Today, SLAP Center delivered a letter to Assemblywoman Amy Handlin and Senator Christopher Bateman outlining our opposition to their proposal to allow for community notification of New Jersey’s Tier 1 registrants. New Jersey has three tiers of registrants, with only Tiers 2 and 3 currently available to the public. Tier 1 registrants are assessed as having little to no risk of re-offense and are not included on the publicly accessible registry, as such; the public is not notified of their registration information. Tier 1 registrants include people who were kids when they engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior; or were close in age teens who engaged in consensual sexual contact; or are people who’ve made amends and are positively contributing to their communities.
Thank you for fighting. I have a relative in NJ who was a teacher, is truly remorseful, rebuilding her life and doing kind of ok. This would put her over the edge. She has children and it would damage them BEYOND BELIEF!
Before bills like this get the “political bum’s rush” and quickly passed, they need to be discussed and both sides, for and against, should have the opportunity to have their say, in front of the general public.
I wonder how many citizens vote for these kinds of bills not knowing the effects they have on not only registrants, but their families, their children? John Q. Public is never advised that bills such as this can be hurtful to the very citizens they claim to be trying to protect.
Let the politicians prove their points. Stats they provide are always older than dirt and always inaccurate. It’s time for the public to stop blindly following these folks and start asking educated questions.
If the public hears that their chances of endiing up on the registry are far greater than ever being assaulted by someone on the registry, that might perk up their ears! They have no idea of the myriad of benign offenses that could result in them or their children easily ending up on the registry, on one of those very tiers they are so worried about. They need to know. We need to get the word out.
NJ is really attacking registrants and pushing for more sex offense laws including expanding CP to include any erotic materials with minors. This tells me one thing. Some people in the government are hiding something. A number of people in the state are engaged in some bad behavior and they are trying to distract the public and focus on others.
You guys need to add a like and dislike Buttons to people’s comments Just a thought