This cruel and unusual punishment and must end immediately

The sex offender registry was supposed to protect children from sexual predators. There are many problems within the registry but this thread is going to focus on children who are placed on the registry. You read that right, children on the registry. And I don't just mean children as in under 18, I also mean actual children, as young as ten.

States Slowly Scale Back Juvenile Sex Offender Registries | HuffPost

Not all of them have gotten on the registry for rape or molestation, some (particularly the younger ones) were on there for sexually experimenting or pulling down another's pants as a prank. Others have been put there for sexting, public indecency, or because romeo and juliet laws time out below a certain age.

50-State Comparison Relief from Sex Offender Registration Obligations |

Some states (ex: Colorado) don't disclose juveniles on the sex offender registry to the public but that completely changes after they turn 18 plus it doesn't protect them from residency restrictions or being barred from going out with peers. Others have a specific age at which juveniles are automatically taken off of the registry such as Oklahoma (21) and Arizona (25); this can also be problematic because they extend into college after the offending minor has reached adult age.

Over several supreme court rulings, we can see that the SCOTUS does not favor letting consequences follow juveniles for the rest of their lives. The use of the death penalty and life without parole on juveniles has been rendered unconstitutional because of this. Yet thanks to Smith v. Doe, the SOR is exempt from the eighth amendment because it is not a punishment.

But there is still hope, some states such as New Mexico, Vermont, Connecticut, and West Virginia do not register juveniles as sex offenders. And a few months ago, house amendment 124 was supposed to keep children save FROM the sex offender registry. Unfortunately, it failed with mostly democrats voting for it and all but two republicans voting against it. However, it still means that people are starting to become aware that juveniles are being held bondage by the same institution which was meant to protect them.

ps://www.congress.gov/amendment/115th-congress/house-amendment/124

There was no science behind the registry idea when they were started (those pushing them said they were sure, there was no doubt about it, there was no reason to doubt it so move on) , once science finally got around to looking at the issue it became clear fast that they are a bad idea....Sex offender Registries need to GO AWAY.

I agree somewhat....for example....there isn't a Thief Registry...I think my neighborhood and my property is at risk if a thief moves in yet we are not given this info.

There is a for profit prison industry to support and maximal profit margin achievement requires full prisons. Stocks are traded on Wall Street and the industry has stables of lawyers and lobbyists. Yes, we have returned to profiting from bondage and convict leasing; there’s your jobs-coming-back in a post industrial society.

We now have a for profit motive for higher rates of recidivism, higher societal crime rates, higher societal rates of violence, longer sentencing and the criminalization of more and more behavior. This is just business.

The pilot program with CCA (Corrections Corp of America) for all this madness was rolled out in TN when now Senator Lamar Alexander was governor. At the time he and his sweet wife Honey Alexander held stock in CCA.

The laws should change, but if you have worked with pedophiles and other sexual predators you would understand that there is a real and legitimate reason for having the Sex Offender Registry. Far too many are treatment resistant, do not participate in treatment programs, and upon release still represent a threat to others.

In our state...adolescents that successfully complete the program are usually not required to register as a sex offender. Sometimes that is used as an incentive to engage in and participate in treatment programs.

But it is absolutely true that too often the wrong people are on the registry. It is not unusual for teenagers to engage in sexual activity but most states have age of consent laws that are not flexible. If a 14 and 15 year old have a consensual sexual relationship and parents find out about it and demand charges...the 15 year old is subject (not always but often) to arrest, charges, and ultimately, placement on a sex offender registry. And if the kid smokes or drinks or has been caught using marijuana? Then they are forced into additional substance abuse treatment programs (all at the expense of the parents who may get tired of paying court ordered fees for 3 years-in which case the 15 year old is labelled as treatment resistant and voila...lifetime membership).

Fenton Lum said:

There is a for profit prison industry to support and maximal profit margin achievement requires full prisons. Stocks are traded on Wall Street and the industry has stables of lawyers and lobbyists. Yes, we have returned to profiting from bondage and convict leasing; there’s your jobs-coming-back in a post industrial society.

We now have a for profit motive for higher rates of recidivism, higher societal crime rates, higher societal rates of violence, longer sentencing and the criminalization of more and more behavior. This is just business.

The pilot program with CCA (Corrections Corp of America) for all this madness was rolled out in TN when now Senator Lamar Alexander was governor. At the time he and his sweet wife Honey Alexander held stock in CCA.

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This doesn't really have much to do with the sex offender registry.

Mandatory minimums, State Jail felonies, three strikes and you're out type rules, and not decriminalizing marijuana or other substances yes it has everything to do with that. I find it to be a horrible problem. The biggest issue with it I see that these facilities aren't Correctional they're universities for criminals to get better at their trade.

The sex offender registry had some good intentions. But as you and I know this paved the way to hell.

I agree with you one hundred percent the corrections industry is utterly broken and it's far too profitable to be fixed from the inside.

I agree, the registry as it is currently established, needs to end.

I doubt that will happen, though. Most politicians won't want to go on record as saying they want to end the sex offender registry. That sounds bad to people who aren't familiar with the topic, which is most people. Our best bet is probably just to change it.

The idea of a registry was misguided from the start. I see the value of having a registry available to law enforcement, but there's no value in making it public.

Skeptic Bob said:

I agree, the registry as it is currently established, needs to end.

I doubt that will happen, though. Most politicians won't want to go on record as saying they want to end the sex offender registry. That sounds bad to people who aren't familiar with the topic, which is most people. Our best bet is probably just to change it.

Click to expand...

Like when they talk about prison reform and trying to come up with better ideas than putting people in prison (AKA CRIME UNIVERSITY) they almost always quickly interject "But of course we dont mean in the case of sex crimes...those people we need to beat harder".

The laws got to be crap because the politicians are crap, and we sure have not fixed that problem yet.

Plus we are a very sadistic people now, we need to keep some around to beat the **** out of.