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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...
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.
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 ...
The fact is many of them have done their time. If they were truely considered not to have reformed they'd still be in prison.
In the UK Those that have been released and are deemed 'high risk' are monitored regularly, and the local neighbours are informed. Those who are deemed 'low risk' are generally free to do what they please, and the authorities are not required to divulge the information to the public. They have served their time and are likely remorseful. If you have no faith that someone can change, or that the law may have got something WRONG (an innocent person who's served their time shouldn't then have the rest of their lives ruined by an accusation)
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
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
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.
Oh really? The US DoJ's Inspector General had some withering criticism of the utility of the information sources this guy is relying on.
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?
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!
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.
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.
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?
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 am currently writing an app for sex offenders to find victims....
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
No, I think you're the one missing the point. As a society, we have a lot of problems to deal with. We rank those problems in terms of seriousness and the long-term consequences of ignoring or not adequately addressing the problem. Given that only a tiny sliver of the population consists of "real pedophiles who prey on prepubescent kids", and only a small percentage of those will actually commit a crime, because of all the protections already in place against murder/kidnapping/rape, and given -- let's be brutally honest here -- that a lot of victims mostly recover, at least to the point of being productive and relatively-happy citizens, where do you think this "problem" falls in the ranking of problems we have to deal with? Pretty damn low, I'd say. Many of our other problems have many more victims, and often those victims never recover. Think terrorist bombs. Think polluted air/water/food, leading to cancer. Think gang violence.
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. That's where the application of "think of the children" meme to anti-pedophilia efforts derives, and the understandable cynicism which it expresses. Not simply because we think the measures often misfire with respect to e.g. teenagers mailing each other nude photos and the like, or because such measures intrude too heavily on the civil rights of those it targets (e.g. Freedom of Association and whatnot). Those are concerns, certainly, but the main point is that the "pedophilia problem" is being treated disproportionately, and other larger problems aren't being addressed properly. It's a matter of priorities.
P.S. Don't you think "underneath" is a bit of a strange choice of preposition, especially given the context of the discussion?
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.
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.
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.
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