I'm in a state of disbelief!

While browsing a local news site for info on a snowstorm heading our way I noticed a story about MA's online sex offender registry and it inclued a link to the site. On this site any high risk serious/violent repeat offenders name,address, and work place is listed as well as the date of their convictions and what crime they commited.

What has blown me away is that a man convicted for the rape and abuse of child in 2003 is out and on the prowl in my town and allegedly lives and works only a few blocks from where I do.

Why the hell is a violent child rapist with an allegedly high chance of repeating the offense who was convicted no more than 24 months ago out on the street, and in my neighborhood no doubt?!?!?!

Part of me wishes I had never clicked on that damned offender registry site. Part of me would rather not know.

I know that once out of prison, felons have to live somewhere and that some are rehabilitated. But it seems to me if someone is such a danger to society that they warrant thier posting name and address on a state run public website, maybe they should still be locked up? I know that a violent child rapist needs to serve more than 2 freaking years, more like 20 if you ask me.

WTF!!! Something is very wrong with society when the total of Tommy Chong's and Martha Stewarts time served equals a violent child rapist!!!

Grrr! I had to rant! This type of crap makes me feel sick.

Maybe they made one of those classical mistakes with which suspects sometimes get off the hook before there's even a chance of a fair trial ?

But at least now you know where he lives. Now go shoot the bastard. :D

Another classic case of "America's Court System Blows".

Sounds like the guy could use a visit to the Arkansas prison sometime.

I don't think this is a entirely American phenomena, Gangrell. Rapist and molesters over here in Europe sometimes get's away with a few years as well.

:S You publish your sex offenders register?!

Over in the UK its kept confidential to avoid the uneducated masses taking vigilante action.

There were several high profile mob attacks on the homes of paedophiles culminating in a huge mob attacking the home and family of a paedeatrician - they just saw 'paed' next to his name in the phone book and thought he was a child molester. :rolleyes:

How long they must serve in prison is a separate issue; publishing their names and addresses is just irresponsible and asking for mob justice.

[ 02-21-2005, 07:34 AM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

Hmm, just thought of something. This may be a bit off base, but do you think the reason they let them go early is because of just that? Short sentence with having to watch your back because your name's been published I mean. Well, I don't know, even if that may be the case, no excuse and sure as hell is no reason to let a child rapist off with a light sentence.

It used to be confidential here, too, shamrock,but somewhere along the line, a lot of people figured out that there were just too many repeat offenses and if parents had only known there was a child molester in their back yard they would have taken more precautions and made sure their children had no opportunity to have contact with the molester. So they made the info public.

I'm not sure if it does more harm than good. I can understand a parent wanting to know so they can feel they have a chance to protect their child from someone who lives nearby and might harm them. I also understand that if someone has done time they feel they are entitled to live and work like other people and it might be hard to do if vigilante types track them down. I've seen news stories about how parents and others picket the homes of people on that list even when they've not repeated their offense.

I really don't know how I feel on this one...I guess I'd side more with knowing than not knowing.

[ 02-21-2005, 09:10 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

Does MA tell you what level offender they are?

A lot of men and women get listed on the "sex offender registry" not because they're violent rapists but rather because they had relations with a minor. Just watch TV these days and it seems like every week you see another report of a teacher getting busted for having sex with a teenage student... all those folks will end up on such registries.

Now I'm not saying those people don't DESERVE to be on offender registries (and most definitely should not be teaching)... just that they're not what I would consider a danger to society on par with a violent rapist.

<font color=skyblue>From what I hear, a child rapist will never be rehabilitated...they just simply lay low until a pristine opportunity presents itself. When somebody takes it to that level, there is no turning back, imo.

At least you have the knowledge now to be more alert...and this waking up to your own hometown is like an insurance investment. You are charged with more worry, and the chances of hurt are lessened in your own family. It's a good correlation.</font>

It certainly muddies the water a bit, doesn't it? And the definition of "child rapist" leaves something to be desired, too. It covers everything from a 19-year-old with a 15-year-old girlfriend to a 50-year-old sports coach molesting the kids on his team. I know *I* don't have as much of an issue with the first as I do with the second...

Another thing to keep in mind is that those sites can be woefully outdated. Do you think everyone on there checks in religiously with the state to let the state know where they've moved to? Not likely, my friend. So before the vigilante mobs head off, make sure that the person they're going after is indeed the right one.

Last year out here, there was a long-running news story about a guy who was released from prison, having done his time for molestation. Problem was he couldn't find a place to live... He started at his parents' place, but local pressures drove him out of town, and then our local sherrif contacted the sherrifs of towns he was heading to and let them know that he was coming. End result was that the folks in those towns (multiple states away) also booted him. He finally found a place to stay after four or five attempts in different states.

Now, is this a problem? In a lot of ways, yes. I'm not sure the impact of our sherrif "tattling" to other sherrifs. I mean, they don't do that with other offenses, do they? On the other hand, I'd really be unhappy to find out that a molester had moved in next door, so I'd want to know.

Can a person be rehabilitated? I don't see why not. I haven't done much research on it, so I know I've got some reading to do, but I don't see where a person can't change. At least, not more than someone convicted of any other crime.

Perhaps it's that the victim in these crimes is a poor defenseless child. Much like recent threads about the abuse of animals, a child can't defend themself from an adult with bad intentions, and we act to ensure that the child can't find themself in that situation.

Bottom line for me is that the lists are inherently out of date, and contain charges that run the gamut from serious to benign. Given that, we can't necessarily use them effectively, and they present an opportunity for easy abuse.

Yes, they only publish the ID's of level 3 offenders, although I have no clue what level 3 actual means to tell the truth. The site also lists the number of level 2 offenders in each area- but not who they are or where they live.

The guy I mentioned in my first post crime was listed as 'abuse and rape of a child'...that doesnt sound like statutory rape to me.


I guess it could be worst, there were only 2 level three listed for my zip code here in Natick but more than 20 level two.


Oh and the site lists a big fat warning that use of the information provided to commit a crime or harrass an offender is a felony. A lot of good that will do if a person really does have vigilantism on the mind. :rolleyes:

I don't think it's very effective to list sex offenders on web sites. I'd be interested to know how many people are aware of their new neighbor. If the government truely wanted to inform everybody in the vicinity about a sex offender moving into their neigborhood, they should snail mail them a letter, not publish the information on the Web for the entire world to see. (The world has enough reasons to hate us without us telling them exactly how many sexual predators we have.)

Granted, but we're not the only country in the world with rapists or molesters.

Level 3 are the bad ones I seem to recall, you don't get that for being 19 dating a 17 year old. If I had one of them in my neighborhood you can bet I'd be finding out all I could about em.

'Wash your hands
brush your teeth
don't molest
or you'll be beat!'
by me
'call 911 and turn yourself in
because if I hear about it you'll
be dead'
by Molester Hunter
(not me i think it funny though)
seriously though they need harsher punishments for molesters and rapists

I like it in my place. 20 years in prison and 12 strokes of rotan for those kind of offences. Plus since here is small place. Everybody knows who is the person. There's no hidding what you have done.

Well argued, Bungleau. It is not a black-and-white issue, there are so many pros and cons with the concept of publicly available registers

My feeling is that once a felon has done their time, the slate is wiped clean and they should be free to continue with their lives. I absolutely do not believe that a person's criminal record (regardless of the offense) should be public available.

Several people have commented that to only serve 2 years for child rape is not enough - well sentencing is a totally separate issue. We should be debating the process for sentencing serious crimes, not what happens when prisoners are released.

Orbost it's a tough issue. I agree that having "done their time" a felon should be given a chance to start again, but at the same time I would want to know if the guy or girl next door is a risk to the welfare of my children.

It's fairly well established that the serious abusers have a high probability of repeating, so I'd rather those people be identified instead of letting them loose, hiding their past, and hoping they'll be good. While they may need protection, our children need it more.

I agree with those people who worry about the publishing of such lists because it can lead to vigilantes. A situation like that occurred recently in my state. A paedophile was released a couple of years ago after serving 15 years for child rape. He went back for 15 months after violating his parole but has now been released. Over the course of 2 weeks, he was run out of 4 different towns by angry citizens, who did things like attacking the car he was transported in, throwing rocks on the houses he was staying in, verbally abusing him and the people he was staying with, and picketing (with their children there as well!) the houses he was staying at. What made matters worse was that the state opposition leader and deputy condoned the vigilante behaviour and came out with such gems as 'well the police minister should try having him live in her street' when she mentioned that stoning people's houses was illegal.

We have a registry but it is not publicly available. He was recognised because he is extremely easy to spot - unfortunately for him, he looks exactly like what you imagine paedophiles to look - long stringy hair, funny walk and speech, tics and jumpiness. The registry was working - the police knew exactly where he was living, where he was working (which is why he went back to jail for the 15 months). He was probably the least able person in the country to engage in paedophilia. He had served his time and he has to live somewhere. Of course no one wants him to live on their street, but if he happens to, you suck it up and be extra careful. There is conflicting data on the recidivism rate of child molesters - during the time of this guy's ordeal I saw it put as low as 15% and as high as 85%. One problem is that what they are basing the statistics on is different in all cases. Whatever the case, though, he has NO chance of starting over and living as a non-criminal citizen if he cannot live anywhere for more than a few days at a time.

The problem also with the registers is that they give people a false sense of security. If people think 'okay, so Mr. Huber at number 14 is on the registry, and the man across the road from Billy's friend Max as well - I'll tell Max's mother to be extra careful... okay, that's it', then they are fooling themselves. A large number at least, perhaps the majority, of child molesters are unknown to police because they have never been caught and so are not on the registry. The very nature of the crime and of the victim lend themselves to secrecy and so often no one ever knows. It is also the case that the majority of offenders are not weird looking strangers, but known to their victims and the child's family - relatives, family friends, or people well-known in the community, like teachers. So if parents are not being vigilant about what their child is doing with everyone, then they are not protecting their child sufficiently. Thinking that they will be safe because they know where the paedophiles live from the registry is simply wrong.

Look, I don't have children, so it's hard for me to fully identify with your concerns. I'm sure my perspective might be different if I was a father.

Where though do you draw the line? If you want to be informed about sex offenders living on your street, what about murderers? terror suspects? kidnappers? armed robbers? petty thieves? fraudsters? drug users?

While sex offenders certainly draw a more emotional response from the public, I am not sure that you can have one rule for one type of offender and one rule for another. The principal of 'wiping the slate clean' must be applied to all criminals.

In my opinion, once someone complete the sentence for his crime, he/she is free, the person suffered the consequence of his acts.

Monitoring and making public knowledge the person's every move is persecution, or stalking.

There was a case here where someone got very little jail time because he was well known by the public, so his personal life was over. The Judge decided that since the public would treat him poorly for the rest of his life it was a big enough sentence for him.

So here you have it. You want criminals to stay in prison longer? Then stop taking justice into your own hands, so that it doesn't have to go nicer on criminal to compensate for what you do.

If you treat the person like a criminal for the rest of his life, then why would he stop his actions? The punishment will never stop anyway.

Yes you all make perfect sense... and the part of me that feels sympathy for the reformed criminal wholeheartedly agrees with you. BUT the part of me that wants only to protect my family hears this: Since some people take the law into their own hands to harass criminals, I personally should be kept in the dark about a potential threat to my children.

Anonymity for criminals is based on the notion of protecting the criminal (or "reformed" criminal) from us... when for me personally, the opposite situation is the reality. I would never assault or otherwise harrass an X-con, but I would be more able to protect my family if I knew there was a known risk of (insert whatever crime here) in that individual. Unknown risks I can't do much about (other than be a good parent), but if something happened to one of my kids... and the perpetrator was a known danger and the information was purposely withheld from me for his/her benefit, I'd lose it.

Orbost, of your list, "murderers? terror suspects? kidnappers? armed robbers? petty thieves? fraudsters? drug users?", I'd absolutely want to know if murderer, terrorist (not suspect), kidnapper, drug dealer, or ANY threat to my family lived in close proximity to me. I don't agree with singleing out abusers, and I definitely don't agree with people taking the law into their own hands, but I also don't agree with withholding information from me in order to protect a person who's proven themself a threat. I'd rather see stricter punishments for vigilantes (or maybe just enforcement of the laws that exist) as a way of dealing with that problem.

I know it sounds cold and heartless... but my sympathy for criminals extends only as far as it does not risk the safety of my family, it's as simple as that.

It's been said once, but I'll note it down again because it's gotten lost..

People can end up on that list because they where busted with their willing partners because they where over the age of consent and their other half was not..

Before the age of consent and sexual act is considered rape in the eye's of law..


I've got no problem with a register, it helps stop offenders from getting high risk jobs or owning property within school areas..

If that information should be public or not, well I think that it should, but the offence and information from the trial should be avalible also.


I can't say more on the teacher student thing, but it is a subject close to my heart.