Sex-offender registries: How the Wetterling abduction changed the country

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After Jacob Wetterling was abducted in 1989, a pastor named Thomas Gillespie of the St. Joseph Parish offered support and comfort to the Wetterling family. He invited them to dinner, opened the church for a community prayer service and presented them with hot cross buns at Easter. What the Wetterlings did not know at the time was that Gillespie was a sex offender who admitted molesting a boy in the 1970s and was finally removed from the ministry in 1996. Full Article

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I continue reading stories, studies and statistics like this one. I only wish these kinds of stories and statistics would result in change. I really want my life back

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The argument needs to be made that people whom are FORCED to register are not a confirmed or verified safety threat or a legitimate public safety concern. It’s too speculative, anticipatory and preemptive to suggest that being placed on the registry can be a deterrent for future criminal activity.

Can’t we all agree that there’s no such thing as a “safe neighborhood?”

The argument also needs to be made where the community notification simply does not minimize risk in any capacity.

The “I want to know” false entitlement argument from the registry proponents also needs to be attacked and dealt with.

Also, non-violent, non-contact offenses should not be required to register.

(No, I’m not new here).

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I was thinking about the Lindberg baby kidnapping way back in the last century. No I was not there, but I remember seeing a documentary about Lindberg. That was a big media event of the time and a tragic event for the parents and the nation, but I can’t think of any big new laws that came out of that or a decades long histeria following it. What has become of us since then, that any shocking event is met with extreme reworking of our laws?

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