They most certainly are!
Posted on 04/22/2005 11:19:32 AM PDT by halieus
OCALA, Fla. — A convicted sex offender apparently committed suicide in despair over signs posted in his neighborhood calling him a child rapist.
Clovis Claxton (search), 38, was found dead by his father with one of the signs beside his body. It was less than a day after his release from a psychiatric hospital.
His mother blames Marion County (search) Commissioner Randy Harris (search) for her son's death. Harris proposed putting up flyers in the neighborhoods of sex offenders to alert neighbors.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That's a problem with the listings and the label "sex offender." There's a huge disparity in their offenses and their danger to the community, but all get the same level of label.
This guy didn't seem to be a danger (based on the details posted on this thread, however he gets the same label and treatment as a serial rapist killer.
I double-dog disagree.
It may not be soon, but when was the last time our beloved bureaucrats failed to take an opportunity to expand their powers over us over the long term? Why expose your grandchildren to that particular danger, especially if you are so adamant about saving your children from the aforementioned danger?
SInce I asked first, can I ask for an answer first? Do you see that that isn't my point, or my question? My question is: the penalty society exacted is X, the perp pays X -- is it your place, my place, to demand more of him, or to hold his bill unpaid and hound him for it, absent further crimes? If here, then in how many places? And what is the difference between that and vigilantism, mob rule, or anarchy?
If we don't like the penalty, we can change laws and judges. Should we persecute those who paid what they were told to pay?
Dan
One less predator preying on our children. Goodbye and good riddance.
(waiting for some bleeding heart to denigrate me for my cold-heartedness)
My apologies, that was truth_seeker.
Your response disappoints me. I thought we knew each other a bit better.
Dan
You are right - we need to change the laws as some states are now doing. Keep child molesters in prison for life.
I'm with you, there.
"Castration does not work."
Yup.
"They only use foreign objects instead."
Yup.
"The only answer is to kill them."
Yup.
"By the way, I think that recidivism rate is about 88%."
Insofar as we KNOW 8.8 out of ten will re-offend, how do YOU propose dealing with them?
It is not reassuring to learn that YOU know 8.8 out of ten will reoffend, yet you seem sympathetic towards the 100% class, more so than the victims and our decent society.
I have small to no sympathy for the 12% you seem inclined to stand up for.
As to youir criticism of medical science, I see no factual support. I first heard the near zero rehab statistic from a doctor, who I would otherwise consider a do-gooder type.
It therefore impressed me, since I would have thought she would want me to believe they could be rehabilitated.
Her medical treatment for them, is lockdown. Lifelong.
I don't disagree.
Not sure what you mean, but there's beliefs and then there's reality especially when it comes to one's own children. You think that putting up posters to warn people about a convicted sex offender is somehow vigilante justice. I think it's GOOD. He killed himself. Other people didn't kill him and all his coddling, weak minded mommy could do is blame other people wanting to protect their kids.
Part of the payment is to be branded forever. This is not like speeding, or refusing to pay bills, the minor crimes that you cited earlier.
Since you seem to like biblical stuff, did your God let Cain know that he and his kind were to have a mark put on them after Cain killed Abel? Why can't our society emulate something God is supposed to have done in the name of justice?
Look at it from the other side. How many of our innocent children must we lose to the same sex offender because he cannot be rehabilitated?
Ditto.
"I keep thinking about this girl I met once, she was thirteen, probably 5'9" and her parents had her dressed up like a woman in her mid 20s. I swear, she looked older than me...and could put on a show. Had a guy in his 20s unwittingly had a relationship with her, he would have been branded for life as a "child molester"."
Statutory rapists don't get placed in mental hospitals after conviction, as this guy was. Compulsive sexual predators do. And nearly all registration programs only require neighborhood notification for offenders judged likely to reoffend. Statutory rapists are not in that category.
Not to mock, but that sentence made me think of Yoda. =^)
Anyway, I'm not defending the deceased, I'm trying to educate a few emotional posters on basic Constitutional Law, and the importance of not mucking it up due to emotionalism and knee-jerk reactions. "Hard cases make bad law" is an ancient truth. Denying any possibility of release in all cases and publicly treating freed-persons differently are terrible precedents and they will almost inevitably lead to worse. The Founders knew this, and this logic was foundational to the Constituion itself (limited powers, equal protection, proportional punishments, etc, etc, etc). Never open the door for a bureaucrat to impose tighter restrictions so that he can gain political points with scared parents or voters. They always will, and they will never loosen them.
What about the victim's rights?
The victim does not have a right to see an offender put away for life in all cases and circumstances.
Or are you asserting the rights of the future unknown victim? In that case, the entire Constitution can be tossed, since every person is a potential future victim and offender.
We seemed to be so much more civilized when we were less tolerant.
They most certainly are!
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