re: Facebook ordered to remove sex offender page

Quoting Crystallized:" If they already have a registry, it's not the place of citizens to take vigilante justice into their ... [snip!] ... is harassment. The legal system has a registry for a reason, and it's easy to go on there and see exactly whose on the list."

No one has attacked him though, so how is it vigilante justice? It's just like the actual registry, except on Facebook where people can comment. Threats should be removed, of course, but general comments...? No, people have that right IMO.

Quoting bbbt:" No one has attacked him though, so how is it vigilante justice? It's just like the actual registry, ... [snip!] ... where people can comment. Threats should be removed, of course, but general comments...? No, people have that right IMO. "

You don't have to attack someone to be exacting vigilante justice upon them. Part of the "justice" exacted upon sex offenders is having their name put in the sex offenders registry, as well as being monitored by the legal system. When the citizens took it upon themselves to monitor him and make a site of their own to keep track of him, they have taken the law into their own hands without the legal authority to do so.

It would have been smarter for them to keep this under wraps and off of the internet if they didn't want the "operation" shut down honestly.

Quoting Crystallized:" You don't have to attack someone to be exacting vigilante justice upon them. Part of the "justice" exacted ... [snip!] ... been smarter for them to keep this under wraps and off of the internet if they didn't want the "operation" shut down honestly."

I don't see how it's tracking him when the sex offender register does the exact same thing. It'd be like me copying and pasting a list of names and info from the registry in Kentucky and making a post on here. Does that mean I'm tracking them or extracting some kind of vigilante justice upon them?

Quoting bbbt:" I don't see how it's tracking him when the sex offender register does the exact same thing. It'd be ... [snip!] ... Kentucky and making a post on here. Does that mean I'm tracking them or extracting some kind of vigilante justice upon them? "

If they only copied and pasted information, then I don't see that in itself as an issue. When the article said they were monitoring these people, I took it as saying that they were actually keeping track of them outside of the internet. Copying and pasting? No, not a big deal.

Quoting Crystallized:" If they already have a registry, it's not the place of citizens to take vigilante justice into their ... [snip!] ... is harassment. The legal system has a registry for a reason, and it's easy to go on there and see exactly whose on the list."

THIS....also from a molestation victim.

Devil's advocate here, if one of these people actually attacked him, should they be prosecuted?

Quoting Nymphadora:" THIS....also from a molestation victim. Devil's advocate here, if one of these people actually attacked him, should they be prosecuted?"

Um YES. I don't think anyone is saying here that he deserves to be attacked. Why does that keep coming up?

Quoting bbbt:" Um YES. I don't think anyone is saying here that he deserves to be attacked. Why does that keep coming up? "

Because it was a main point in his case.

I don't believe in this law & think you either need to say someone isn't safe & not release them or release them& stop this nonsense.

It does not WORK anyway & just leads to violence against the people listed.
Quote:
"Our results suggest that community notification deters first-time sex offenders, but may increase recidivism by registered offenders by increasing the relative attractiveness of criminal behavior. This finding is consistent with work by criminologists showing that notification may contribute to recidivism by imposing social and financial costs on registered sex offenders and, as a result, making non-criminal activity relatively less attractive.
…[C]onvicted sex offenders become more likely to commit crime when their information is made public because the associated psychological, social, or financial costs make crime more attractive."

And this:
Agan compared arrest rates for sex crimes in each U.S. state before and after registry laws were implemented and found no appreciable changes in crime trends following the introduction of a registry. As for recidivism, she looked at data on over 9,000 sex offenders released from prison in 1994. About half were released into states where they needed to register, while the other half did not need to register. Agan found no significant difference in the two groups’ propensity to re-offend, and that those released into states without registration laws were actually slightly less likely to re-offend.
http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/are-sex-offender-laws-backfiring/

Quoting bbbt:" Murderers are almost always incarcerated 25+ to life, so a registry would be redundant when anyone can ... [snip!] ... And what do you mean by violent crimes? Like beating someone up? You want to have a registry for people who get into fights? "

They also are not guaranteed to reoffend like molesters are.

Quoting justanothamotha:" I don't believe in this law & think you either need to say someone isn't safe & not release them ... [snip!] ... laws were actually slightly less likely to re-offend. http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/are-sex-offender-laws-backfiring/"

Since most child molesters often offend several times without being caught given the nature of their crimes how would they even know? They also don't work primarily because molesters don't tend to target strangers, and go after people/family members they have easy access to children with.

Quoting bbbt:" Um YES. I don't think anyone is saying here that he deserves to be attacked. Why does that keep coming up? "

I wouldn't shed a tear to be honest. And I doubt you would be able to prosecute someone who beat him up either.

"

Quoting MysticWitchKat:" They also are not guaranteed to reoffend like molesters are."

Molesters aren't guaranteed to offend. Your statement is completely backward according to current data. They are statistically LESS likely to offend than other types of criminals

Quote:
"the existing research raises tough questions about the relative danger child molesters pose to society. Their likelihood of being convicted for a crime after release is much lower than average for all criminals released from prison, and even for all sex offenders, at least in the short term, as measured by a Bureau of Justice Statistics study and others."
http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/how-likely-are-sex-offenders-to-repeat-their-crimes-258/

A study in 2000 by the Vermont Corrections Department tracked 190 sex offenders released a decade earlier. The arrest rate over 10 years for new sex offenses was 3.8 percent for people who had completed the sex offender treatment program. It was 22.4 percent for those who started the program, but dropped out or got kicked out. Those who never attended had a 27 percent recidivism rate.
http://www.corrections.com/news/article/24500-facts-and-fiction-about-sex-offenders


I am ALLLLLL for making the public safer - I just think publicly doing things like this FB page or even the regular registry is NOT how you do it & it offers a false sense of security to people.

Quoting MysticWitchKat:" Since most child molesters often offend several times without being caught given the nature of their ... [snip!] ... because molesters don't tend to target strangers, and go after people/family members they have easy access to children with."

You are going to have to be more specific with your question because I don't understand what you are asking. How would they know...what?

Quoting justanothamotha:" You are going to have to be more specific with your question because I don't understand what you are asking. How would they know...what?"

Most molesters offend several times and never get caught given they deal with children, and it's easy to manipulate them. Since they often get away with it, I feel it's not right to base their arrest record as the evidence they don't offend or reoffend. I agree with you I don't think notification laws do much, because simply put it they tend to go after people that a sex offender notification would not benefit.

Quoting MysticWitchKat:" I wouldn't shed a tear to be honest. And I doubt you would be able to prosecute someone who beat him up either."

A Hazelwood man accused of approaching his neighbor, a registered sex offender, to borrow some sugar, then attacking the man with a hammer, told police afterwards that he was "doing God's work" in trying to get rid of sexual predators.
John Joseph Huffmaster, 29, of Riderwood Drive in Hazelwood, was charged this week in St. Louis County with first-degree assault and armed criminal action

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/police-hazelwood-man-attacked-sex-offender-with-hammer-claimed-he/article_2d662fc4-c46d-11e0-aa8f-0019bb30f31a.html
Of course you would get prosecuted for assaulting someone with a sexual assault history. In NO case is your past criminal history considered a free pass for random public beatings. Give me a break.