NZ: Labour says no to vigilante action against sex offenders

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1. mh November 13, 2013

   “…police must be utterly scrupulous in investigating sex offences in order to keep public confidence…”

   That pretty much say’s it all. Cops need to be “utterly scrupulous…in order to keep public confidence,” what about justice? What about public safety? We’re all just pawns in this culture-of-fear political scheme.

2. Tim November 13, 2013

   Hard to tell the difference between illegality of the vigilante and the vigilantism of the legal system. They seem to be inextricably entwined. When they post someone’s information for all to see and label him with a term as incendiary as “sex offender”, then recruit the media, community group and law enforcement to make sure the word gets out keep an eye on him, what do you expect?
   And labor groups ought to make required reading the book, Punishing the Poor, by Loic Wacquant. He lays out how the penal policies (including the hyped up pursuit of former sex offenders) are destroying the working classes.

3. Robert Curtis November 13, 2013

   Tim I tried to forward your comment to the article. Moderation being what it is wonder if it’ll show up?

   • Tim November 13, 2013

     This one is there. But the moderation process is a mystery. I sent a comment on another subject, but i think it was the internet connection on my end that lost it.

     • Eric Knight November 14, 2013

       Moderation? Apparently that site needs no moderation. Did you read the comment by “RSO HUNTER”? He advocates vigilante action, and even says he’d let a vigilante go free if he were on the jury.

       Here is the post:

       “Sorry, but you have no idea on how human nature works.

       If a child molester moves into MY neighborhood, the constant terror on when (not if) the molester will attack someone in my neighborhood, including MY children, would not allow me to just sit by and do nothing. The matter at hand is to remove the problem, and I will do so any way possible. This editorial is INSULTING to those of us who treasure civilized behavior, and child molesters have proven to be the worst of the worst.

       If I were to be on a jury of someone who committed vigilante action against a child molester, I would more than likely vote not guilty. And there is not ONE civilized parent who would think otherwise.”

       Yes, we have a lot of work to do. I don’t do Disqus (security issues), otherwise I’d respond.

       • Joe November 15, 2013

         Well, the commenter’s nick name (RSO Hunter) says it all, doesn’t it? If you click on the name it brings up this user’s other disqus contributions. Here is a comment on an older article that offers a whole new perspective:

         …According to a comprehensive study performed by property ownership economists in Virginia, the presence of a single registered sex offender in a neighborhood automatically causes an immediate and irreversible 9% devaluation in property values. If your house if worth $200,000, then a registered sex offender moving into your neighborhood just took away $18,000 from your child’s college fund. Now, multiply that by 60 houses, and that’s over one million dollars caused by the presence of one single sex offender. If the neighborhood is more densely populated, there could be upwards of 200 homes within the devaluation zone. So sex offenders take away millions of dollars from the college funds of children around the country. That in itself is a continuation of the abuse registered sex offenders inflict upon children in this society.

         Discuss.

         http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x601185912/Atkinson-neighbors-upset-about-sex-offender

         ps. what is the issue with Disqus?

       • Eric Knight November 17, 2013

         Disquus is considered a primary source for government collection of data, even more so than Twitter and Facebook. Sex offender advocates are a prime target, up there with international terrorists. I still post on occasion, but when I do I use my special laptop and about 5 or 6 skip IP locations.

         I could care less on them following for CA RSOL.

4. Tim November 15, 2013

   If this guy had said he was going to take vigilante action on any other group, the FBI would be all over him.