Pros And Cons Of Sex Offender Registry

This articles has the story of Daniel Ray Winfrey, who was 15 at the time, and his friends raped and murdered Julie and Robin Kerry. He spent 30 years in prison and has been paroled twice after his conviction. Sometimes he feels free but not completely free because his name is still on the sex offender registry. On the other hand, there is Ali Nemec’s fiance, who was arrested at the age of 17 for having child pornography on his computer. Now he is 24 and remains on the list. He finds it very difficult to find employment. Even after sex offenders serve their time in prison, they cannot fully integrate back into the community because their name is on the registry. In the state of Missouri, their names and faces will be on the websites for the rest of their lives, including juveniles. Some say registries are effective because the public needs to know their whereabouts after they serve their time to prevent re-offenses. Others believe they should be given a second chance to become productive citizens. “Critics claim that the registry nets are cast so widely they often catch people who most would agree aren’t sexual threats. One commonly cited example are the so-called “Romeo and Juliet” offenders, who had consensual sex with teenage lovers, sometimes when they themselves were teenagers”(McDermott 22). They say these are foolish mistakes and deserve a second opportunity.
I would definitely use this article because it provides an example of two very different sex offenders.
One of them raped and murdered two sisters, while the second guy have a criminal past for having child pornography on his computer. Although the offenses are very different, both men are currently paying the same consequences. They are both registered sex offenders who are never going to be able to fully integrate into the community. I would be able to use this to show that it is unfair to register every convicted sex offender regardless of the severity of the
offense.

Metla, Valeriya. “Reforming the Sex Offender Registry.” Law Street (TM), Law Street Media,
LLC., 20 July 2016, lawstreetmedia.com/issues/law-and-politics/sex-offender-registry-reformed/. Accessed 30 Mar. 2017.
Valeriya explains that a sex registry is a database that contains information about sex offenders and its main purpose is to help prevent new sex crimes and also helps with faster identification when new crimes occur. This is not as effective as many think. Valeriya states, “As there are around 800,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, with some updating their information every three months, the workload of law enforcement agencies has greatly increased. As mandatory registration is required for non-violent and low-risk offenders, law enforcement agencies also face difficulties in identifying potential crime suspects and those who require closer monitoring”(Valeriya 23). This defeats the main purpose of sex offender registry. In addition, most sex offenders are not very likely to commit a crime again. Valeriya also points out this law often comes with housing restrictions that can do more harm than good. They are prohibited from living in areas close to schools and day care. In addition, many are unable to find employment, which can lead to the offender to commit a crime again because they lack the support from the community.
I would definitely use it because the author talks about how the registry can have a negative effect for the sex offender and the community. It talks about certain things that need to be changed in order to make the registry more successful. For example, it states that because law enforcement have so much work they are unable to inform the public of the latest updates.

Sullum, Jacob. “Public Sex Offender Registries Are Unfair, Ineffective: Magazine Editor.” NY
Daily News, NYDailyNews.com, 27 July 2014, www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/expert-branding-sex-offenders-not-work-article-1.1881664. Accessed 31 Mar. 2017.
Sullum said that registration is a result of the case of Megan Kanka, who was abducted, raped, and killed by a stranger. However, these cases are very rare and has resulted in an unfair and ineffective system. Sullum states. “Data from the Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey indicate that more than 90% of sexually abused minors are assaulted by relatives or acquaintances- people they trust”(Sullum 2). It is difficult to distinguish dangerous predator from lawbreakers with nonviolent offenses. Nonviolent offenses include public urination or those who have consensual sex with minors. Registries are lifelong burdens on sex offenders even on those who pose a low risk to the community. I don’t think I would use this article even though it does include good points. For example, the author points out that the majority of the sex crimes that occur between the victim and the trusted one and not with strangers like most people believe. It also points out that with the way the registry is setup, it is hard to distinguish between dangerous and not dangerous sex offenders. However, the author did elaborate much on it and doesn’t include a lot of evidence.