omahaguy.newsvine.com : Adam Walsh Act is a Legalized Hate Crime punishing more than child rapists.
This article was posted by this reader:
"I was a member of an adult Yahoo newsgroup. Someone posted 13 nude beach images of teenagers, which were automatically delivered to me. I was arrested for child porn in 1997. On Jan. 1, 2010 I will become a "registered sex offender" for 25 years to life because of that. The images I had totaled 13, along with 2 nude beach videos. This resulted in 2 separate indictments, making me a repeat offender for a total count of 15 counts."
Excerpts:
First off, let's dispel the most common myths about 'Sex Offenders'. I despise child rapists. Sadly most readers think all 'Sex Offenders' are child rapists. If you are one of those readers, then you are in for a wake-up call. You have been misled for years about the 'Sex Offender' problem. Most of your politicians have been pandering to you, and fooled you into thinking they have helped the problem when they have really made it unmanageable.
Myth #1: 'Sex Offenders are all child rapists'. In most states, crimes such as lewd behavior, public indecency, prostitution, even urinating in public can make you a 'Sex Offender'.
Myth #6: 'All Sex Offenders need monitored for decades'. The studies do not support this for non-violent offenders. One study published out of the University of Iowa states that non violent offenders who received proper treatment, were at basically the same risk as general public after only 6 years.
Myth #7: 'Public Notification makes the public safer'. First off, 97%+ of all offenders, target people they already know, such as family, students, etc. So 'public notification', has little or no effect on those 97%. Secondly, the really scary ones, the ones you need to be protected from, are offenders that target random victims. They do this by going to bus stops, malls, parks, libraries, schools, etc. Those victims are NEVER safer by the public registry.
Myth #9: 'Adam Walsh Act protects our children'. The Adam Walsh Act is nothing more than a government sponsored 'witch hunt', to chastise, and punish as many people as possible for the hideous crimes of a few. You do not have to have victims, and you do not have to be dangerous to be on the registry, you simply had to do something stupid.
Myth #10: 'Adam Walsh Act is not punitive' or 'It's just monitoring, so no big deal'. At one time this actually was a truth. It was called the 'private offender registry'. Each offender was looked at on an individual basis. Non dangerous offenders were put on the private list. They were still monitored, but allowed to go on with their life. The public registry not only degrades and humiliates them, but removes numerous rights as well. Any time a politician wants to look 'tough on crime', he simply removes more rights from anyone on the registry.
Myth #11: 'Adam Walsh Act is constitutional'. Congress felt that this was too much of a violation of constitutional rights. So U.S. Attorney Gonzales (later removed from office for unrelated ethics violations) declared this a 'pressing emergency'. This is a special power of congress that allows them to pass laws without constitutional review.
Myth #14: 'Residency Restrictions make children safer'. It's difficult to see how this is anything more than just punishment. I can't believe reasonable people think this makes them safer. Part, because a lot of sex offenders never offended children and don't have a propensity to do so, part because recidivism just isn't what people make it out to be, but also because the really scary offenders prefer to drive to someone else's neighborhood when they abduct or assault their victims.
So why do I call it a hate crime? Because a hate crime is when you discriminate, harass, or abuse someone because of a social group they belong to. Politicians have created a social group labeled 'Sex Offender'. They group in a multitude of offenders who never harmed anyone, but label them the same as a child rapist. Then they make it legal for anyone, anywhere, anytime to discriminate, harass, degrade, and ostracize anyone in that group.
Please contact your politicians, and tell them to support an option for child safety that truly makes children safer. This act simply abuses the constitutional rights of every person labeled 'Sex Offender' regardless of their risk level, or crime. Abusing a person's constitutional rights has nothing to do with making children safer. If you understand the truth behind this, you have to agree that this will absolutely make the situation worse. Just read the news, and see the number of sex offender camps set up around the U.S. because they cannot live anywhere. Do you think those people are now 'safer' to society? How angry, misplaced, and anti-social do you think they are becoming? Adam Walsh CREATES monsters, not makes people safer.
