Maine to Launch Internet Sex-Offender Registry

scubacuda writes "On Monday, Maine Today reports that officials plan to put info about the states 1,200 registered sex offenders on the Internet to allow residents to easily determine if a convicted offender lives in their neighborhood. Some jurisdictions - including Portland, South Portland, Saco and Kennebec County - already post sex-offender information on the Internet. But the new site will cover *all* sex offenders registered in Maine, and will include their names, ages and birth dates, where they live, where they work or attend school, and which offense they were convicted of. Photographs will soon be posted, as well."

Comments

Re:Nothing new here

[The Jonas]

Here is the link to them all.

Stop Sex offenders

I used the registry for my home state when I was house-hunting. I don't want my children or wife to be anywhere near these people.

This is what People Want

[turgid]

Who are we to object? It is the will of the people. Vigilante justice. If you ask most people what they think should happen to sex offenders, they'll tell you they should be castrated, hung, shot, beheaded, stoned to death, hot pokers... you name it.

A quote from the BBC article really sums it up: "But whatever he has done in the past does not give people the right to attack and kill him."

But people would argue back,"why does he deserve any rights or the protection of the law after what he's done?" For many people, justice is not justice until they have their eye for the eye lost. Some may call it revenge, but the Great British Public calls it "fair."

Oh, and if you oppose, you have something to hide, right? You must be one of them.

Public Records, Old News

[nurb432]

We have done that exact thing for some time. Of course the ACLU bitched, and got struck down.

Its all public records anyway, so they had no substance to fight with. Only the 'medium changed', not the content or availablity.

IMHO its a good idea anyway. You can never 'cure' sex offenders..

Personally i feel that before they move in to a town, they should be forced to go door to door and tell their new neighbors who they are, and what they did time for.

Unfair? Perhaps, but they did the crime.. so they can f-ing lump it.

Re:Nothing new here

[Fulcrum of Evil]

Taken literally, of course, we should completely invert the 'don't talk to strangers' idea and make a 'don't talk to family' rule :)

Nah, just don't spend time alone with Aunt Mike.

Re:Not the rest of their life

[osgeek]

But there is absolutely no reason for this information to be available to the public.

Bullshit. Sexual predators are just that, predators. I vote that I get to know if a proven danger to my children is living next door. Looks like most of the rest of America votes the same way. Hooray for a democratic form of government. Fuck the child molesters and rapists. If I were in charge, they'd be dead on the first offense, so they're getting off easy in that respect.

The offender has served their time according to the law

Part of "their time" has been deemed to be the ten years or so after being released from prison during which time, they're listed in a database that's publicly accessible. Tough shit, don't commit the crime next time.