And the comments are a must read lol!

Of course I agree with this comment from Shelly Stow, very well put:

"Only, I am an advocate for laws based on facts and evidence and for policies that support the successful rehabilitation and reintegration of law abiding, former sex offenders into society. I am also a relative of three different victims in three different generations, all victims of someone in or close to the family. This is why I advocate as I do. The present system wastes billions with little to no public safety benefit and NO help for victims. We need to divert those resources to a system that focuses on victims. Victim services, meaningful re-entry programs for former offenders, an inundation of public education, and a required, age-appropriate K-12 education, awareness, and prevention program in every school in America would do more in five years to impact sex abuse, especially the abuse of children, than the registry system has done in 25 years."

I enjoyed the article and very few of the comments. I try not to read a lot of the comments because I get upset.

As a victim myself, I've never felt safer or better knowing there was a list telling me where convicted people lived.

http://m.providencejournal.com/article/20151008/NEWS/151009385

Another victims advocate groups opposes residency restrictions because it gives a false sense of security.

And it's so funny that this stupid politician gets all the level 3's moving to his district lol after he enacted the law, LOL!

There are the comments from those who are very educational and there own views and then there are idiots who don't know half of what there talking about those are the ones who only believe what they are want to hear

Of course someone had to put her two cents in and the first to comment

Right? Lol

Wow too many idiots who don't know what there talking about and have there heads burried in the clouds

This had to start happening. There have been some big shifts in the past few years, such as the recognition of the damage mass incarceration imposes on society. Evidence-based public health programs would be the most effective in dealing with this issue.

I'll have to say, though, that the idea of having someone on a public shaming list as validation to the person who was abused is something that has to go away. You don't get validation from harming another (like putting them on a public shaming list). You get more harm! Validation of harm is important, but not through hurting others. That's crazy!

One needs to only look at the false war on drugs. In the past ten years that has been slowly crumbling state by state. The feds are set to release over 6k for drug offences while states like ct are looking at second chance policies.

Nevada is looking to abolish the public list all together and CA is taking a hard look at the way it handles sex offenders. There is also a study being conducted in ct right now to change how sex offenders are handled and looking at tiered systems.

I'll also leave people with this recent case out of MA. More and more teens are portraying themselves as adults on adult websites with little consequence to themselves but ruining others.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/11/couple_acquitted_of_child_rape_1.html

I know that the registry gave me a false sense of security. I looked to see who lived in the neighborhood we were purchasing our home. I voted in favor of residency restrictions as we lived near a park...and daughter was abused by hubby, not a known sex offender. She wasn't abused at the park or school, she was abused at home - much like many other victims.

We are better off using the money to educate people on the warning signs and how to minimize children's risk of being abused, and offering prevention programs.

Yeah Shelly's comment was right on the money about education. Her blog has a link on it from September about Erin's law:

http://with-justiceforall.blogspot.com/?m=1

This is exactly what we need.

I have often said that legislators care very little what sex offenders or their families think of these laws or the registry. But when another different group of people---and especially a victims rights group----complain, they are more apt to listen.

I liken this to the war in Vietnam when young sons and husbands were drafted into the armed forces and shipped to Southeast Asia to fight. Some died and some were injured. Remember we still had the draft back then.

As the war went on, the United States suffered more and more casualties, with more sons losing their lives for a mission that seemed to be making no progress and was without end. Most of the country did not understand why we were over there in the first place. The entire country began to believe----and rightly so----that our intervention in Vietnam was a big mistake.

The GIs, the young men fighting in Vietnam, complained bitterly that the war was a disaster.

But, of course, who cared what the lowly grunt thought??

BUT, BUT when the mamas----and some other organizations----began taking to the streets in mass demonstrations and flooding politician's offices in droves protesting the war, the politicians listened.

The mothers were mad as hell that their young sons were sent to die over there for no apparent reason. They blasted the legislators and let them know in no uncertain terms they were fed up. They picketed and carried signs in the street.

They put a human face to all the suffering, which is very important. It is very easy for a politician to pass all these laws from a distance without any problem but the human face of a young wife carrying a young child on each hip crying did influence the legislators.

The war finally was stopped. Many more brave young soldiers would have perished over there if it had not been the mothers AND some of the organizations----The League of Women Voters, Students for Democratic Society, the Student's Libertarian Movement, several groups of the clergy, etc.---who were willing to join the mothers and wives in their quest to end the madness in Vietnam.

I know. I lived through the Vietnam era.

I realize that most of you were too young to remember that era or all the demonstrations against the war, but here are a couple of links to give you an idea.

http://tinyurl.com/npfrxpm

http://tinyurl.com/oc8q3ez

As I have often stated, I have been interested in the registry and all its laws since my release from prison in 2000. The tide is turning in our favor; I can see that with my own eyes. We have to stick together and maintain the pressure.

We ARE all in this together.

rewdiazepam

The analogy of the end to the Vietnam War and the beginning of the end to some of these sex offender laws and restrictions is this----in each instance, not only did the families protest, but there were many outside organizations that helped.

In the Vietnam War the mothers protested; families can still protest the registry. More important is the fact that in each case outside organizations and groups of people---other than then soldiers or the registrants----showed their opposition. They let it be known that they wanted it to stop and the politicians listened.

rewdiazepam