Hundreds of names of convicted sex offenders may be removed from the state’s list of registered sex offenders as the result of an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling handed down Tuesday.
In a split decision, the court ruled state corrections officials have been violating the Oklahoma Constitution by retroactively applying state sex offender registry laws, thereby dramatically increasing the time many convicted sex offenders must spend on the registry. (2 Pages) Full Article
This decision is a breath of fresh air! It’s a state supreme court recognizing that being on the registry is punishment. We need to turn this spark into an ember and then into a flame of justice that results in overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2003 which reached the opposite conclusion. Thank you, Oklahoma Supreme Court!
Thanks Jeffrey and Janice for your wise perspectives on this wonderful turn of events. Perhaps others so daring as yourselves will come forward and make even more difference for good. The sex offender registry is a kind of misfire at the wrong target.
Our real problem isn’t with ex-sex offenders but with the mentally ill. The beloved pastor Rick Warren lost his son Matthew that was mentally ill a few weeks ago. This is a horror that took place and has impacted my community of Lake Forest. My heart goes out to him because my oldest son Noah Christopher (age 30) is mentally ill and on anti-psychotic drugs.
When these people act out we registrants catch the fallout from it. Yes, some of those mentally ill people are in our ranks. , That is even more the reason NOT another registry but to change the one we have. Do it for those that do need more attention and constant supervision. The registry as it is should not exist. I can understand a medical registry for those on anti-psychotic drugs, but for the rest of us? Well that’s why we have probation and parole with mandated therapy isn’t it? The registry as it stands is evil and does only harm and promote fear.
If my son sees a little girl and believes her to be a demon because of the voices in his head and reacts in a way outside of his control (because he’s out of control). Then at that time will you be ready for these people to be accounted for?
This is my son and this is like stones in my heart to have him on any registry, but a medical registry would be treated differently than the sex offender online hit list kind of registry. This is hard for me as a father. What else is there? Someone help me (for my son…. are we so lost friends, are we really? Oh, for my son!