Public sex offender registries are at the forefront of what I’ve described in my research as a “war on sex.”
Offenders convicted of sex crimes are now singled out for surveillance and restrictions far more punitive than those who commit other types of crime. More than 800,000 Americans are now registered sex offenders. Tracking them has created a booming surveillance industry. Full Article
Of course sex offender registries reinforce inequality across the social and racial spectrum.
Yes it’s reinforcing inequality, registrants are getting rigged in the system as a form of punishment after they’ve already been punished, and they’re getting harassed and humiliated by the public because of what they’ve done, and be exposed in the media to create hysteria. This is just like the “war on drugs” epidemic except this is “war on sex” that feeds to mass incarceration. Our politicians have played the world’s greatest Jedi mind trick on us about how dangerous, evil, and incurable registrants are because of recidivism through propaganda.
That’s easy: yes. Next question. Digging deeper, I think the easiest way to attack residency and presence restrictions is to compare recidivism in States (or counties or cities) that have them to States (etc.) that do not. Boom, done. No need for any deeper studies or panels or grants. The data are right there waiting to be used.
Retroactive registration for sex offenders before the enactment was past are unconstitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court should rule in favor of our constitutional rights. The retroactive laws are not regulatory but are absolutely punitive in nature.
GT
The fact the laws are mirrored after how Germany treated the Jews (minus the gas chambers) shows it is indeed punishment and reinforcing inequality. Besides being like Nazi Germany, its also pretty close to the old Jim Crow laws. You can call it Jim Crow 2.0.
I completed a sex offender treatment program, and the overarching emphasis was that having a healthy social life was the key ingredient to not reoffending. So I have finally found a girlfriend, things are going very well, she wants me to stay the night at her house (how wonderful), I call the police department to be sure every thing is cool–but everything is not cool, they say I have to register her address with them–so I ask, “Will her address come up on the public registry?” The answer is yes! “But she has rental properties, and that could seriously hamper people wanting to rent their.” “To bad!”. So I am not able to have a normal relationship with a woman–the single thing the SO therapist said was crucial to success is stifled by the registry. Yes, I would say it reinforces inequality.