MO: Sex offender registry – Find better way for offenders

It’s rare to find a progressive trend in our Republican-dominated legislature, but their recent effort (House Bill 301) to downsize Missouri’s “sex offender registry” is laudable, even as Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto is perplexing.

Registering “sex offenders” (far too broadly defined) is based on the questionable idea that they are more likely to offend once released — even though a U.S. Department of Justice study of criminal recidivism rates showed many convicted of sex-related offenses had lower rates of re-arrest compared to other criminals.

We don’t require armed robbers or other felons to register on a public list; rather they serve their sentences and (hopefully) re-integrate into society. And that is the main problem with registering “sex offenders.” Branding all of them for life can only make it more difficult to become normal members of society upon release. Full Article

Related posts

Subscribe
Notify of

We welcome a lively discussion with all view points - keeping in mind...

 

  1. Submissions must be in English
  2. Your submission will be reviewed by one of our volunteer moderators. Moderating decisions may be subjective.
  3. Please keep the tone of your comment civil and courteous. This is a public forum.
  4. Swear words should be starred out such as f*k and s*t and a**
  5. Please avoid the use of derogatory labels.  Always use person-first language.
  6. Please stay on topic - both in terms of the organization in general and this post in particular.
  7. Please refrain from general political statements in (dis)favor of one of the major parties or their representatives.
  8. Please take personal conversations off this forum.
  9. We will not publish any comments advocating for violent or any illegal action.
  10. We cannot connect participants privately - feel free to leave your contact info here. You may want to create a new / free, readily available email address that are not personally identifiable.
  11. Please refrain from copying and pasting repetitive and lengthy amounts of text.
  12. Please do not post in all Caps.
  13. If you wish to link to a serious and relevant media article, legitimate advocacy group or other pertinent web site / document, please provide the full link. No abbreviated / obfuscated links. Posts that include a URL may take considerably longer to be approved.
  14. We suggest to compose lengthy comments in a desktop text editor and copy and paste them into the comment form
  15. We will not publish any posts containing any names not mentioned in the original article.
  16. Please choose a short user name that does not contain links to other web sites or identify real people.  Do not use your real name.
  17. Please do not solicit funds
  18. No discussions about weapons
  19. If you use any abbreviation such as Failure To Register (FTR), Person Forced to Register (PFR) or any others, the first time you use it in a thread, please expand it for new people to better understand.
  20. All commenters are required to provide a real email address where we can contact them.  It will not be displayed on the site.
  21. Please send any input regarding moderation or other website issues via email to moderator [at] all4consolaws [dot] org
  22. We no longer post articles about arrests or accusations, only selected convictions. If your comment contains a link to an arrest or accusation article we will not approve your comment.
  23. If addressing another commenter, please address them by exactly their full display name, do not modify their name. 
ACSOL, including but not limited to its board members and agents, does not provide legal advice on this website.  In addition, ACSOL warns that those who provide comments on this website may or may not be legal professionals on whose advice one can reasonably rely.  
 

4 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

I have to admit that while the mid-west used to only known as the “Bible belt” of the country that it also seems that common sense is to be found there as well. Seems more of it there than in the pseudo intellectual open-mindedness that we find here in California.

You go Missouri – You are the “Show Me” State so show us!

Maybe it’s time for my wife and I to consider moving to Missouri…

Here’s something very encouraging: Every comment under the article is from a woman and is positive! The truth is out there, and people are learning!

Don’t forget. Oklahoma ….they too are a changing and reforming registry for living and working …sentence served
and done with works for all………………….california goes against Constitution protections.

Articles like this one are the result of all of the hard work that folks like Janice with CARSOL and others from other groups like WAR and USAFAIR are continuing to do. We are making noise. And now, we are being noticed. We may lose battles, but, we WILL win this war. We ALL need to keep on keeping on. If we do, more and more op-eds like this one will appear. Then, one day the sheeple will begin follow us.