It is almost Halloween, and as we begin to feel a chill in the air in the northern hemisphere, we also feel the excitement of that annual ritual of trick or treating. But while children look forward to a night of ghouls, ghosts, goblins and goodies, parents ponder the presence of real-life demons in the neighborhood: registered sex offenders. States, municipalities, and parole departments have adopted policies banning known sex offenders from Halloween activities (or, in some jurisdictions, from even leaving their homes on Halloween), based on the concern that…
Read MoreDay: October 26, 2014
This is getting boring, but it’s Halloween again
I really thought this year was going to be different. Last year the “big, bad sex offender at Halloween” hype started as early as August and was in full swing in September. This year, all was quiet on the scare tactics front through the end of September and was slow going into October. However, the past few days have picked up speed, and some of the articles are so self-righteously infuriating about how they are making Halloween safer for children by–take your pick–visiting all registrants in their district on Halloween/not…
Read MoreProf. Alan Dershowitz: “Harvard’s policy was written by people who think sexual assault is so heinous a crime that even innocence is not a defense.”
It’s a great quote, and it appears in this week’s Time Magazine in a story about the letter published last week in the Boston Globe signed by 28 Harvard law professors voicing strong objections to the school’s one-sided, feminist-inspired sexual misconduct policies. But when Dershowitz continued and said that people accused of rape should have a full and fair opportunity to defend themselves, Time pooh-poohed it: “It’s a noble idea, but . . . .” Full Article
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