Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Letters: Sex Offender Registration

Argusleader.com (SD): Letters: Sex Offender Registration.

"I have been fighting the irrationality of sex offender registration in South Dakota for 14 years, and because state legislators don't have the guts to do any deep down changes, I will have to fight the insanity until I'm not able to fight it anymore.

For years I have asked for proof that registration prevents crime and have gotten none. I wrote to all but one of the state Judiciary Committee members. That makes 19. I testified over the phone this summer to the panel that studied this issue, and I'll tell you that 99 percent of those who spoke to the panel testified for radical change. What we are going to get is next to nothing.

Government is unresponsive to people. Maybe people have that figured out, and that's why they don't even bother getting involved in the process. I don't blame them, but as for me, I'm addicted to fairness. I abhor double standards. I despise selective enforcement and arrogance.

How logical is it to be on the sex offender registry for 15 years with no repeat offense and told you never can get off? How logical is it for us to give drunks second to infinity chances to go out and kill? It is absolute craziness to me.

If you've been on the registry for 10 years with no repeat offenses, you should get a second chance. Period.

The Constitution says nothing about categorizing one offense as worse than another.

Deep down in my gut I know that my child's chance of being killed by a drunk driver is a lot higher than her being abducted or molested."