Castration Anyone??

Post #3

Chemical castration is one of the most awkward and uncomfortable topics in the world of sex crimes. One may think that by administrating medicine designed to reduce libido and sexual activity in the hopes of preventing rapists, pedophiles and other sex offenders from re-offending would stop the sex crimes surrounding the United States. Recently the Polish parliament approved forced chemical castration on pedophiles. The law will be applied to pedophiles convicted of raping a family member or a victim under the age of 15 and administered upon the convict's release from prison. The same sentence will be applicable to anyone attempting to seduce a child under 15 years of age over the internet. The legislation must still pass the senate before taking effect. (BBC).

The subject has drawn criticism from human rights activists who “consider chemical castration a human rights abuse, no matter how serious the offender in question is. We consider it to be cruel and inhumane and it’s like the death penalty,” (Collerton). Australia’s Queensland Counsel of Civil Liberties presidents Michael Cope believes that offenders should be in prison and serve their time, then be given appropriate medical rehabilitation treatment they need. Mr. Cope agrees that chemical castration “might be seen as a useful component of treatment or management for some of these very difficult cases, where we’re unlikely to see response in other methods,” (Collerton). The Australian government is making sure the offenders are not in any serious danger by performing health checks regularly.

One can argue either way on the issue of chemical castration. On one side the public needs to be protected from the offenders and the government will try everything in their power to prevent the offender from recidivism. Instead of placing an offender behind bars to add to the overcrowded population in the correctional system the government decides to let an offender experience life on the outside with one small exception: the offender has to be given doses of medicine to reduce their sex drive so they do not break their parole and re-offend. While some people argue that is “inhumane punishment” they fail to take in consideration what a victim went through while in the hands of a certain sex offender.

People are so caught up in their own world and trying to find justice that they do not look at the bigger picture. So what if an offender receives medication to prevent them from committing the same or worse crime? What harm is being done to them? Doctors make sure they are not harmed in the whole castration process. Get off your high horse and put yourself in the victims’ shoes. What happened to them cannot be replaced with medication. A victim may seek counseling or attend a support group but will always have the memory of what happened to them. There is nothing wrong with castration in order to prevent more people from being victimized by a sexual offender. Don’t stop at the chemical castration either; physically castrate them so they do not try to harm another person.

BBC. (2009, 25 September). Poland backs chemical castration.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8275236.stm

Collerton, Sarah. (2009, 21 September). Chemical castration ‘like the death penalty.’
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/21/2692144.htm?section=australia

McCall, Thomas. (2009, 27 September). Poland approves forced chemical castration for pedophiles. Tallahassee Conservative Examiner.

http://www.examiner.com/x-16781-Tallahassee-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m9d27-Poland-approves-forced-chemical-castration-for-pedophiles

GPS Monitoring for Sex Offenders

Post #2

Sex offenders are all around us, whether we know it or not. The stereotype that a sex offender has scraggly hair, unclean fingernails, and gives off a creepy vibe is not always true. There are people dressed up in business suits, who are teachers at public schools and even neighbors who seem to have the cookie cutter family who hold the secret of being a sex offender. The government is trying to protect citizens and make sure people are aware of sex offenders in their area. California passed Megan’s Law in 2004 which makes sex offenders register their residence once they are convicted of a sexual crime and every year 5 days before or after their own birthday. There is no guarantee that the government can keep track of all the sex offenders in California alone. Some sex offenders follow the rules and register every year while others fall off the radar, so to speak.

The case of Jaycee Lee Dugard who was kidnapped by a sex offender who registered every year and had routine check ups from local law enforcement officers has raised questions concerning whether more restrictions should be placed on sex offenders and what law enforcement needs to do to make sure situations such as this do not happen again.

The county of Tehama in Northern California is stepping up their law enforcement this year at the local Tehama County Fair. The law enforcement officials will be using global positioning system tracking technology to monitor sex offenders. The event will be running from Sept 24^th through September 27^th. Parole agents will establish an exclusion zone around the perimeter of the fair grounds. The Redding GPS Parole Unit and Tehama County Sheriff’s Officer are teaming up to track and monitor the activities surrounding the fair. A sex offender parolee who enters the fair will set off an alarm in which agents on-site will then track the offender’s movement and investigate if they break any violations. In Tehama County every sex offender who is placed on active parole has GPS monitoring as part of their supervision.

Every violent or unstable sex offender in the state of California should have a GPS monitoring system regardless if they are on parole or not. There is a possibility that Jaycee Lee Dotard would not have been raped and kidnapped for 18 years of her life if Phillip Garrido was tracked via GPS in which he would have been caught driving by a bus stop where local children catch a ride to get to school. The government needs to come up with better ideas as how to stop sex offenders from recidivism. How many more victims will fall to sex offenders before the government steps in and does something to halt the epidemic?

Record Searchlight Staff. (2009, September 16). GPS will monitor sex offenders at fair. http://www.redding.com/news/2009/sep/16/gps-will-monitor-sex-offenders-fair/.

Sex Offender Registration

Post #1

It is incredibly important to study the sex offender registration law because it aids the government to find ways to protect the public from offenders and make sure the law is being followed accordingly. By studying the law it also gives some insight to the citizens unaware of such laws.

The sex offender law or Megan’s Law according to the public is named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a known child molester who had moved across the street from the family without their knowledge. In the wake of the tragedy, the Kanka’s sought to have local communities warned about sex offenders in the area. All states now have some form of Megan's Law. The law is not intended to punish the offender and specifically prohibits using the information to harass or commit any crime against an offender was passed by the Legislature on August 24, 2004 and signed by the Governor on September 24, 2004. The law gives the public access to use their computers to view information on sex offenders required to register with local law enforcement.

The law affects the family, neighborhoods, friends and the local law enforcement surrounding the victim. Family members of the victim are directly affected due to the fact that someone they love has been scarred for life and retained a horrible memory of the experience. Neighborhoods of the victim feel unsafe because someone who lived so close to them was raped, murdered, or worse against their will. Friends of the victim do not know what to do or what to say in situations where an incident happened that they have no personal experience in dealing with in their lifetime. A law enforcement officer never likes getting called to a case of rape, murder, or kidnapping concerning a woman. It is especially disheartening to know it was a sex offender who might have been registered with the local law enforcement.

The cost to keep probation and police officers checking up on registered sex offenders is like all the other local law enforcement agencies. An officer will check up on the offender if they have no heard from them or failed to register five days before or after their birthday. Nonetheless, the check ups take up their time. The Sexual Predator Apprehension Team is part of the California Bureau of Investigations, which tries to make sure all registered sex offenders are updated and apprehend those who have either failed to update their home of residence.

The New York Times reported a recent case in the Northern California area of a man who has been a registered sex offender for more than 20 years who is accused of kidnapping a young girl and holding her captive for 18 years. This case has raised eyebrows as to how effective the registered list available online is to the safety of the public. Phillip Garrido, the California man accused of such a crime had kept up with the law and checked in with the local authorities each year for the past decade. Some experts say that the lists may lead people to presume that anyone registered must also be elaborately monitored when, in truth, the monitoring of sex offender laws are different from state to state.

The future of the sex offender registration law is double sided. On one hand, there are more sex offenders being apprehended and updated on the database. The public can see if a sex offender lives in their neighborhood to keep a close eye on their children. A negative remark about the law is the issue that the public might take matters in their own hands and harass, embarrass, or cause harm to the offender. Yes, they committed a repulsive act on another human being but let the justice system take care of that. No matter what, they are still human beings like you and I, regardless of personal reasons against such crimes. The law will either hurt or advance our learning concerning such issues of sex crimes.

Davey, Monica. ( 2009, September 1). Case Shows Limits of Sex Offender Alert Programs. New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/us/02offenders.html?scp=3&sq=Sex %20Offender%20law&st=cse