate.
I don’t like the whole posting of these pictures and names. To me, it seems to go against the very principle of our judicial system — which, I know, could use MAJOR reforms. However, if John Doe raped someone 25 years ago and served his time — does he not have the right to start his life over? That is the idea behind the punishment — it isn’t supposed to go on forever. If that were the case, John Doe should never have been released in the first place.
Like Thomas says, I don’t think anyone knows how to treat these sick folks for sure. It is all scary stuff, but the bottom line is that our society should just toss ’em and throw away the key if we aren’t comfortable with them out of jail after serving their time for the crime committed.
As far as rape goes — I do feel it is probably one of the worst things a human can do to another and should be treated the same as murder. …of course, one can murder and get less time than if one steal bread from a bakery. Les Miz!!!!
I tried to post in here yesterday with a lengthy response, and to my horror when the screen reappeared, my response was not there. Probably a good thing because I would have probably pissed a lot of people off.
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