I have finally narrowed my subject down for my crime and punishment assignment, but now I am having a hard time trying to find a Title that will really capture what I am saying. If I put the Title that my argument is leaning towards, I will definitely look like a creep because I picked a side of the argument that would challenge me the most. So I am leaning towards "Why we should do away with the Sexual Offender Registry". There I said it! Don't Judge Me! My research and my personal journey while writing this paper made me realize that it is the laws that we need to address on how to punish sexual predators. For every crime, there is punishment and rehabilitation. However, for sexual predators, another tier has been added which is "the public's right to know". Why isn't there a Registry for thieves, or Murderers? When we continue to force these people to join these registries, aren't we in a way creating a subset of human beings that have their own laws until the day they die, or until their crime is pardoned by that jurisdiction, which is nearly impossible. Streaking is considered a sexual crime in some states, should they be required to join a sexual offender registry? How about when an 18 year old and a 16 year old who had consensual sex and the parents of the 16 year old want to have the 18 year old arrested for statutory rape... Should the 18 year old be bound by the sexual predator regulations?
There are documented cases of sexual offenders being killed by neighbors after the community discovered from the sexual offender registry that it contained the name of the deceased. What are we as a nation doing to these people psychologically, when we don't allow them to do their time and move on to become productive members of society? There are documented cases of people being fired after their employer finds out that they are on the sexual offender registry. Is this fair?
As for the victims of sexual crimes, they deserve to know that a person who is insensitive enough to put them through the turmoil of violating their body, children and adults, without their consent, will be punished appropriately for their crime. Most sexual offenders serve an average of 3.5 years of an 8 year sentence. Shouldn't we be looking at the laws more so than the Sexual Registry? Is the Sexual Registry Ethical?
I do agree with you to some extent, but the registry is in place to protect people. There should be certain crimes of sexual offenses in the there, but certainly not all of them for example peeing in public. Say if you have kids, you would want to know where you could let your children go and feel safe for Halloween. Murders don't need a registry because they are in jail and it isn't needed for safety.
ReplyDeleteThanks Morgan for your comment because input is always the best teacher when you are trying to write an Essay! I think that I will add more information to compare how the murderers who serve their time are treated differently than sexual offenders. I also might add something about the cost to the taxpayers to keep a sexual registry in their state, even though it has nothing to do with actually stopping a predator from doing what is instilled in them. My dad used to say that the only way to stop these people is by castration. I say just lock them up and say you lost the key. Thanks again for the input, gave me something to think about.
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