New York State Releases Sex Offender Facebook App 252
Just in time for Halloween, the New York state Division of Criminal Justice Services launched a Facebook application to help families know which houses contain sexual offenders. “Knowledge is power. New Yorkers now have another way to access up-to-date information about sex offenders in their neighborhoods,” DCJS Acting Commissioner Sean M. Byrne said in a release. “With Halloween around the corner, parents now have another tool to learn where offenders live so they can ensure their children stay away from those locations, as well as strangers’ homes. The Facebook app puts that important information at parents’ fingertips, whether they are at home or on the go.”
Now I'll know... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why just sex offenders? (Score:5, Informative)
The sad thing at least around here is so many people that are registered sex offenders are on the list by taking a plea bargin to avoid the chance of going to jail. Many is not most of these cases have no evidence, and are just he said / she said. Cases where the ex wife bribes the teen age daughter to tell the police the deadbeat dad molested her, and similar. Without going into too many details I know of one case where charges were filed 10 years after the "incident" where the girl charged the then 18 year old brother of her friend with molesting her during a sleep over, the brother had proof he was not in the house that night (working night shift at a grocery store), yet he still ended up as a registered sex offender, and was banned from living in the same house with his own children.
Re:Why just sex offenders? (Score:5, Informative)
Well in NY you are relatively screwed but if you are less than 5 years older than the person under 17 you only get a Class A or B misdemeanor depending on what you did. Many states have nothing if you are within 2 years. It varies everywhere but believe it or not there is some sanity when it comes to these things.
Re:Unusual punishment? (Score:2, Informative)
You seem to think the Constitution matters anymore.
Re:Why just sex offenders? (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, they're not allowed to post Level 1 sex offenders online.
http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/SomsSUBDirectory/search_index.jsp [state.ny.us]
You can search for the New York State Sex Offender Registration Act to find out what that is.
I checked the postings to find horror stories of 20-year-old guys busted for having sex with their 16-year-old girlfriends, but I couldn't find any.
These guys seem to be real creeps, having sex with 13-year-old girls, 9-year-old boys, etc.
I wonder what the recidivism rate is. Unless it's very low I wouldn't feel safe letting them out at all.
If they really are likely to re-offend, I'd like to see them kept in a non-punitive, least-restrictive environment. Same with anybody who's convicted of crimes that are a danger to society. Violent crimes too.
But then we'd need rational laws, and I don't see that anywhere on the horizon.