We, as an organization, ask legislators to please pass laws that will actually help protect children, teens and the public. We need Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Training Programs like Stop It Now, with state funding to be taught where over 95% the offenses occur; family home, school, church, scouts, training programs while also teaching parents how to begin and maintain a dialog with their children about their own sexuality. We should be proactive instead of reactive.
Please consider this….Jared Fogle, Jerry Sandusky and many others we hear and read about were NOT on any public registry and that is EXACTLY THE POINT. The public has been groomed to believe all they have to do is check a registry and be aware of “those on it” and their family will be safe. The truth of the matter is that according to credible studies the recidivism rate for another “sexual” offense is very low.
Women Against Registry
Re: “Vermont Sheriff Risks His Career by Hiring a Sex Offender”
According to the NCMEC map (http://www.missingkids.com/.../docu.../Sex_Offenders_Map.pdf) , there are over 843,680 men, women and children (as young as 8 and 10 in some states) required to register and the "crimes" range from urinating in public (indecent exposure), sexting, incest, mooning, exposure, false accusations by a soon-to-be ex-wife, angry girlfriend, or spiteful student, viewing abusive OR suggestive images of anyone 18 years old or younger, playing doctor, prostitution, solicitation, Romeo and Juliet consensual sexual dating relationships, rape, endangering the welfare of a child, the old bate-n-switch internet stings and many others.
If you multiply the number on the registry by 2 or 3 family members you can clearly see there are well over 3 million wives, children, moms, aunts, girlfriends, grandmothers and other family members who experience the collateral damage of being murdered, harassed, threatened, children beaten, have signs placed in their yards, homes set on fire, vehicles damaged, asked to leave their churches and other organizations, children passed over for educational opportunities, have flyers distributed around their neighborhood, wives lose their jobs when someone learns they are married to a registrant....all these things occur when these people try to hold their family together and provide the three things that professionals state are needed for successful re-integration; a job, a place to live and a good support system. Residency restrictions, ranging from 500 ft to 2,500 ft are ludicrous just like being barred from homeless shelters.