Posted on 03/13/2015 2:50:48 PM PDT by Theoria
With just a point and a click, you can browse a face book of felons, a new government website that will warn of the danger these criminals pose to society.
Only these are not the faces of sex offenders and serial killers. These criminals are mortgage schemers and inside traders, most likely armed with nothing more than an M.B.A. or a law degree.
Their faces will soon appear online courtesy of the Utah Legislature, which on Wednesday approved a measure to build the nation’s first white-collar offender registry, appending a scarlet letter of sorts on the state’s financial felons. The registry — quirky even by the standards of a legislature that this week reinstated firing squads as a method of execution — will be replete with a “a recent photograph” of Utah’s white-collar offenders and, in case they try to run or hide, their “date of birth, height, weight, and eye and hair color.”
“White-collar crime is an epidemic in Utah,” said Sean Reyes, the state’s attorney general who formulated the idea for the registry when he was a defense lawyer, “representing some of these bad guys.” A former mixed martial arts fighter who has a metal plate lodged in his eye socket from a basketball injury, Mr. Reyes noted that while violent crimes were devastating, many “physical wounds heal,” whereas white-collar crimes “can forever deplete your life savings.”
While some Utah lawmakers fear that the registry is overkill, the idea does tap into a vein of populist outrage over financial misdeeds. As much as sex offender registries spread state by state, so too could a white-collar crime registry find favor across the nation, say its supporters.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Can’t pick your nose without the world knowing it’s been picked.
Coming soon, scarlet letters.
I take a lot of heat at work for believing that once you serve your time, you have paid your debt to society and you should have your full Constitutional rights restored.
The only exception to this belief are pedophiles. They should be executed once tried and convicted.
The law is already wrong for suspending ones inalienable rights for a crime.
If one is too dangerous to not have rights, then they are too danerous to be in public.
I agree. Once the punishment is exacted, the state should have no more claim on the offender. Including pedophiles. If you want pedophiles to stay imprisoned forever, make that the law.
Sounds like congress.
OK, then can’t be living within 1/2 mile of a bank?
>>>I take a lot of heat at work for believing that once you serve your time, you have paid your debt to society and you should have your full Constitutional rights restored.<<<
I think that laws like a criminal registry are actually a punishment. So this is an ex post facto law/punishment. And I agree that you should be able to serve your time and go about your business. I think half of all first time offenders get scared straight. Seems like a vindictive thing to do to millions of men who are now responsible and law abiding.
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws.”
— Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged”
Thought we did away with crap a couple hundred years ago...
This is going to make some people very upset. They prefer cracking down on the bank robbers that use a gun and run out the door with one teller drawer.
They are not so excited about the ones who walk in after lunch and steal millions.
Exactly. What hope does a person have if he/she knows they will never be a full member of society even after they have served their time. Granted, you will not stop all recidivism, but I think restoration of rights would go along way toward that goal.
The counterargument is, if a stockbroker was soliciting your business, wouldn't you want to know if he had a criminal record for securities fraud?
I think that laws like a criminal registry are actually a punishment. So this is an ex post facto law/punishment. And I agree that you should be able to serve your time and go about your business.
The counterargument is, if a stockbroker was soliciting your business, wouldn't you want to know if he had a criminal record for securities fraud?
There is a very simple counter-counterargument. It does not matter what I want; what matters is what I am entitled to know. Forcing people to be listed in a registry is a punishment that the convict is NOT sentenced to by the jury of his peers. The society cannot hope to rehabilitate criminals who have paid their dues if those ex-convicts are forever barred from the society - except the criminal underworld, of course. It would be more honest to exile those people. I believe that the crime should lead to harsh but finite punishment; then the person rejoins the society. If the person is too dangerous to be trusted with a gun, he should not be trusted to walk the streets because it's he who is dangerous, not a gun.
Jean Valjean’s yellow passport.
At least he could keep it in his pocket most of the time...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.