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iPhone App Tracks Sex Offenders
The Narrative Fallacy writes "All 50 states in the US require the 50,000 people convicted of sexual offenses to sign a register so that their whereabouts can be tracked and monitored. The Telegraph reports that now users of the iPhone Offender Locator application can search for sex offenders living nearby a friend or colleague whose address is stored in their Apple iPhone address book, or they can type in a street address to generate a list of convicted sex offenders in the local area. 'Offender Locator gives everyone the ability to find out if registered sex offenders live in their area,' says the application developer, ThinAir Wireless, on its iTunes page. 'Knowledge equals safety. They know where you and your family are...now it's time to turn the tables so that you know where they live and can make better decisions about where to allow your kids to play.' Offender Locator uses the iPhone's built-in GPS to pinpoint the user's location, and then provide a map listing sex offenders in the local area. Tapping on one of the 'pins' dropped on to the map brings up a photograph of the offender, as well as their address, date of birth and list of convictions."
That's great for the very stereotypical creepy, mustachioed child molester, but ever-increasingly the phrase, "sex offender" has nothing to do with children at all. That same title now applies to people convicted of statutory rape, even if they were 17 & 18 at the time. It applies to people who streak, people who are caught skinny-dipping, people who are caught having sex in public (including in their car), and even people who happened to urinate behind a tree in some places. Yet they have the same social stigma & registration entries in the database as people who raped children.
So yeah, it might help protect your children, or it might just show you the house of a guy who really needed to take a leak, and happened to get caught. But hey, feel free to use it and get extremely paranoid at the rapidly growing number of people it shows...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Moore,_Jr.
I'd say things haven't changed too much at either the state or the federal level since Mr. Moore's days...
Interesting the screenshot centers on Hershy Park. I wonder what that insinuates.
Now, as these individuals are still clearly that dangerous that their names and locations need to be kept in a public database, why do we even let them roam the streets?
Shouldn't they still be behind bars if they are that much of a danger to society?
Shouldn't we defend ourselves against them it the lawmakers obviously don't?
How many more years until realtors no longer sell houses in certain areas to sex offenders? Or even more scary, how long until we only let them live in certain areas? Maybe even put up a fence around the area? Post guards at the gates?
Ya, getting a little dramatic, but this BS where any soccer mom can pick up her iPhone and gawk with her friends at all the "criminals" in their neighborhood.. It's getting sickening..
If these people are still dangerous, keep them locked up. If they are no longer dangerous, don't make public lists that they have to register on.
Either you're guilty and you pay your debt, or you're paid your debt and are no longer guilty.
Personally, if I had a daughter, I'd teach her to be aware of her surroundings and be wary of strangers, just like I was taught. List or no list, if a predator is out there, he's going to hunt. Some list that further punishes those that have paid their debt won't save my child, or yours.
You'd have thought that a mobile provider might figure that these guys move around.
Makes finding a sexy time easier than ever!
If only 47 had a cell phone with gps location of his targets...
Now when I'm in a strange town, I'll always be able to find the REALLY KINKY action!
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth gets you modded -1 Troll
I care more about knowing where known pickpockets are, in relation to my current whereabouts.
Not whether someone got caught taking a piss behind a bush, or who had sex with someone two years younger than them when they were a teenager.
When you overextend a label such as 'sex offender' (adding noise to signal), the label becomes meaningless, and those that actually deserve that label are less noticeable in the noise.
But not before dumb vigilantes attack a few paediatricians ...
Sweet, now I can always find my friends easily!
Beware! Sex offenders!
Doesn't take much to get people up in arms. Most of us imagine some rampaging dirty old man abducting screaming children from the streets. It's terrible. They need to be tracked and dealt with - obviously.
But what percentage of the sex offenders really fit that description? How many were teenagers whose girlfriend/boyfriend was maybe a year or two younger than themselves? How many offenders were under age themselves at the time of the offence? Which offences are included in the category and what percentage of the offences fit into each of those categories? Does the category include men who have patted a women on the behind and ended up in court on the strength of it? Are women who brazenly expose their breasts at public events included too?
Before we go bandying around the 50,000 figure let's at least establish what it means.
What is with the excessive demonization of sex offenders today? What makes this class of crime the worst by such a large margin that we need a whole separate form of punishment? Why not a murderer registry? Certainly murder is a more serious crime, right?
Furthermore, if the government can ascertain fully enough that these people are very dangerous and likely to commit their same crimes again, WTF are they doing free? Shouldn't they be in prison or a mental hospital if that is the case?
BTW to the other posters -- only Class 2 and 3 sex offenders show up on the registry -- these are usually the nasty, malicious ones. The bush-pissers and streakers end up as Class 1. Still extremely odious, but not quite as bad, and their names are not made pubic, errr... public.
To the haters: You can't win. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
Truly amazing. Now are we going to see Slashdot stories for the other 1,000 iPhone apps that are just as useful?
Better known as 318230.
Can't wait until people start using this to find the homes of convicted prostitutes, who can't get a decent job because they're on the sex offender registry, so they are desperate for money. And you know the pic is accurate unlike craigslist.
What could possibly go wrong?
How long until this gets turned into a vigilante application?
Making it easier to find the next person to beat up and leave your conscience free.
Umm, nice society some of us live in.
Sounds like a great social networking tool for PedoBear to make all kinds of new Pedo friends...wonderful.. .
At least 40% of all child molestations are by family members with no previous record. It's a pity my mom didn't have something like this to let her know all those years when my dad was molesting me.
A name, an address, and a scary label can be worse than total ignorance.
Without knowing the circumstances of the crime, the person's attitude towards rehabilitation, and the person's current life situation, you can easily conclude that your friendly neighborhood sex offender is more dangerous to your children than your happily-married, church-going brother.
You could be very mistaken.
Sex offenders who take treatment seriously have some of the lowest recidivism rates.
Those who were once college students dating 14- and 15-year-olds whose tastes matured as they did are no more risk to anyone than the average Joe.
If we are going to have a dangerous-ex-offender list, it should be reserved for the truly dangerous.
Nothing beats finding concentration of sick horny woman looking for next victim to abuse and going there half naked.
Oh really? The US DoJ's Inspector General had some withering criticism of the utility of the information sources this guy is relying on.
Just what I needed, A new way of finding a date with a just the right amount of info to know what they're into.
I just did an App Store search on my iPhone for "iPhone Offender", and sure enough the first result was a list of sexual offenders.
Curious about how many are in my area, I thought I'd download it. Turns out to "think of the children" (in the good way... not the way that gets you on the list) costs money. Which is odd because there are official government resources that will give you this information, online, free of charge.
I can't believe someone's trying to make money off of this. Doesn't feel right to me.
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
This sounds like an excellent way for people with similar interests to hook up with each other. What could possibly go wrong?
Be sure to live your life scared of everything in the world around you. It's the modern, 21st Century way of life!
They should make an app like this for weed smokers and growers so people can buy local and avoid the creepy criminal dudes. Also they should legalize weed, it's safer than alcohol in every way and hemp is a miracle plant. What's up with that?
Ze Atomic Device! It iz Ztolen!
Looks like another way for police to track you down to harass you to me. I am reall surprised that the rest of you don't see the implications here. If they can make a program that specifically tracks "sex-offenders", they can most likely (and probably already have MANY) specifically track YOU! I don't want to be tracked, at all. For the most part, I would like no one to know where I am at any given time. This is just another step into the surveillance-state as far as I am concerned.
-Oz.
Why is this article or Idle? Since the article is relevant to anybody who has at some point in their life urinated behind a tree, a more serious category such as YRO, IT, or News seems appropriate.
I don't like children. Can I register myself as in the list so that parents go make their spawnlings cry and shout somewhere else ? Can I register a dozen of imaginary offenders too ?
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
Next well need to track them real time so when you are at a baseball game you know who is behind you. Tether everyone to a GPS unit and make sure that an alarm goes off when they look in your direction. Honestly, what the hell ever happened to you don't talk to strangers? Many people know their attackers, because they gain access, which mean the parents are not doing their job. Sorry, but all the tech in the wolrd does not justify tracking people who may have committed a crime and there is no proof they will do it again. Even if there is a propencity, today anyone who is convicted is put through the ringer, has to register, can't find work, a place to live, goes to mandatory therapy, is tracked. If they go through all this and have served their time, there is no justification to keep badgering them. You give them an impossible set of rules to follow, they are going to give up because they will feel doomed to failure. And the rules for where they can live are ludicrous, weather it is 50 feet for 10,000 feet, if they want to offend they will. All this fell-good legislation does is try to get politicians re-elected.
Don't get me wrong, you do something once, and you're given a second chance (a real chance) and I am fine with judges handing out what they think is fair based on the case evidence and their knowledge of the average cases they preside over. And if they are lucky enough to get a "deal" and spare a costly trial, putting the victims through more, etc then I can agree with a plea that gives them some punishment, some supervision and a ton of therapy. If the person does it again, well, sorry, your dance card is used up and they have proven their inability or desire to change.
So there.
For physical abuse, the in-home family rate is very high, I've heard 90%.
For sexual abuse it's way lower, in the 40-50% range. Another 40-50% is from family members not living at home and others familiar to the child, such as neighbors and the like.
The bulk of the remaining 5-10% are from people who have a more distant connection with the victim. The number of "stranger kidnappings" of children in America is about 500 a year, less than 2 a day in a country with 300M people.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
In most areas Romeo and Juliet laws protect people close in age.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I thought that the majority of offenses against children were by people already known to the family/child? So what does this App add aside from scare mongering?
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
The sex offenders who probably just want to be left alone and/or the ones who committed serious sex crimes like boning their girlfriend in high school, pissing in the bushes or buying their younger brother a playboy or R-rated movie.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106689642. An aggressive law requiring sex offenders to be > 2500 feet from certain types of establishments has resulted in a sex offender tent colony under a bridge. Oh yeah! This is the type of side-effect these laws have. But no one really cares because it works to keep them out of their own neighborhood and they perceive that their children are safe. Think of the children. Don't consider that you have effectively eliminated any chance of them returning to normal live after they serve their sentence. Thankfully there are cases like http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/17/trailer.sexoffender/index.html where an entire trailer park has become home to sex offenders. The locals don't like it but hey they created the laws that lead to this being the only solution. Pushing sex offenders into these "communities" reminds me of the early treatment of the Jews in Poland. Anyone else see these as sex offender ghettos?
"They know where you and your family are"
Where can I get this app?
the funny thing i can see out of all this is if someone has a friend in their contact that is a registered sex offender and never knew.
I wonder if I am on the app?
Oh wait it is REGISTERED sex offenders.
This is where I lose people. How does a list protect you, in _any_ way?
Do you routinely allow your children to walk into the homes of strangers? I suppose this list would tell you what strangers houses should be off limits.
Do you routinely follow _every_ "criminal" on the list in your given area and make certain to call your child on their cell phone to give them directions to "avoid" said "criminal? If so, I suppose this list could help.
Fact of the matter is, list or no list, predators will hunt. They will hunt their prey. Children, cute women, men that look scared, etc, etc, etc. A list will do _nothing_ to stop a predator. Unless you really believe that a sick individual with intentions to harm "your" child really will second guess their decision and decide, "you know what, I'm on a list and should probably stay in and watch a movie instead of picking up and molesting that little boy down the street. I know my loins tingle at the thought but you know, that list calms me right down and makes me not want to do it now!". Ya, the list saved another!
So again, how would a list like this _ever_ make you safer than before you had that list?
you do realize that some of you sound more hysterical than the "won't somebody think of the children" tired meme you are supposedly skewering, right?
let's put it this way: underneath all of the teenagers emailing each other naked pictures, there actually exists actual pedophiles who actually harm children, and society has every logical and moral reason to do something about them. btw, they are also highly recidivist: you murder once for certain reasons, then you may never murder again, but once a pedophile, always a pedophile
so here's a clue for the whole lot of the slashdot high holy indignation brigade: you figure out a better way to deal with pedophiles. until then, criticizing without proposing a superior alternative means nothing will change. and no, i'm sorry, doing nothing is not a viable alternative
because, believe it or not, there are parents out there who aren't sex-phobic social conservatives who are genuinely and rightfully worried about their children's exposure to actual, real pedophiles who prey on prepubescent kids. yes, you heard it here first (apparently): believe it or not, pedophiles aren't made up bogeymen, pedophiles actually exist, and are actually a danger to children in their communities
you may now say they are few and rare, that exposure to sex with an adult is harmless, etc., etc.
and completely miss the point of my comment
and therefore continue to exist in the same useless hysterical population of people you are supposedly standing against
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The last time I checked statutory rape did apply to what society deems as children.
Also, to the guy whose is worried about taking a leak in public - there are 3 levels of sex offender. Level 1 applies to the people who can't hold it. Level 3 applies to the folks you might actually want to be aware of.
Here's an example of a registered sex offender for taking a leak(s) 20+ years ago. http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/flyer.do?personId=49272
That's great for the very stereotypical creepy, mustachioed child molester, but ever-increasingly the phrase, "sex offender" has nothing to do with children at all.
There are times when I think the geek has disconnected from reality.
Office of Sex Offender Management
Sex Offender Registry
Sex offenders are classified by risk level:
* Level one (low risk);
* Level two (medium risk); and
* Level three (high risk).
Level 1 offenders are required to register for a minimum of twenty years, and level 2 and 3 offenders for life. Police and law enforcement have access to information on all sex offenders (levels 1, 2 and 3). However, under the law, information on level 1 (low-risk) offenders is not available on the public website. Only level 2 and 3 offenders are listed on the public website
Frequently Asked Questions
A Level 1 offender means that the court has determined that there is a low risk to commit another sex crime. A Level 2 offender means that the court has determined that there is a moderate risk to commit another sex crime. A Level 3 offender means that the court has determined that there is a high risk to commit another sex crime.
Where an offender is in jail or prison for a sex offense, the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders recommends to the court which risk level should be given to an offender. Where an offender does not receive jail/prison time or receives probation plus jail/prison time, the District Attorney recommends to the court which risk level should be given to an offender. The court makes the final decision.
A sexual predator is a sex offender who has been found guilty of a sexually violent offense and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes him or her likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses. A sexual predator must register for life.
A predicate sex offender is a sex offender who has been found guilty of two or more sex crimes. A predicate sex offender must register for life.
The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act, which took effect on April 28, 2008, requires all registered sex offenders to report to DCJS all of their internet accounts and any e-mail addresses and screen names used for the purposes of chat, instant messaging or social networking. This information is not generally available to the public. However, DCJS is allowed, upon request, to give the internet information to social networking websites that have members under the age of 18.
The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act, which took effect on April 28, 2008, requires all registered sex offenders to report to DCJS all of their internet accounts and any e-mail addresses and screen names used for the purposes of chat, instant messaging or social networking. The Act does not limit a sex offender's use of the Internet. However, if the sex offender is on probation or parole, the terms of the offender's parole or probation may limit his or her use of the Internet.
An individual, who is adjudicated, such as a youthful offender or juvenile delinquent, is not convicted of a crime and his or her records are not available to the public. As a result, he or she is not required to be registered in New York State. However, a juvenile offender, who is convicted of a sex crime, is required to register.
These links trace the strange path of a Class 3 registrant who, curiously enough, does fit the stereotype:
Dozens of sex offenders live in the Falls.l James McKinney
I'd be much more interested in knowing if any murderers live near me than someone who may or may not have pissed behind a bush.
But we don't track murderers, do we? They don't get votes the way sex offenders do these days.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
You don't have a child apparently, or you would be torn as well.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It's the sort of app that will make the paranoid even more paranoid which will only cause more problems.
This which hunt for sexual offenders is what happens when you let parents think their child is something unique and special and must be protected like pile of gold.
The fact is their kid isn't special and they're more likely to be abused by family. Single and those that don't fit into the soccer mom's view of this world always get shit on. The young and single need to be more vocal to drown out these loser's voice.
This app proves once again that some iPhone users go to great lengths to fulfill their weird fetishes.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
Which is more of a danger to your child: A. Child rapist B. Child murderer For most the world, B is the answer. For America, it's A. Both crimes despicable, but why do we track "sex offenders" and not murderers?
[Jean Valjean] could not hold a job, travel, or live without permission from the police
And having this control over the populace worked out really well for the authorities in that society. Hey, I know! Let's do the same fucking thing!
Forget sex offenders. I'd rather not know. However, if someone could develop an mashup of google maps and the terrorist watch list, that would be great. It would let me know whether my snitching is taken seriously, for one thing.
1. This just gives them more reason to not update, and go underground.
2. So many things these days get you labeled as a sex offender, that the odds are the person you're shunning is actually a decent human who had nothing to do with what your mind thinks.
Security Theater indeed. this stuff makes me actually angry.
Seems like the label of sex offender has been about as watered down as being called a racist for simply not agreeing with someone of a different race. Now if this app tracked child predators, that would be a different story.
This is so utterly, completely and doubtlessly wrong, even Middle Ages couldn't have done it worse...
Posting as Anonymous Coward for obvious reasons, something I rarely do. I've been using Slashdot since 1999. Six years I didn't. Why? 13 years I screwed up, was 19 and messed with someone I knew who was 15. I was turned in out of spite from someone else. Guess what? A 15 year can't drop the charges. She even sent a letter to the judge saying she didn't want me to go to prison. Lucky me - he gave me 6 years instead of the ten the DA was asking for. Lost my career, my finances, my marriage. Was in prison surrounded by perverts with drug cases. You know what is considered acceptable behavior in there? Masturbating in front of officers. Finding yourself someone who isn't violent and making them your "punk". These are the folks who should be registered as sex offenders. Remember these things whenever you hear a rap song that glorifies prison life.
So I did six years. Never got into any trouble, which is damned nearly impossible in there. Denied parole nonetheless. I finished my sentence, and was released. Now, a bit over 6 months out, I'm back into programming, doing pretty good. Except your typical paranoid company won't even consider hiring me, despite the fact that I'm more qualified, even with my time away from the field, than 3/4 of their applicants. (and 3/4 of Slashdot, for that matter) Thankfully I've managed to build on what few connections I still had and get into a decent niche working from home. Hell, I'll come close to clearing this year what I did in 2002.
No place will rent me an apartment. I live alone: I just need a bedroom, a place for my computer desk, and an Internet connection. But since no apartment will take me, I'm renting a huge house that I don't need, as a house is easier to get into because I'm the only tenant at this property he is accountable to. Paying probably $300 more than I should.
I have to register every 3 months. Takes like 5 minutes. I walk in, they ask if my address/job/car/health has changed. I sign a piece of paper and leave. Have the police checked on me? Not once. (So much for the soccer moms who think the nice authorities are keeping track of all the dangerous perverts like me.)
My point? Sex offenders aren't some far away group we can debate from our safe little zones. They are in your midst, wherever you are. Hell, there's probably quite a few on /. and I'm the only one with courage (or at least as much as someone posting as Anon COWARD can have) to post.
maybe they should put in Weapons stores in the same map....
and the media gladly feeds this fear, when there are thousands of greater threats to our lives
"Yet, a hugely-disproportionate amount of time/effort/energy/focus/resources/money is spent on the "pedophile problem" -- each measure more expansive in its scope, and more draconian with respect to its targets -- compared to more pressing issues. Why? Because it's politically productive to do so"
no, you're wrong. if there was no political agenda and no media fear-mongering going on, sharks and pedophiles would still loom larger in our minds than lots of greater threats. simply because our simian minds are hard wired to fear these things greater
and so the problem with the slashdot groupthink is not realizing that we are dealing with a fundamental human truth here. that fear of pedophiles is not some political plot or some media agenda, but simply a hard wired psychological fear: protect your offspring. it makes evolutionary sense. just like the silhouette of a large fish in the water is terrifying in a primal way: it is wiser to react to this fear before higher mental faculties are even involved
so a truly wise approach to pedophilia is to understand that this fear, this hysteria, is nothing that will EVER go away, regardless of whatever is happening in politics or the media, in all existing societies and even all theoretical human societies. unless you change our very genes. that the truly wise approach to pedophilia on slashdot would be: make peace with this reality about simple human nature, because it is never going to go away, ever
it is not political, it is not media, it is not sociological... it's psychological. and psychological as in nature, not nurture. its genetic: protect your offspring, especially on sexual matters, because if you don't, choice is removed from your offspring's reproductive horizon, damaging the survival of your own genes as well. its self-preservation, to freak out about pedophiles. pedophiles threaten your genes by usurping your offspring's ability to choose the most robust genes in their environment on their own
you might ask: why is their a weird taboo about cannibalism? why is there a strong reaction to rape? certainly, they involve political notions about freedom of choice and medical notions about pathogens. but deep down, they are also hard wired, genetic taboos, because our genes figured out things like cannibalism, rape, and pedophilia were threats to genetic diversity and genetic health millions of years before we even became human
any impulse involving the protection of your offspring gets an automatic promote in the human mind in terms of importance, no matter how irrational. because, genetically speaking, its actually highly rational: protect the survival of your genes by letting your offspring reach sexual and psychological maturity before they become sexually intertwined with someone else. if someone else pushes sexual involvement on a psychologically and sexually immature individual, they are forcing weak genes onto your offspring, and are therefore jeopardizing your own gene's survival. therefore, genetically speaking, the simians who develop a harsh and strong taboo against pedophilia maintain a more robust and a stronger gene pool, and otucompete those simians who don't have a problem with pedophilia, because such simians develop weaker genes. you maximize the health of genes in any population of animals by maximizing the choice both males and females have in mates. any reduction in this freedom of choice amongst mates carries an automatic penalty: it decreases gene robustness and therefore health
so a truly wise person would make peace with the "hysteria" over pedophilia and understand that NOTHING will ever change on this matter. in the year 1009, in the year 3009, in any political or social arrangement you can imagine: the human mind will freak out about pedophilia. the idea of sexual advances onto their sexually and psychologically immature offspring will make the human mind overreact. just like the image of a snake in the
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
We don't release prisoners because they have paid their debt but because keeping them inside costs to much. We don't give parole because we think a criminal has bettered their life, we do it because the jails are full and the next batch needs a to spend a fraction of their jailtime behind bars. High risk offenders (level 3) should be locked up. It is the humane thing to do. What is wrong with a society who releases people on to the street to fend for themselves when you know they can't do it? That is basically just setting up to offend for a worse enough crime that they can finally be locked up for life or even executed. If an offender is deemed a high risk, it would be far more humane to have them restricted for the rest of their life but not in a punishment jail. A lot of child rapists are capable of living a normal life, just as long as their are no children around. So let them. An excellent example is the so called Bird Man of Alcatraz. Don't for a second believe the way he has been presented in movies and books. He was a psycho who couldn't control his anger. But restricted and controlled he became a valuable member of society. BECAUSE he was locked up and restrained. ONLY the presence of guards and bars made him into a genius on birds. The foreign legion does something similar. Some people need strict discipline to function. So why not give people who can't function in normal society just what they need? If someone can't behave around children, remove him from the children. If someone can't control his rage in the rush of daily life, then get him out of the rush. Our current system forces people who can't cope to cope and if they don't we punish them for it, again and again until one or the other breaks. Equality for all is a horribly nasty concept if you are just not like everyone else. We could humanly care for all child molesters, give them a dignified and productive life, while the outside society remains safe. But no. People that can't/won't adjust must be forced back onto the streets and damn the consequences. Is this a caring society? Mind you, society arrest women who can only make a living by selling their body, gives them a criminal record that stops them from getting any jobs even if there were any and then a fine they have to pay. Those claiming to be humane really should ask themselves what their so called humanity really does to people. Forcing a child molester to live in a society with kids everywhere hurts more then just society.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Usefulness of this app depends on knowing where the sex offenders are, today. I'm a sex offender (posted earlier). In my state, when I move I have seven days to update my address, or I can go back to prison. I moved 2 months ago. Downloaded the app, and sitting in my house, it didn't list me. Hm..checked my old address. Voila!
there are no primal fears pointed against them
homosexuality is expressed in all sorts of simians, no other monkeys have a problem with it. there's no genetic argument that can be made against homosexuality: no offspring are produced, no damage is done. its all sociological and political
meanwhile, with women, rape is the issue. social status leading to imbalances in power leading to "rape" (where rape is very loosely defined as any power imbalance) is not the same as some yahoo showing up and knocking you down in the bushes to impregnate you. so again, no genetic argument exists, only sociological and political arguments involving women's lower power status traditionally
and minorities: this is tribalism. tribalism has always existed, and has a strong genetic argument: competition for resources. fear of "the other", when "the other" is just another tribe, is a strong ongoing genetic argument. however "the other" is loosely defined in nature. in fact, the tribe next door you are in blood feuds with often look just like you, so there is no genetic basis on skin color, etc. in fact, it is often that in nature young offspring purposefully seek out those who look as radically different than themselves for mating purposes to maximize genetic robustness. so when it comes to minorities, you again are talking about political and sociological issues, not genetic issues
but rape? pedophilia? cannibalism? again, we are talking about issues with a strong genetic component, for good genetic reasons
so you fail when you try to compare pedophilia against persecution of gays, women, and minorities. it is completely inaccurate to portray these issues as issues with a genetic bias. while with pedophilia, a strong genetic bias against this exists
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I have a child. Two of them. Sorry if this is rude, but it only makes you 'torn' if you are unclear about the issue in the first place. If you have reasoned it out, the reasoning doesn't change when you have children. 'Right' and 'wrong' shouldn't change depending on your personal situation.
I once got a notice on the door that some helpful neighbor distributed, which said a sex offender had moved into the neighborhood. Into the trash it went. That info was useless, because there was no need to alter my or my children's behavior one bit. Such a reaction would probably cause more harm than good.
I don't mean a Junior High kid with his teacher, I mean two high school students a few months apart in age.
Can you imagine the humiliation a guy would face if his parents insisted on throwing his girlfriend/classmate in prison?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
They know where you and your family are...now it's time to turn the tables so that you know where they live and can make better decisions about where to allow your kids to play.
Pretty ironic then that 99 times out of 100, the sexual offender IS family of the victim.
The other 1% is some drunk guy taking a piss outside in the bushes. :/
That is a bullshit argument. Are you claiming that your hormones, now that you have children, make you incapable of deciding something rationally? That is sure what it looks like to me.
"It's for the children" won't wash anymore. That excuse has been so grossly abused, and has been the cause of so much injustice, that I feel like spitting on anyone who says it anymore.
So, what is this now?
Tracking sexual predators is the new Geo-caching?
You don't have a child apparently, or you would be torn as well.
So only those who have children are the only people on this subject we can trust, why?
To say that those who have no children are incapable of feeling as you do is disingenuous.
However, this whole "think of the children" mantra is going to, if not already, going to come back and bite your and other people's children in the ass.
I would just like to see more parents to try to look at the long term of how the laws of today are going to wind up effecting their children's lives as they become teenagers and eventually adults.
He pleaded guilty last year to having sex with the same horse after owner Barbara Kenley found him in the same stable and was sentenced to probation and placed on the state's sex offender list.
He was put on the state's sex offender registry after pleading guilty to having sex with a horse.
This is my signature. There are many like it but this one is mine.
age of sexual maturity has always been a hard rule, not in any culture, but in any SPECIES
age of PSYCHOLOGICAL maturity is a more recent development, just as you demonstrate. and i also think, and hope you agree, it is a good development and a sign of progress
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Did I not call this one back in june?
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1283691&cid=28489235
"We're gonna need a bigger boat"
To fix the registry:
+violent criminals
+con artists
+property crimes
-misdemeanants
-ANYONE WHO IS NO LONGER SIGNIFIACNTLY MORE LIKELY TO RE-OFFEND THAN A MEMBER OF THE GENERAL POPULATION.
This may seem like "throw everyone on the list" but if you take the last items seriously you'll cut it down by 90%.
In other words:
We already can find out if a person is a felon if we have good cause, e.g. employment.
I need a way to know if the guy next door is one step away from civil commitment while not being distracted by the 1000 people who are either harmless or no risk to me and my family.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Many states have close-in-age laws.
Some say "if within X months of age then no crime" or "if within X months then it's not a registrable crime."
Others have Fall/Spring laws, like "if you are over 18, the age of consent is 16, if you are between 14 and 17, it's 12, if you are 13, it's 11, etc. etc."
Most states won't prosecute very young offenders, so the Kindergartner who inserts something in his baby sister's vagina won't have a criminal record.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The vast majority of felons who have completed parole and probation can vote. A few states still don't allow it though.
It's a state-by-state thing.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
People go on witch hunts against other people.
With apologies to the gun lobby.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
If I were "making the rules" I would make 1st time teen-love sex something akin to littering: Do a little community service, watch an educational film or visit a place that helps unwed teen mothers, and write a report on it and your record is sealed and a few years later destroyed. Basically, a slap on the wrist and a morality lesson. If the person was a juvenile the crime would be prosecuted in juvenile court, but in either case it would be a low-level misdemeanor.
A 2nd offense for an offender 15 or older having sex with someone "close in age" but underage would get you locked up for up to 104 days, to be served on weekends, Friday evening to Sunday evening, for up to a year. The charges would be sealed when you were old enough that you were no longer "close in age" with anyone underage, or after you served your time, whichever is later. This would be a mid-level misdemeanor.
A 2nd offense for an offender under 15 would be referred to the juvenile court system with an eye toward rehabilitation and prevention of recidivism. In no case would the person's record be made public and in no case would they have to register assuming the sex was consensual. However, if they were likely to continue to seek out Junior High School partners they would be subject to restrictions, such as GPS tracking and mandatory therapy even into adulthood if they were "stuck" with that particular attraction AND did not have the self-control and desire or fear of jail to not act on it. All such restrictions would be reviewed frequently. However, there would be no public shaming or any public criminal record - this would be treated as a mental-health issue.
I would also add this twist:
If BOTH parties were underage and were close in age, both parties would be prosecuted. If only one was underage, only the older would be prosecuted. However, as outlined above, the "crime" isn't rape, it's pretty much "encouraging someone underage to have sex" i.e. corrupting the youth, a much less serious offense. Yes, youth can corrupt each other. This is pretty analogous to one high school student bringing marijuana to a party and another one bringing magic mushrooms, then trading with each other. Both people are simultaneously victim and perpetrator. Oh, I wouldn't ruin kids' lives for trading dope either - a slap on the wrist, education, and help to keep them from doing it again is much better than sticking them with a felony drug record that will keep them from getting jobs or finding a place to live.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
A few years ago I did a search of a major American city. Roughly 1 out of every 6 was a woman.
I've heard that now that women are being treated more "fairly," that is, not being given a free pass as much, those numbers are expected to rise a little.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
why does coverage of sharks garner such dramatic media coverage? why was jaws such a successful movie?
its genetic: large fish in the water freaks us the hell out, as we are hardwired to fear that
i am saying that like that fear of sharks, like our taboo on cannibalism, and like our reaction to pedophilia: yes: these are all genetically hardwired survival-based reactions
now as for overlap of primal instincts based on genetics survival and public policy: i don't think anyone here is defending pedophiles, or cannibals for that matter, but just the hysterical overflow: arresting teenagers for sexting, 19 year olds having sex with 17 year olds, etc.
and i support the arguments here against hysterical overflow of laws attempting to fight pedophilia
but what i want out of slashdot is some recognition that this hysteria is not just political manipulations or media agendas, but a biologically rooted instinct that is not going to go away, ever
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The restrictions that various states have on how people on the sex offenders list must live a minumum of X feet from a Y has the effect of making listees *live clumped together!*
If two 14-year-olds do it, do they both get hauled off to juvie for felony rape? Do they have to register when they get out like in some other states?*
*In some states some juvenile offenders have to register when they get out, but it's usually intended for cases where a teenager too young for adult court brutally rapes someone.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Obviously no sex offender would think to move without registering their new address, or to drive more than a few miles from their registered home address looking for victims!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Set the "close in age" window to half the older person's age minus some number, with a minimum age difference of 1 year, special handing for a perpetrator who isn't a certain age yet, and "no adult court and no mandatory registration" for perpetrators over 18.
For example, if we set the age difference at "half your age minus 4" with a 1-year-minimum, then a 10-year-old could fool around with a 9-year old, 12/10, 14/11, a 16/12, 18/13, 20/14, 22/15, 24/16, 26/17, and anyone/18. As for kids under 10, even if they could be charged the courts would look towards rehabilitation not punishment. They would probably do the same for most 11- and 12-year-old perpetrators and some 13- to 17-year-old ones depending on how cocky the perpetrator was in front of the juvenile court judge.
We could also "split the baby" making the numbers above for felonies, and a stricter "half your age minus 6" difference in age be a misdemeanor without any sex-offense requirement. We would have something like this:
Victim's age: Perp age=felony/Perp age=misdemeanor
9:10+/not applicable
10:12+/na
11:14+/na
12:16+/na
13:18+/14-17
14:20+/16-19
15:22+/18-21
16:24+/20-23
17:26+/22-25
We could get rid of the "not applicables" by splitting the "okay to have sex" age group in half, giving us:
Victim's age: Perp age=felony/Perp age=misdemeanor
9:10+/9 years 6 months-9 years 11 months
10:12+/11
11:14+/12 years 6 months-13 years 11 months
12:16+/14-15
However, I contend that at these ages, it's less important to distinguish between "no crime - let the family handle it," "misdemeanor," and "felony" than it is to find the right method to help the perpetrator not do it again with people who aren't really close in age.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
meaning if you were to instill some sort of draconian anti-pedophiliahysteria at a national level, the hysteria would still go on, regardless
opposing and targeting media and political manipulations is fruitless and won't make the effect go away
our political and media environments are not alien injections, they are nothing more than reflections of ourselves. people are always talking about politicians doing this or that alien evil thing and the media with its own alien agenda, and these complaints are all bullshit
complaining about politics and media is simply misdirected complaints about human nature
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Wow. What a bad idea. 3) These offenders have already done their time. If we're going to say sex offenders should be tracked afterwards then so should burglars, con-artists, extortionists, arsonists, bad bookkeepers, etc. All of them have a very high recidivism rate. 2) Databases, especially government databases, are notoriously full of bad data. So they peg the wrong person and then the label sticks. Way bad. 1) This does nothing to really protect anyone. The most likely attacker, especially sex attacker, is someone you know who is related to you, not a stranger. In fact, as the relationship gets closer so the probability goes up. Why, you are the most likely attacker of all! Get your frickin' hand way from your crotch! Bad idea.
Statistically, a child is going to be molested by a relative, not a stranger. Also, the recidivism rate for child molesters is very low compared to other crimes and even lower when a sex offender goes into a sex offender specific therapy. This is just hysteria.
There are hundreds of thousands of registered sex offenders in the United States, not 50,000. And what is this story doing on Slashdot Idle? What the f..k is Slashdot Idle? Technologies that increase surveillance of excluded and humiliated populations should never be a humorous aside to the regular work-a-day of tech geeks. It raises questions of fundamental justice!
Well kids, ever since people had to fight for space by the cave fire, the 'Magic Word Of Power' has always been the best way for the weak and crafty to take control. Simply wait until the tribe is gathered together and then jump up and shout the Magic Word Of Power at your enemy and watch as the feral mob rips the schmuck to bloody pieces.
So what is the Magic Word Of Power?
Why, it's simply whatever worst thing you could possibly be accused of in front of a gullible mob of violent conformists. That's all there is to it!
Say you don't like doing your homework. Just point at your teacher and say paedophile! and watch as he or she disappears from the school forever! It's easy!
You might know that your parents used to use older Magic Words Of Power, like 'communist', or 'homosexual' or even 'atheist' but those words don't work as well as they used to. Not to worry, your parents are sure to invent new ones for you to teach to your kids some day!
Remember now, the bigger and more stupid the mob, the better the magic!
I thought this system was for iPhone-owning sex offenders to report in. I only thought that because, other than blocking it in foil (which might make it overheat), or shutting down the phone or jamming all phones are pretty much traceable 24/7 except in geographic areas that are poor reception. It might be a cheaper way to find out where ex-convicts/ex-offenders-accused to passively report in.
Then the entire cell network, via a phone, "tethered" (literally, as in a modem and an anklet or bracelet), could probably save states much money, and make the systems accessible to ALL states and the federal government if there is not already some reciprocal data exchange.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
wow. their nifty screenshot shows my hometown.. the wayyy west side of Houston. lovely
It's funny that this makes news on Slashdot but the app that does the same thing on the G1 which is Android Linux based is not even spoken of. Oh, and the Android app has been available for a couple of months now.
Ironically, what you've ended up saying here is pretty much "Fuck the children". I guess those laws are pretty bad ;-)
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
I want an app that shows the location of nymphomaniacs in my region.... now thats an app i would pay for!
While this app might allow you to identify an "offender" in a particular area, it really does nothing to make anyone safer.
Sure, you have their pictures, but are you really going to memorize them all? And what purpose will it serve?
If it comes down to it, knowing what someone looks like *before* they ever break into your home to rape you in your sleep won't stop them from raping you if they're intent on doing so.
The other side of the coin, is that you're probably going to do more harm to yourself psychologically with such an app than any of these "offenders" who for whatever reason has somehow strangely ignored you and your family before now.
Oh, and here's some food to think about... predators often like to lick their chops at anything that acts scared around them. If you go driving past their house and stare at them on a regular basis, it might make them crazy enough to start checking you out.
Sometimes it's best to simply leave a hornets' nest alone rather than trying to poke at it with a stick.
8==8 Bones 8==8
I think it's funny all this commotion about an iphone app, and this talk about the app that only makes things worse for the inocent and that there are people with small crimes that will be stigmatized, well I think its all big bs... the problem is your own stupid laws that are made one on top each of others, who in hell would think of putting as sexual crime someone pissing in the street, or considering a crime a 18 boy having sex with a 17 ?!?! What happened to all the hippies and their sexual liberty of the 70's ? did they all die or just become hypocrite... Some times I laugh when I hear Americans talking about religious fanatics, when so many of your laws are also made by people that are as bad as them...
And start by filling in all the personal details of the guy who wrote this iPhone app, so we all know where idiots live and can regularly go by and laugh at them.
Where I live in California, I'm fing surrounded by dots. I checked info about 5 of them, 3 were rapes, 1 was assault, and 1 homocide (killer released after 20 years). I stopped looking because there's no dots within 5 minutes on foot.
As near as I can tell, this claim is 100% accurate. Having children seems to turn rational reasonable people into concentrated, quivering balls of paranoia, that hiss and spit at anything that moves quickly or makes a loud noise.
May the Maths Be with you!
Well, no, not really. What I said was that people who use that already-much-overused-and-abused phrase make me want to spit.
A few years ago I printed pictures and offenses of sex offenders that lived near a tiny convenience store that kids in my neighborhood frequented. When I took them to the store the clerk (who lived on the premises) was able to identify most of them and pointed out that about half had moved, died, or were in jail. She knew the family at one of the addresses and told me that the person in the picture didn't live there.
So, except for the offenders now in jail or dead, for each positive error there must be a negative error as the person lives somewhere else. The lists are not to be trusted without some other corroborating evidence.
As pointed out in another post most sex offenders of children are friends or relatives of the children's family and others don't hunt near where they live.
Nate
Isn't this a slippery slope fallacy? I mean, you seem to be arguing that because the condition of pedophilia bears some resemblance to homosexuality, we shouldn't forbid or punish it. The flip side of this argument is that it is equally clear that the victims of pedophilia are harmed by it, often for life (there are an awful lot of people out there who have spent decades trying to get over being sexual used as children by adults.) The problem with pedophilia is that there is a basic power difference between an adult and a child that can never be compensated for--a relationship between an adult and a child is never an equal, healthy relationship.
Of course, this objection doesn't apply to "borderline" cases so much. A 14 year old and a 12 year old, for example, should in my opinion not be considered pedophilia, although it is treated that way in some jurisdictions. I do think that a 12 year old that is sexually active is a danger sign--a sign that there are deeper problems in that child's family that should be looked into.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
There was an excellent article on the state of sex offender laws in the US.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14164614&source=hptextfeature
It seems there are a number of posts expressing the same sentiments e.g. Urinating in public could get your picture in this app as a sex offender.
So, before you shoot, make sure you know they really deserve it.
Austin