Tag: Opinion

The public expects and deserves evidence-based practices when it comes to public safety. This is true for any aspect of public policy but perhaps none so much as sex offender policy. With sex offenders, there is a sense of moral outrage at the depravity of their crimes, and rightly so. Virtually any sex crime makes the news headlines because the public has a very high interest in this crime. Too often politicians not only capitalize on the fear that is caused by sex offenders, but they inadvertently create more of…

As a legislator, one of the biggest concerns I have is public safety. Keeping the public safe from the many dangers that are prevalent in today’s society is a challenge. One area of work I have spent a great deal of time on is keeping children safe from sex abuse. And unfortunately, I have found that there are too many things that are a false sense of security. One I have a big problem with is the sex offender registry. The research shows that sex offender registries don’t reduce recidivism.…

We seem to have no trouble differentiating between a minor fistfight and an assault with a crowbar that turns someone into a vegetable. But for some reason, we tend to lump all sex crimes into one big category. Full Opinion Piece

Just in time for the all-important May sweeps period, a local television anchor somewhere is bound to open a newscast with a question specifically designed to simultaneously titillate and scare the crap out of you. “Does a pedophile live on your block?” the menacing voice will intone. “Are your children safe?” The answer, invariably, is “probably” and “probably not.” If you tune in, you’ll confront a terrifying graphic that the station’s self-glorifying “investigative reporter” has cooked up showing a map crowded with dots. Each one, you’ll be told, represents a…

Since the publication of my blog post “Do Sex Offender Registries Reduce Recidivism?,” a question I have been asked is “Paul, isn’t it a good thing that I as a parent knows who is a sex offender living in my neighborhood so I can tell my child to stay away from that person?” My responses are that such knowledge is only a tip of the iceberg, or telling your child about that individual sex offender is like protecting your child with a BB gun; you might get lucky by using…

My mother was 15 when she married my dad, who was 19. A month later, he shipped out with the Marines and was gone nearly three years, fighting in the Pacific during World War II. I was born after his return. My parents had a long, happy marriage. That story would turn out differently today. At 19, John fell in love with a girl 15 years old. Her parents were content with their dating until the girl became pregnant. He was arrested for statutory rape, went to jail, was put…

No. Or at least that is what the empirical evidence and research on this issue shows. But that doesn’t mean we should not have them. The fact is that the registries don’t really do anything to improve public safety. They just make people feel safer and in control; unfortunately this is a false sense of security. Full Opinion Piece [Paul Heroux is a state representative from Massachusetts.]

He was my teacher. I was 19 years old and had graduated from high school the year before. I never said no. Legally, the incident was just poor judgment on both sides. Physically, there were no bruises. There was no force. This doesn’t fit the narrative of the girl who got drugged and raped at a fraternity party, nor does it resemble any sort of stereotype about a non-white stranger jumping out of the bushes and attacking the closest white girl. Full Article