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Map Sex Offenders on Your Cell Phone (Switched)

Jul 17th 2007 6:33PM James,I understand where you're coming from with personal experience, but at the same time, both Mario and Markus both make points that are more accurate and less biased than yours.
If you could, please enlighten us with the source of your obviously factual quote: "the likelihood of a sex offender repeating the crime after they get out, after 'therapy', is as likely as saying that it will rain someday." Have you read any studies on the matter, or do you just listen to the evening news? Any person who does his research will see that the likelihood is significantly lesser than that, and for some younger offenders coupled with therapy, a minimal percentage will re-offend.
Also, Megan's law is not unnecessarily an effective child protection tool, and many states are now investigating the actual merit of registries. NJ is one of them. Search the New York Times for articles about it.
Also, the age of majority is not 18 in all places. Some states have the age of full consent as low as 16; again, NJ for example.
And regardless of the crimes that an individual commits, they are still a human being, and as such, have rights. The rights of criminals with exponentially higher recidivism rates, like burglars, drug dealers/users, and and even murderers are not trampled in the way that sex offenders are. In certain cases, yes, the public should be aware. But in many more, that only creates the environment of fear that people thrive on: the media, prosecutors, and you. If your rights were infringed upon, you would be the last one to "QUIT WHINING ABOUT IT AND DEAL WITH IT". The media attention on sex offenders only helps their ratings, not the community at large, not the offender, and certainly not the victim.

All that said, my point is that this is a largely misunderstood subject, where information comes from sensationalizing or uninformed sources. Before you form opinions, look at actual studies on the topic, or, think of the people involved, not just the victims.