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CORRECTION: U.S. sex offender laws do more harm than good
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbgoodsamaritan0911nbsep11,0,1378897,print.story ^ | September 13, 2007 | Timothy Gardner

Posted on 09/14/2007 7:38:19 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. laws informing communities where former sexual offenders live do little to protect children, but can lead to harassment and violence against the offenders, a Human Rights Watch report said on Wednesday.

The laws are ill conceived because children are more at risk of sexual abuse from a family member or trusted friend of the family than from a former sexual offender, Jamie Fellner, director of the U.S. program of Human Rights Watch, told reporters on a conference call.

"Stranger danger is not the norm," Fellner said about community fears of repeat attacks by sexual offenders. Government studies show that 90 percent of sexual attacks are committed by family members or trusted friends, she said.

(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: humanrights; sexoffenders; shootthem; simplyshootthem
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1 posted on 09/14/2007 7:38:21 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
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To: Turret Gunner A20

“The laws are ill conceived because children are more at risk of sexual abuse from a family member or trusted friend of the family than from a former sexual offender, Jamie Fellner, director of the U.S. program of Human Rights Watch, told reporters on a conference call.”

Tell that to Mark Lundsford Jamie.


2 posted on 09/14/2007 7:40:05 AM PDT by SeanOGuano
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To: Turret Gunner A20

Family members are the ones that get caught and reported. The homosexuals have an international organization devoted to molesting boys called NAMBLA.org, the North American Men Boys Love Association. Notice how the name couches the rape of young boys by homosexuals as a manifestation of their love. Sometimes the facts are disgusting, no?


3 posted on 09/14/2007 7:43:32 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot
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To: Turret Gunner A20

BOO FRICKING HOO.


4 posted on 09/14/2007 7:44:01 AM PDT by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: Turret Gunner A20
If Mr. Jamie Fellner has kids and then welcomes a sex offender into his neighborhood (or maybe rent out the basement), then he’d have some moral authority to speak on this issue.
5 posted on 09/14/2007 7:44:05 AM PDT by fungoking
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To: Turret Gunner A20

B.S. Total B.S. Complete and comprehensive B.S. What kind of people take the side of sex offenders against the side of innocent children? Have these people been living on the moon, or do they have a vested interest in the freedom of sex offenders to prey on children?


6 posted on 09/14/2007 7:44:12 AM PDT by 3AngelaD (They screwed up their own countries so bad they had to leave, and now they're here screwing up ours)
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To: Turret Gunner A20
Human Rights Watch doesn't care about our children...How nice.


7 posted on 09/14/2007 7:44:32 AM PDT by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
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To: Turret Gunner A20

The link to the story is about a carjacking, not sex offenders.


8 posted on 09/14/2007 7:48:23 AM PDT by waimea.man
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To: Turret Gunner A20

“do little to protect children”

Exactly. And if you’ve got to issue the warning, that means they should not be on the street in the first place. Keep them in jail.


9 posted on 09/14/2007 7:49:07 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Turret Gunner A20
but can lead to harassment and violence against the offenders,

Animals that act as animals should expect to be treated as an animal. So maybe we should put peta in charge of perverts.

10 posted on 09/14/2007 7:49:36 AM PDT by org.whodat (What's the difference between a Democrat and a republican????)
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To: Turret Gunner A20
I just sent these seriously deluded people an email at:

http://www.hrw.org/contact.html

11 posted on 09/14/2007 7:50:06 AM PDT by 3AngelaD (They screwed up their own countries so bad they had to leave, and now they're here screwing up ours)
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To: Turret Gunner A20

U.S. (Fill-In-The-Blank) Laws Do More Harm Than Good.


12 posted on 09/14/2007 7:53:17 AM PDT by gridlock (I do not support Hillary Clinton because I am afraid of strong women)
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To: Brilliant
Exactly. And if you’ve got to issue the warning, that means they should not be on the street in the first place. Keep them in jail.

That is the real problem with those laws, not that people pick on the poor wittle sex offenders. John Couey, for instance, should not have been out.

Your observation was ...oh, what's the adjective I'm looking for?

13 posted on 09/14/2007 7:53:39 AM PDT by murdoog
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To: Turret Gunner A20

What happened to the “if we can help just one child” mantra that these people trot out every time there is a liberal cause they want us to support?


14 posted on 09/14/2007 7:54:37 AM PDT by 3Lean
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To: Turret Gunner A20
Human Rights Watch translated: Anti-American Organization Against Common Sense
15 posted on 09/14/2007 7:54:58 AM PDT by SampleMan (Islamic tolerance is practiced by killing you last.)
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To: Turret Gunner A20

I agree that there needs to be some clarity given to the law.

The term “sex offender” is far too broad and does not reflect what the public wants in enforcement. It *should* mean someone who commits an overtly sexual act against someone else; *not* some drunk frat boy who urinated on a public street.

Yet today, both of these cases appear as “sex offenders”.

Even a crime that someone is convicted of may not represent what the public deems a “sex offense”. I knew a young man who while at a strip club, heavily tipped a stripper, then patted her on the rear as she was leaving. She giggled. The undercover police officer behind him arrested him.

Before he had even seen a judge, five different assistant prosecutors were assigned to his case, one after the other. The harshest of these men wanted him to serve four years in prison and be registered as a “sex offender” for life.

The fifth prosecutor said “this is a joke”, and dismissed the charges.

This is not what I would call “reasonable discretion” in prosecution. Few people would believe he deserved time served, much less years in prison.

Most people are capable of judging what a real “sex offender” is, and how much security society needs to protect itself from further offenses from them. And this common sense approach should be applied to the law, even if it results in hundreds or thousands of current “sex offenders” being removed from the roles and being forgotten.


16 posted on 09/14/2007 7:56:20 AM PDT by Popocatapetl
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To: Turret Gunner A20
...but can lead to harassment and violence against the offenders...

Ain't karma a b*tch!

17 posted on 09/14/2007 7:57:48 AM PDT by ConservaTexan (February 6, 1911)
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To: Turret Gunner A20
Stranger danger is not the norm," Fellner said about community fears of repeat attacks by sexual offenders. Government studies show that 90 percent of sexual attacks are committed by family members or trusted friends, she said.

So let's forget about the other 10 percent...-sarc.

The recidivism rate for child molesters is about %100. We should not let them out because there is no rehabilitation for these monsters.

18 posted on 09/14/2007 7:58:37 AM PDT by frogjerk (If ignorance was bliss, liberals would be happy.)
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To: waimea.man
The link to the story is about a carjacking, not sex offenders.

It's what they do to the car after they steal it.

19 posted on 09/14/2007 7:59:46 AM PDT by VirginiaConstitutionalist (Socialized medicine kills.)
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To: waimea.man
OOOOPS !!

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSKRA34717120070913?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

20 posted on 09/14/2007 8:00:07 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20 (If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading this in English, thank a soldier.)
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