Would you attend a peaceful protest if a convicted paedophile moved into your street?

[thefourgp]

I’ve never attended anything similar before and I’m in two minds about going. He was convicted (I’ve read the newspaper articles which show his photo) and has been released after serving half his sentence. I don’t know if he owns the property but he’s moved in with his wife who stood by him. There’s a peaceful protest being arranged. Would you go?

Trouble with these vermin is that it is rarely a random attack on a child but premeditated grooming...so mums new boyfriend, the family friend, 'uncle' to the family or dad, brother, uncle. How many women do you know move a new guy in a few months after meeting him, bragging on FB about how great he is with the kids. There may well be a bloody good reason he is 'great with the kids'. He is less likely to be 'the child catcher' and more 'werthers grandad' style .
Nobody wants them nearby but realistically they will be under the radar of unsuspecting families.
It is a sexual attraction, I'm not convinced any more treatable than any other sexual attraction.The problem is that to protect children from them requires drastic measures/laws/financing and that wont happen and children will continue to suffer.

I don’t think it’s having freedom curtailed to recognise unsupervised children are vulnerable to harm.

I don't know @Tararararara I was pointing out the unfairness of it all.

Personally I do think that for crimes such as murder and child rape that the sentences should be whole life sentences with no possibility of parole. Won't stop it happening in the first instance but at least when the bastards are caught, they're permanently kept off the streets. Will never happen, I know, but I can hope!

Of course it's curtailing their freedoms @howaboutholly

It is if we live in lalaland where everyone is nice. Until that happens, I’ll prioritise protecting my child.

I'm not disagreeing with you @howaboutholly - just pointing out the unfairness of it all.

I wouldn't peacefully protest.

I would peaceful knock on his door and kindly explain to him every single part I would rearrange in his body if he ever as much as glanced in the direction of any child I ever knew. With a smile on my face, of course.

BenoneBeauty what's the alternative? thought police?

Adequate sentencing that reflects the seriousness of the crimes when a pedophile is finally brought to justice?

The penalties for crimes that involve sex against women and children reflect the very low status of women and children in our society.

@aurynne

I wouldn't peacefully protest.

I would peaceful knock on his door and kindly explain to him every single part I would rearrange in his body if he ever as much as glanced in the direction of any child I ever knew. With a smile on my face, of course.

And with any luck you'd be peacefully taken for a night in a cell, not that I believe you'd actually do that.

@PolPotNoodle it is unbelievable, isn't it, how many people are above the law on this post? It’s perfectly reasonable, apparently, to advocate for murder, GBH, arson, and criminal damage, under the guise of being a concerned citizen.

Id go above the law to protect my, or any children from a convicted child rapist.

I find it sickening how many people wouldnt and are fine with children being raped and abused as long as the sick bastards can "live in peace" afterwards.

@BenoneBeauty

I don't know *@Tararararara* I was pointing out the unfairness of it all.

Personally I do think that for crimes such as murder and child rape that the sentences should be whole life sentences with no possibility of parole. Won't stop it happening in the first instance but at least when the bastards are caught, they're permanently kept off the streets. Will never happen, I know, but I can hope!

I always come onto threads like this and say these things and I wonder if anyone actually listens. But here goes anyway.

Whole life terms are extremely rare. Mainly because they are so punitive that in general civilised democracies shy away from them. However, on a purely practical level there are a few reasons, even if you loathe child molesters with every fibre of your being, you shouldn't advocate for them.

1. The harsher the punishment the less likely a jury is to convict. If a jury has a tiny doubt, and they often do in child abuse cases, they won't convict if they feel there is no hope of someone ever getting out. So you actually get MORE rapists on the streets rather than less. Also, see the death penalty.

1. Somewhere around 20% of offenders in prison are sex offenders. Even with ridiculously low sentences AND a woeful conviction rate. If you locked even a tiny proportion of them up for life, you would be paying an absolute fortune. Which the country doesn't have. And building more and more prisons, which no one wants.

1. Added to that, people with no parole have no reason to behave inside. They become unmanageable very quickly. Why not rape fellow inmates (some of whom are vulnerable)? Why not stab a guard or start a riot? There is nothing to gain for good behaviour. Time off for good behaviour saves lives inside.

1. Lifers have status. They just do. Don't give that to rapists.

1. The vast vast majority of child rapists are free. Never think that long sentences will keep rapists off the streets. If you live in a small town, you live near 10s of child rapists. A city, even more. Long sentences make you feel better but they don't actually stop child rape.

@thefourgp I for one will be interested to hear what does happen.

A "worst case scenario" that occurred to me earlier today: the vigilantes set the house on the fire and it spreads to the neighbouring houses.

@PheasantPlucker1

Id go above the law to protect my, or any children from a convicted child rapist.

I find it sickening how many people wouldnt and are fine with children being raped and abused as long as the sick bastards can "live in peace" afterwards.

Show me one poster that is fine with the rape of a child.

I'll wait

@PheasantPlucker1, why can you not grasp the really simple fact that nobody is ‘fine’ with child sexual abuse?

@MrsTerryPratchett I read and understood every single word 🙂. More importantly, I agreed with it.

Thanks @BananaPop2020

I also spend a lot of time saying that the only thing more dangerous than a sex offender is a homeless sex offender.

The fact that people consider not wanting to engage in violence, arson, threatening behaviour and even murder somehow equates to being ok with child rape Just strengthens the statement in a PP that the kind of people who engage in these kinds of protests are generally a bit hard of thinking.

Also the belief that not wanting to protest equals defending his human rights.

You may not like that a convicted sex offender is released and housed in any kind of area, but whether you like it or not, the fact is that sex offenders are released and housed in people’s local areas.

Not liking it doesn’t give you the right to break the law in your own right. Murder isn’t any less murder when it’s a paedophile you’re murdering, and will only result in you losing your own freedom while he is free to disappear underground because of the crimes you have committed.

Oh and, your children are far more likely to be abused in the care system which is where they’ll be going while you’re locked up, so instead of protecting your children you will deliberately have put them in harm’s way.

A lot of things can be perceived as not fair. But taking the law into your own hands isn’t going to change that. If we start to change the law based on the amount of violence it causes among the general public where does that end?

Today a paedophile, tomorrow you don’t want burglars in your street so best drive them out. The day after it’s the local drug dealing kid, who is probably being abused by his family but let’s not let that get in the way of a good ruck.

And before you know it crime will no longer be a matter of public knowledge and you won’t have any idea what kind of criminals are living in your street.

And the PP who said that being burgled can feel as traumatic as being sexually abused is right. If you’ve been burgled and sexually abused you will likely be able to make the comparison between the two, but if you’ve only ever been burgled then the trauma is as real for you as the trauma of the SA is to the victim of that crime.Hence why criminals can only be seen as criminals, and one doesn’t equate to better than, and more entitled to murder the other in prison.

No, absolutely not.

People have to live somewhere. The community knows this man's history so know to keep an eye on their children. The police and probation service know where he is, and will be managing his reintegration.
If you drive him into hiding, none of that will be true and you make the situation far more dangerous.

Trouble with these vermin is that it is rarely a random attack on a child but premeditated grooming

This!

It is very rare that a child is snatched off the streets and attacked. It is more likely to be from someone the parent doesn’t worry about.

I think it is more important to protect your child from the people around you more than this paedophile - because he is probably less dangerous to them as you will never trust him to leave your child with unlike someone who just hasn’t been caught yet.

@PheasantPlucker1

Id go above the law to protect my, or any children from a convicted child rapist.

I find it sickening how many people wouldnt and are fine with children being raped and abused as long as the sick bastards can "live in peace" afterwards.

Jesus Christ. There should be an minimum intelligence level to be a parent.

I find it sickening how many people wouldnt and are fine with children being raped and abused as long as the sick bastards can "live in peace" afterwards.

Yes because anyone has said that...

What a ridiculous statement. Show us a post where someone has said that.

aurynne So why haven’t you chapped on the local sex offenders door and done this already?

Maybe because you are talking like a hard woman online and wouldn’t even consider doing it in real life?

Posters just sound a bit thick who talk like that.

It's certainly a learning experience for me to discover that so many people seem to see a desire to stay on the right side of the law and allow the probation service to have some sort of hope of monitoring an offender equals paedophile sympathiser to so many people.

It's a dark world you want to live in where you think that individuals should be allowed to decide on their own version of justice. If you think it's fine to inflict premeditated violence on others, no matter how hideous their crimes, you must also accept that it's fine for other people to inflict physical violence on you for any transgressions that you make, or are perceived to make. Given how closely women's very thoughts are policed by others, this isn't a society that any female should hope for.

A known peadophile lived on the same street as my ex mil
Everyone knew- and everyone with kids was told when they moved in and or visited It was seen as a type of community service I think
People shunned him and his family - they were just ignored utterly ignored They were seen as notorious- since they had to live somewhere I think that was a better approach than protests

(It was a fairly close community where everyone knows or is related to everyone else )