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

Nothing new here

[boobsea]

The State of Texas has had this for some time now.. gives their picture, their crime, vital stats, etc ,etc.

http://records.txdps.state.tx.us/soSearch/soSearch .cfm

Re:Nothing new here

[Mr Guy]

Going with a generic John Jones, here's one of the records you get: John Jones, Pervert


Interesting to note he's DEAD and they still have a record of him. One does wonder how they took that "current" picture. He looks pretty good, what with being dead and all.

Also interesting to note, did he die BEFORE or AFTER they stuck his name, address, picture, and the fact that he molested a 9 year old girl IN TEXAS up on the web?

Re:Nothing new here

[krbvroc1]

If you want some more in depth details on Megan's law and the risks associated with this stuff see http://www.appa-net.org/revisitingmegan.pdf

Some tidbits:
In Virginia, an innocent man targeted by a detective, intent on nailing him for a sex crime, was falsely charged with indecent exposure, was arrested, had his home scoured in his absence, and had his computer and some family photos removed from his home (Jackman, 1999).

In Lansing, Michigan, a 26-year-old man was branded as a child molester incorrectly. His name was immediately placed on a Family Independence Agency's "undesirables" list. The court ordered his name removed, but the damage had been done. The man lost jobs, friends, and family respect, and ultimately, his health was affected (Miner, 1998).

A civil liberties group wants Michigan State Police to notify citizens if their addresses are placed on the sex offender list on the Internet. Recently, it was discovered that as many as 25 percent of registry addresses were incorrect, which has resulted in citizens having their addresses improperly included on the registry (Webster, 1999).

Re:Nothing new here

[annisette]

In my home state to be caught(and arrested) urinating in public would make tht person name included in the sex offenders list. I brought this up with some friends when the subject was being discussed and I was told it had (the law) been retracted but who knows. It would be a definate case of the punishment outweighing the crime.

Re:Nothing new here

[bgeer]

That's nothing, look at this one.

DOB 02/12/1987, disposition date 03/28/1998. That makes him fucking ELEVEN when he was convicted, and probably 10 when he did it. His "victim" was 8.

And for this he is ostracized for life? Is he going to go up to each of his neighbors after the DPS sends them postcards to explain that he was just a little kid playing doctor? I'd say something nasty about Texas right now, but the other states are doing this shit too.

So the american solution to reduce crime

[Anonymous Coward]

Is to segregate (because that's what you're doing, make no mistake about the consequences of this) and completely isolate a group of people.

Expose everyone who's ever had any brush with justice at all, so they can't get any job at all. Then, without job and without a life they'll ... euhm ... cut off every legal option for a life they have and they'll ... get out and die ?

What exactly do you think this will do ?

Re:This is terrible

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't mean to be an asshole, but you are obviously not a victim.

I was a victim several times as a child to this type of abuse. Actualy most people who know my family, and my brothers and sisters think the world of me because I dealt with all of that crap and am living a normal life now.

I do not think that it is fair to ANYONE to put them in the lime light like this.

Also did you know that most sex offender victims have a better chance to become an offender when they grow up??? Isn't that fucked up! You were a victim to someone, and now society is making you another victim. It is no excuse, but it is not abnormal for offenders to have been abused as a child.

Bet you didn't know that!

Oh and yeah I have been through a shit load of counseling and all of that good stuff you just mentioned.

I still don't think it is fair to people to put them through this crap. Maybe for a little while, but they should be able to dig themselves out of the whole they are in and be rehabilitated.

If society doesn't think so then quit harrassing them and just put them to death!

It is okay to kill someone, and then get on parole in 5 years. You can then live a normal life and no one will bug you.

Re:Ugh

[nick_davison]

So who wants to start a pool on when the first sex offender will be lynched?

Today?

Kind of ironic, isn't it. One state announces its program as another country announces someone who was named was murdered.

Remember: It's only been within the last year that some states have been legally blocked from finding consensual, adult, homosexual relationships a sex crime - sodomy. Those who have been found guilty in the past, for crimes that still stand though are no longer prosecuted, would still be named. And, in many of those states, hate crimes against gays still result in people being murdered.

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."

Pros and cons to this...

[Cyno01]

I've seen both sides of this issue and seen that sex offenses are very hard to try from the courts standpoint. I'd like to point out to everyone that not all sex offenders are child molesters, yes, child molesters are the bottom of the bucket of socioty and should be treated as thus, but like any other form of crime, people are falsley convicted. A very close friend of mine was raped, but unfortunatly they couldn't get a conviction. The guy was loaded and the defense made the argument that she was after money, it sickened me. I wouldn't want this guy anywhere near me, and if i ever did run into him i'd probly bash his face in, but hes not on any list anywhere. On the other end of this, a guy i know at school was accused of rape, he was 18, she was underage. He was arrested in class, with much spectacle. It was all cleared up after the girls parents heard her on the phone talking about how she'd lied about the whole thing. But if they hadn't found out i hate to think what would happen to my of age african american friend in the courts system after being accused of rape by an underage white girl. His life would pretty much be over. Think about all the possible scenarios before you cry "Wont someone please think of the children!". If people are a danger they should be kept locked up, either in prison or in an institution, otherwise if they've payed their debt to society , they should be allowed to go on with their lives. As for child molseters though, people that sick dont change and should be kept under lock and key.

Pre-crime

[lplatypus]

Are these people are being publicly humiliated because they have committed a crime, or because they might commit a crime in the future? The fact that sex offenders are singled out seems to suggest the latter. This is a disturbing movement towards alternative philosophies of justice. Even the idea behind the "pre-crime" unit in Minority Report is less repulsive, as there seemed to be a greater probability of the anticipated crime actually taking place in that movie.

Re:This is terrible

[RPoet]

If I were a parent in that situation, I'd be hysterical, bitter and resentful, and most of all, completely irrational. I can't see why my opinion should matter with me in that state. It's not like we ask the opinions of socker moms for what a law should say just because that law concerns children.

Re:This is terrible

[Anonymous Coward]

It's even easier than you think. I know from very personal experience, having spent a year in jail - and I'm on the state sex offender's list - for a "sex crime" that never even took place.

A young girl (a couple of weeks before her 15th birthday) confided in me that she'd been with her 16-year-old boyfriend only twice, but she thought that she was pregnant and she was considering running away from home. I tried to talk some sense into her head, but then a couple of her friends AND her boyfriend told me that she was also considering suicide. The boyfriend asked me to help, one of her girlfriends pleaded with me... and I, in complete naivete, decided to try to "do something" to help.

She spent the night at my house. We spoke to her friends on the phone several times, I even offered to talk to her father (she freaked and threatened to leave if I did). Later in the evening, when she'd talked to her best friend again, and after a trip to the bathroom, she announced that she had started her period. So she wasn't pregnant after all.

So I'd talked her out of running away from home. And I'd kept her from thinking about suicide, and she'd started her period, so the reason she'd been so upset had been resolved. The next morning, I took her home and talked with another friend of hers who thanked me for my help. She told me that she'd actually been fearing for her friend's life.

Her father was pretty pissed, to say the least. And he wanted me arrested for something. But the original charge would have been "contributing to the delinquency of a minor". Sex never crossed his mind. But when the county's newly-formed Sex Crimes Unit got wind of it, it changed quickly into Child Molestation.

Never mind that there was no sex involved, confirmed by her gynecologist. The doctor's report was deemed "inadmissable" by the Assistant DA. Can't have us talking about the girl's sex life in the courtroom! We have to think of the victim's rights! Talking about the suicide threat was disallowed, too. We can't pretend there's something wrong with the victim! So, by the time it got to court, there was nothing left but the single event: she spent the night at my house. What other reason could there have been? SEX!

Isn't there something in the law about being able to confront your accuser? She wasn't going to be allowed to testify. Indeed, she wouldn't even have been in the courthouse.

They kept me in jail for eleven months before getting near a courtroom. It could have been another year or two to go to trial. I was offered a plea bargain, and I took it. What I pleaded to was "Enticing a Child for Indecent Purposes". My conviction isn't for anything that I did, it's for something that they think that I maybe thought about doing.

A sex crime. One equal to the child molestation charge, in the eyes of the court.

I've been through three years of counseling (at my expense), and eight years of probation. And in two more years, I have to apply to have my name taken off the sex offender registration. Five years after that, I can apply to get my civil rights back (voting, etc.). I'll never be allowed to own a gun. It's downright difficult to find or keep a job. I'm currently self-employed, mainly because it's just easier than dealing with the FUD in the job market.

Sex Offender registration has very little to do with sex offenses. It has even less to do with protecting the community. Its only function is to appease the media and the politicians, and the parents of kids who truly were abused, molested or killed by a parolled sex offender. I'm sorry that these things do happen, but erring on the side of caution and sending an innocent person to prison is not the way it's supposed to work in this country.

I'm paying the price.

AC for obvious reasons.