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New York State Releases Sex Offender Facebook App
Just in time for Halloween, the New York state Division of Criminal Justice Services launched a Facebook application to help families know which houses contain sexual offenders. “Knowledge is power. New Yorkers now have another way to access up-to-date information about sex offenders in their neighborhoods,” DCJS Acting Commissioner Sean M. Byrne said in a release. “With Halloween around the corner, parents now have another tool to learn where offenders live so they can ensure their children stay away from those locations, as well as strangers’ homes. The Facebook app puts that important information at parents’ fingertips, whether they are at home or on the go.”
There's a lot of other crimes that are dangerous to neighbors, why just this one? And no I'm not advocating for all (or none), just asking why this one is singled out.
Why would you avoid sex offenders on Halloween? They always have the best candy!
On a more serious note, while "knowledge is power"; garbage in still means garbage out. "Level 1", "Level 2" and "Level 3" are practically designed to tell you fuck all of actual use. Is a "level 3" forcible rapist with no interest in children more dangerous than a "level 1" pedophile? Well, that sort of depends on who you are, doesn't it? Are sex offenders(those who actually target strangers, rather than the common-but-less-polite-to-discuss trusted adults known to the victim) actually dumb enough to do their re-offending on their own doorsteps, rather than at less obvious locations?
This application seems like a fantastic tool for people afflicted with nebulous anxiety who feel the need to refine that into focused, concrete fear; but it seems magnificently ill-suited to any actual public safety objective...
Sex sells.
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt sell.
Providing a "solution" to fear, uncertainty, and doubt sells.
Combine all 3 and it's the politician's re-election trifecta.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
What it says
What it really means
Are these people safe reformed citizens who should be free intermix with normal people.
Or are the dangerous criminals who should be locked up.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
New York State also decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and also just released their "Catholic Church Locator" app.
Teach your kids Common Sense when they go Trick or Treating. Don't go into the houses of anyone you don't know. Don't trick or treat alone. I seriously doubt any sex offender is going to snatch children out of a pack of Trick or Treaters and drag them into their house to molest them.
I think most people would agree that homosexuality is not a choice, and most would agree that people do not elect to be sexually attracted to children.
They need counselling and in the extreme cases some form of chemical castration.
Agreed wholeheartedly.
When you have a biological need that can only be satisfied by harming others or, for that matter, doing things that are so strongly counter-cultural that you must not do it in the culture you live in (e.g. polygamy in many countries or cultures, including most devout religious communities in the United States), then society not only MUST make counseling available but do so in a way that doesn't DISCOURAGE people from getting it. If people are afraid to tell their therapist "I'm in love with 2 women but I know God doesn't want me to sleep with both of them" or "I'm in love with my 6 year old cousin who lives next door but I know God and society don't want me to take him to bed" then we have a serious problem, one that will result in higher incidences of child abuse.
As for chemical castration:
Very few people are so controlled by their bodies that they cannot "say no" if they want to badly enough. However, it should be available as a tool to tone down the biological urges for those who would rather have low or no libido than live with a libido which they cannot satisfy without hurting others.
Chemical castration as a way to voluntarily lower libido isn't just for pedophiles and sex addicts. I wouldn't be surprised if more than one devout Roman Catholic man who has a civil divorce would prefer to lower his natural libido than be forced to live with a life of celibacy with his current sex drive. Unfortunately, because of its unpleasant side-effects, these drugs are too dangerous to use as a mere "lifestyle aid" when a libido which cannot be ethically satisfied is a mere annoyance - when it is not driving a person to want to sexually abuse others and it is not driving them to crippling depression or suicide.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I need an app that will help me track abusive policemen.
At this point, it seems like there is a much greater need to track abusive policemen than sex offenders. After all, if a sex offender causes problems, you call the police and they get put away. But if you are abused by a policeman, then calling the police just gets you more abuse.
I have a much greater need to track Tony Boloney http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/10/19/tony-bologna-with-a-side-of-pepper-spray-docked-10-vacation-days-videos/ than some random kink.
Abusive police we have with us always. We can't get rid of them. Our only defense is to track them and keep our distance.
Miles
Reminds me of je Jew star jews in the 3rd Reich had to wear.
Also, why not Wall Street bankers? (Fake golden bling S.)
Every single one of them caused more harm than all sex offenders of New York combined.
The point of jail is, that when one is out, one is officially forgiven!
If you think they shouldn't be forgiven that "early", you should, you know, increase jail time! Duh!
And if you think it's long enough, then forgive them!
But hey, the problem is jail itself. As it does not only do absolutely zero to help those people to change. (Yes, help. They need help. Because there's a reason people become sex offenders. And it's not pretty. Which won't change. No matter how much you hate them.)
No, it even makes things worse.
Those people will only be more mentally fucked-up after jail. Never less!
So they are more likely to do it again. Even (especially?) when they think it changed them.
Which means, that people who just jail sex offenders, instead of actually fixing the cause and the problem, are just as much responsible for them doing it again.
It's like when you get hit in the face, and you don't defend yourself but just lock him him with a pack of wolves. When he comes out of course he's gonna kick your ass even more! And you knew it would happen too!
I wonder how common forced/coerced incest is among 2-child families where the male is 2-10 years older than the female
You know, women can commit sexual assault too... Assuming a sexual aggressor is always male is the same kind of reasoning as the parents who assume a stranger is more likely to kidnap their child. Our society seems to hold less animosity towards female-on-male sexual abuse, but it still happens.
"All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
Wouldn't a punishment that's applied only to one form of crime fall under the Eight Amendment?