Kaitlyn Warwick

18November, 2014
English composition 1
Fall 2014

Capital Punishment: Sex offender Registry

The issue that I am somewhat for but also highly against is the sex offender registry. This topic
hits home for me because both my uncle and my now fianc are on this registry for crimes they
did not commit. The only difference was my uncle was tried and convicted while my fianc
never received a trial and was repeatedly told by his lawyer it was unwinnable, and denied the
right to even prove his innocence. People may like this system because it makes them feel
somewhat secure, but I do know that those innocently convicted of this horrendous charge do not
feel secure at all. They do not feel secure at all because if they are on probation and upset one
person they know that all that person has to do is make a phone call and tell a lie or two and they
are back in jail on violation. Also it is up to the state to decide how long you are registered for
the crime you are convicted of there is no universal punishment that is the same in every state.
For example and this is a real life example, the charge my uncle was accused of is not as bad as
the charge my fianc was accused of. My uncle was jailed for ten years, has to register for life,
and has twenty-five years probation, while my fianc only has to register for 25 years, 3 years

probation and if he violates that only serve a year and a half in jail. Now to do you see how this
is not really right?
I do realize some people prefer them being locked away because they fear that the offender is
going to reoffend. Well the reality is only a very small fraction of the sex offender recommit
crimes once they are out. The majority of the sex offenders just want to live the rest of their lives
with the little dignity they have left. I understand that some people say the sex offender registry
is a good thing to have, but there are many just plain ridiculous ways a person can get on it. Take
Colorado for instance, I had read in an article on businessinsider.com titled surprising things
that could make you a sex offender that in Colorado kids were being told to register for simply
hugging one another and this sparked a lawsuit when the children got older to get off of the
registry. Now are we really trying to teach our kids to be anti-social? Definitely charging them as
being a sex offender would obscure any child from wanting to become their friend, its bad
enough when the child does not even comprehend what the charge means until they are older and
cannot find a job due to it.
People may say that those who are convicted of sex offender crimes are truly guilty and that
nobody is innocent when given that conviction, and that those who are innocent get fully
compensated. Well this idea is not entirely true, some do not get compensated for their time
served. According to the latest statistics of the innocence project of the more than 240 people
exonerated through DNA testing nationwide, 40% have not received any form of assistance after their
release. The report comes as a staggering 23 states in the nation do not offer any compensation to the
exonerated. Exonerated people who live in one of the 27 states that have a compensation law may file for
state compensation, but the average length of time exonerees wait to receive funds is almost three full
years. Now my question is to you, do you really think that is fair? If they did not commit the crime they

are accused of committing, they should get some compensation. People are losing their jobs due to this
kind of conviction. Some cannot find housing, some have even lost their families. I believe the states have
to give some of the exonerated peoples dignity back, being accused of being a sex offender and let alone
being convicted of being on, is damaging enough. I know someone who almost lost his family due to
accusations like this, and had to resign from his job as a history teacher at my old school. Some teenager
was upset that she didnt make the basketball team and accused him of sexting her, well in court it came
out that she had lied and they had no evidence to convict him there for the case was dropped. Another
example is my fianc, was training so hard to be in the military and was close to enlisting and everything
then these accusations happened and now we are unsure on if he can still join if he does get exonerated,
for that case it is all a waiting game. The point I am trying to make is that, when someone loses their jobs
due to this conviction, and then is exonerated sometimes it is hard to get the job they once had back.
Now people may believe still that this system is fool proof, but there are some pros and cons that I would
like to discuss with you. According to sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com two issues I read that I would

like to discuss are as follows: the first is GPS tracking. Yes the companies that make the GPS
monitors get rich and it creates more jobs because many people are required to monitor the
anklets. On the other hand the cons to this GPS system are that, it gives off many false alarms
even for an offender to walk into his own house. Sometimes the anklet does not work from the
beginning that was the case in regards to my uncle, if a monitor is defective from the beginning it
will not make a sound when cut off nor send a signal, I know this because that is exactly what
my uncle did. Another con of GPS tracking is that it requires those who are monitoring them to
be paid a ton of money and also those who are being monitored while homeless have no way of
charging the anklet, and there for get re arrested on failure to charge the anklet. Now does that
really seem fair, or do you think homeless people should be given some kind of place where they
are allowed to charge their anklet.

The second issue I chose that I would like to discuss according to this same website is the issue
of online registry. Yes the parents can see where an offender lives and warn their children to stay
away from the offenders house, and it gives states a basic placebo to keep families feeling as
though they are safe. The downside to this is, this list puts those accused of being a sex offender
who are actually innocent at danger. There are people who consider themselves vigilantes if you
shall call it who actually go and harass the offender and even try to kill them by setting their
homes on fire. These so called vigilantes, if they get in trouble there are protests to free them
saying that they did the right thing, when the fact of the matter is they did not. Another downside
to the online registry is that sometimes it is not the most accurate, someone could be in prison
and yet it still says they are currently at their home, and if someone was exonerated from the
system sometimes it does not reflect that for months.
Now you may be thinking I am done with this argument, not yet, close but not yet. I want to
tackle some popular myths now that are created about sex offenders. Now according to
/nationalrsol.org/ I chose two popular myths from their article titled Ten myths about sex
offenders. The first myth I would love to discuss facts with you on is the myth that all sex
offenders re-offend. Well here is the facts about this one, over eighty percent of sex offenders,
even those who do not undergo treatment chose to live their lives rather than reoffend. So
basically they believe that going to jail over something like that once is not worth going to jail
over something like that again. The re-offense rate is between 2.2-5.3% based on crime. [If it is
against an adult it is 2.2% and if it is against children it is 3.3%, all other re-offenses based on
other sex crimes are the 5.3%]. Therefor there is a 94-95% non-re-offense rate for sex offenders.
Now why do you think that most people have that mentality that every single sex offender is
going to re-offend? People need to become more educated on the facts, and not focus so much on

the myths. The second myth I want to address is the myth that treatment classes do not work.
Well again according to nationalrsol.org the facts of this matter are as follows.
The Campbell Collaboration analysis of 22,000 individuals found that treatment reduced
recidivism by 37%.
Canadas Karl Hansons 2000 analysis found a reduction of 41%.
Oshkosh corrections meta-analysis from 79 separate studies of over 11,000 sex offenders.
Now to me that sounds a lot like the treatment classes do work, at least they somewhat work. The
fact of the matter at hand is that sex offenders can change their lives around, if given the chance.
A lot of times teens and young adults are put on the system because of the fact that the other
person involved lied to the now registered sex offender about their age. Now for this part of the
topic there is a huge debate on whether or not the girl should be punished for lying about their
age then reporting the sexual encounter to authorities afterwards. Some of you may think that the
girl should not be punished but a lot of people are fighting for girls who do this to be punished
because if someone is going to lie about their own age they should be at fault as well if
something happens. After all they were lying to older guys to have sex right? I believe they
should be punished for their actions as well because technically the guy involved did nothing
wrong because some of these girls also carry around fake identification showing their fake age. If
the girl is going to say she is an age she is not then she needs to be punished for lying and put in
some kind of system where it will flag her if she tries to make another report about another
young man having sex with her. I mean it is only fair right? People think that the system deters
others from committing crimes, well people are trying to avoid trouble but sometimes it may be
hard especially when a girl lies about her age but yet again some guys can too. Unless those who
lie are punished as well this system will keep growing in number every single day.

In conclusion, I do see how some people find this registry to be somewhat of a good thing, but
also to me at least the bad outweighs the good. Not only is the other person involved, if they did
lie, not punished but is also causes those on the registry to be fearful of being sent back to jail. I
mean what if they accidently run into their accuser again they can easily have the cops called on
them. Its just not fair. When dealing with a sex offender case people should really consider both
sides to the issue and when there is a case of the supposed victim lying they should be punished
as well. That to me is the only real true way to deter people from this horrendous system.

Sources: http://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-things-that-could-make-you-a-sex-offender2013-10#ixzz3IxCSjN5j web.

2)http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/81_of_Exonerated_People_Who_Have_Been_Compensat
ed_Under_State_Laws_Received_Less_Than_the_Federal_Standard__New_Innocence_Project_Report_
Shows.php
3)http://nationalrsol.org/resources/ten-myths-abput-sex-offenders/,web, reform sex offender laws, Inc

4)http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2008/11/advantages-disadvantages-of-sex.html

3)