iPhone App Tracks Sex Offenders 358
The Narrative Fallacy writes "All 50 states in the US require the 50,000 people convicted of sexual offenses to sign a register so that their whereabouts can be tracked and monitored. The Telegraph reports that now users of the iPhone Offender Locator application can search for sex offenders living nearby a friend or colleague whose address is stored in their Apple iPhone address book, or they can type in a street address to generate a list of convicted sex offenders in the local area. 'Offender Locator gives everyone the ability to find out if registered sex offenders live in their area,' says the application developer, ThinAir Wireless, on its iTunes page. 'Knowledge equals safety. They know where you and your family are...now it's time to turn the tables so that you know where they live and can make better decisions about where to allow your kids to play.' Offender Locator uses the iPhone's built-in GPS to pinpoint the user's location, and then provide a map listing sex offenders in the local area. Tapping on one of the 'pins' dropped on to the map brings up a photograph of the offender, as well as their address, date of birth and list of convictions."
This is too fucking cool... (Score:1, Interesting)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Moore,_Jr. [wikipedia.org]
I'd say things haven't changed too much at either the state or the federal level since Mr. Moore's days...
Awesome (Score:1, Interesting)
Now, as these individuals are still clearly that dangerous that their names and locations need to be kept in a public database, why do we even let them roam the streets?
Shouldn't they still be behind bars if they are that much of a danger to society?
Shouldn't we defend ourselves against them it the lawmakers obviously don't?
Most child molesters are family (Score:3, Interesting)
At least 40% of all child molestations are by family members with no previous record. It's a pity my mom didn't have something like this to let her know all those years when my dad was molesting me.
Charging? (Score:3, Interesting)
Curious about how many are in my area, I thought I'd download it. Turns out to "think of the children" (in the good way... not the way that gets you on the list) costs money. Which is odd because there are official government resources that will give you this information, online, free of charge.
I can't believe someone's trying to make money off of this. Doesn't feel right to me.
Weed smoker registry (Score:2, Interesting)
Idle (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is this article or Idle? Since the article is relevant to anybody who has at some point in their life urinated behind a tree, a more serious category such as YRO, IT, or News seems appropriate.
Re:Tired of scare tactics. (Score:4, Interesting)
There is a growing number of states with "Romeo and Juliet" laws that relax the statutory rape laws so that if, say, an 18-year-old sleeps with a 17-year-old it's not considered rape. So things are improving.
Even a generation ago, however, the situation was much worse. A relative of mine knew a boy in high school who dated a girl a few (2 or 3) years younger than himself. It turned out that this girl was being sexually abused by her father, so the boyfriend encouraged her to speak out; he was the one person giving her support in this very difficult time for her. What happened? The father got into no substantial trouble; rather, he got the boyfriend sent to jail on statutory rape charges.
Yay justice!
Luckily, like I said, things are a little better today. But the laws still vary by state.
Re:Debt to society? (Score:4, Interesting)
What a registry really looks like (Score:3, Interesting)
That's great for the very stereotypical creepy, mustachioed child molester, but ever-increasingly the phrase, "sex offender" has nothing to do with children at all.
There are times when I think the geek has disconnected from reality.
Office of Sex Offender Management [state.ny.us]
Sex Offender Registry
Sex offenders are classified by risk level:
* Level one (low risk);
* Level two (medium risk); and
* Level three (high risk).
Level 1 offenders are required to register for a minimum of twenty years, and level 2 and 3 offenders for life. Police and law enforcement have access to information on all sex offenders (levels 1, 2 and 3). However, under the law, information on level 1 (low-risk) offenders is not available on the public website. Only level 2 and 3 offenders are listed on the public website
Frequently Asked Questions [state.ny.us]
A Level 1 offender means that the court has determined that there is a low risk to commit another sex crime. A Level 2 offender means that the court has determined that there is a moderate risk to commit another sex crime. A Level 3 offender means that the court has determined that there is a high risk to commit another sex crime.
Where an offender is in jail or prison for a sex offense, the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders recommends to the court which risk level should be given to an offender. Where an offender does not receive jail/prison time or receives probation plus jail/prison time, the District Attorney recommends to the court which risk level should be given to an offender. The court makes the final decision.
A sexual predator is a sex offender who has been found guilty of a sexually violent offense and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes him or her likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses. A sexual predator must register for life.
A predicate sex offender is a sex offender who has been found guilty of two or more sex crimes. A predicate sex offender must register for life.
The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act, which took effect on April 28, 2008, requires all registered sex offenders to report to DCJS all of their internet accounts and any e-mail addresses and screen names used for the purposes of chat, instant messaging or social networking. This information is not generally available to the public. However, DCJS is allowed, upon request, to give the internet information to social networking websites that have members under the age of 18.
The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act, which took effect on April 28, 2008, requires all registered sex offenders to report to DCJS all of their internet accounts and any e-mail addresses and screen names used for the purposes of chat, instant messaging or social networking. The Act does not limit a sex offender's use of the Internet. However, if the sex offender is on probation or parole, the terms of the offender's parole or probation may limit his or her use of the Internet.
An individual, who is adjudicated, such as a youthful offender or juvenile delinquent, is not convicted of a crime and his or her records are not available to the public. As a result, he or she is not required to be registered in New York State. However, a juvenile offender, who is convicted of a sex crime, is required to register.
These links trace the strange path of a Class 3 registrant who, curiously enough, does fit the stereotype:
Dozens of sex offenders live in the Falls [buffalonews.com].l James McKinney [state.ny.us]
Re:Debt to society? (Score:5, Interesting)
You consider 'dangerous' as a binary: Either you are and you should be locked up, or you are not and you should have all the rights that everyone else has. The real world is just not that simple...
Agreed, he over simplified "dangerous" into a binary attribute, and it isn't that simple. However...
an in-between form (you are not in prisson but you get watched very carefully) may allow offenders to return to freedom at least in some sense, while the higher probability of this person to commit a crime again is also addressed.
The "watched very closely" thing can be worse than jail. A buddy of mine is guilty of having sex with a 16 year old when he was 18 (and a senior in high school), and spent time in prison for it. Now that he is out, he is being "watched very closely", just in case he decides to have sex with any girls only two years younger than him (???).
However, that isn't the bad part. The bad part is that when he moved, he was forced to go door to door and tell people he was a sex offender. In under a year, he has had his house vandalized three times (people throw rocks through his windows or spray paint stuff like "RAPIST" on the front of his house). He is harassed on a fairly regular basis, despite his trying to explain the circumstances of his conviction. People in the neighborhood stare and point at him like he's a lesser form of life -- I'm honestly surprised no idiot redneck has tried to play superhero and run him over in the street.
I'm starting to turn red as I'm get angrier and angrier, sitting here thinking about how fucking stupid people can be. When we allow arbitrary laws to label people as "sex offenders" under an utterly ridiculous set of rules, and then encourage people to outcast those "sex offenders" with little iPhone apps like this, we lose our humanity. We no longer rely on common sense to define our morals -- we let laws and toys do it for us. It's nothing short of absurd.
Oh, and should you ever have a daughter, they come without the right developement tools so they may very well end up a little different than you hoped them to be.
I hope with every fiber of my existence that my daughter is never harmed by some depraved rapist. However, with that same energy I also hope that the existing laws will be reformed dramatically (and soon) so that my son will never be labeled an outcast because he drank too much and peed on a tree.
Re:Tired of scare tactics. (Score:3, Interesting)
There are proposals going around across the country to add "Violent" crimes to the list of offenses requiring registration, scope creep is a huge problem, before you know it they'll make you register because you had a parking ticket.