To feel we should have the right to know where sex offenders live

[midwifeandmum]

Im watching Louis Theroux program and over in the USA they have an app to search for sex offenders in their area.

Why do the UK not follow their lead!! Very scary especially if you have children

I have a sex offender in my street and didnt find out he had been charged with sex offences for 2 years.

This man lives over 2 hedges from me and walks about the street thinking he owns it. Has a real bad attitude. grrr makes my blood boil

There are offenders in every town. Do we really need to know exactly who they are?
I cannot see how this information can or should make much difference to you or your children. I must be missing something.

It would just pave the way for vigilantes, which is no good for anyone. If we take matters into our own hands it shows lack of faith in our own laws and police force, not to mention the amount of mistakes there would be. A similarity in looks, new owner/tenant at the address, and innocent people get hurt. And what if they started targeting the families?

OP, you've already demonstrated the irrational thinking that this would cause.

No, you are not being reasonable, that is a really stupid idea.

1. Sex offenders are able to leave their houses.
2. People who have not yet been prosecuted for an offence can commit sexual offences.

Don't health professionals have more training about this kind of thing?

walks about the street thinking he owns it. Oh, well, say no more; bring out the lynch mob and the flaming torches.

her convicted sex offender step dad raped her for 4 years. A desperately sad situation, but the salient word here is 'stepdad'. Sadly, most sex offences are perpetrated on people the victims know and are close to.

OP, you are being ignorant and hysterical. If this kind of information got into the hands of other people as ill-informed and wrong-thinking as you, we would have mob 'justice', vigilantism and medieval-style witch hunts.

All an app would do is make the offenders move and change their names, probably repeatedly, and eventually slip under the radar so nobody would know who or where they are. Terrible idea.

If you watched the Louis Theroux programme, as I did, did it not show you the huge issues that come with the American system of dealing with sex offenders?! A young man who had sexual contact with an underage girl whose age he did not know who is now unable to shop, go to the beach,be a part of society at all. A woman who had an affair with a young boy (which she massively regrets and knows was wrong) who is now unable to see her own children and is terrified of going outside or talking to anyone. You cannot assume that everyone convicted of a sexual offence is a dangerous predator and, as numerous other posters have stated, not all offenders are caught.

I

If you watched the Louis Theroux programme, as I did, did it not show you the huge issues that come with the American system of dealing with sex offenders?! A young man who had sexual contact with an underage girl whose age he did not know who is now unable to shop, go to the beach,be a part of society at all. A woman who had an affair with a young boy (which she massively regrets and knows was wrong) who is now unable to see her own children and is terrified of going outside or talking to anyone. You cannot assume that everyone convicted of a sexual offence is a dangerous predator and, as numerous other posters have stated, not all offenders are caught.

I

If you watched the Louis Theroux programme, as I did, did it not show you the huge issues that come with the American system of dealing with sex offenders?! A young man who had sexual contact with an underage girl whose age he did not know who is now unable to shop, go to the beach,be a part of society at all. A woman who had an affair with a young boy (which she massively regrets and knows was wrong) who is now unable to see her own children and is terrified of going outside or talking to anyone. You cannot assume that everyone convicted of a sexual offence is a dangerous predator and, as numerous other posters have stated, not all offenders are caught.

I

The documentary last night was quite shocking, especially the man who Louis interviewed at the very end in the car where he admitted he had abused his own children just to spite their mother for an affair she was having. There are literally no words to describe how heinous that act is. However, I did find the way in which these sex offenders were treated by authorities very bizarre. There were notices on the doors of their homes saying "this house is not taking part in Halloween, please do not knock", they may as well have stuck an illuminated sign outside saying "paedo lives here". whilst efforts were being made to integrate offenders back into society on one hand, on the other hand they were being ostracised, it's certainly not a system I would like to see here and don't think it works to rehabilitate.

What a terrifying idea.

Vigilante rule?

Super

Leonas

Interesting. But in the examples you've given Im shocked that you are minimising the fact that they're sexual offenders, and providing excuses for it. 'he did not know'. 'she bitterly regrets'. I think Id rather feel sorry for those the crimes were perpetrated on.

I don't feel vigilantism (if thats even a word) would work as I think many would use it as an excuse to victimise and spread rumours. Im able to say that without calling a mum concerned about peadophilia/sex offenders a ranter, or hysterical, or ridiculous as seems to be getting more & more the fashion on MN these days. I can understand that watching the Theroux programme could spark worry, its certainly not an easy watch and we all react to things differently.

II do worry about it as I don't believe paedophilia is truly frowned upon here, and there isn't much empathy for victims. Sentences are lenient unless the victim is murdered, monitoring of register and offenders is slapdash, you can work in a school etc even without an Enhanced CRB check (which isn't to say it isn't required but too often, nobody asks to see it) some in the services of dealing with sex offenders have an I can cure anybody 'God complex' and are delusional in thinking they can rehabilitate any and everybody, even when obvious they can't.

All that can be done is to be vigilant individually. Im certainly not going to lose sleep over the rights of sexual offenders tho,

They would sit there in the interview room and grin all the way through the interview, and find any way they could to lean forward to touch your hand,

Either they all go to some secret training centre before becoming offenders or that is your imagination talking.

I don't believe paedophilia is truly frowned upon here, and there isn't much empathy for victims So is this.

I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over the rights of sexual offenders tho,

The reasons rights have to apply to everyone is so that they always apply to everyone. Somewhere out there, there is someone who thinks that you shouldn't have rights and looking for any excuse to start making exceptions.

We have the CRB system which only flags up convicted sex offenders. We know that children are at risk from predatory paedophiles, it would be nice for parents to be afforded the same privelege as the authorities.

After all, they don't really give a fuck about our children whereas we do.

The law would still stand and vigilante attacks would be subjected to the law.

Rather like the law that doesn't actually protect our children from paedophiles but attempts to punish them after the event. Sometimes.

I haven't watched the programme, but isn't the age of consent higher in the US? Just saying, it may well have been perfectly legal here (unless she was under sixteen, in which case he should have bloody realised, and unless she didn't consent, in which case it was rape no matter her age.)

Short of locking them up forever, there's no way to completely prevent a sex offender having contact with children. Or women for that matter. Or men. But making the register public isn't a good idea either. Vigilante "justice" undermines our whole society, and it's not the public's place to decide appropriate punishment. That's what we have courts and laws for.

I would have a lot more faith in the law if there weren't so many cover ups of people in high office.

We have the CRB system which only flags up convicted sex offenders. Who should it flag up? People who 'Ethel down the road says looks a bit funny, something in the eyes'

Back - you don't know what job I did and were not there, so your comment is irrelevant. My imagination is just fine thanks, Im quite glad it isn't off-key so it doesn't lead me to believe I can teleport into other people's past lives, view, and then tell them what they've experienced.

I don't know what ''so is this'' means alongside the sentence you have so carefully highlighted.

Whilst we can all comment on each other's posts and express surprise and/or an opinion, its fruitless to actually try to tell people what to post or think onthread.

Ive already said I don't believe vigilantes are the way forward, that Im not much fussed about sex offenders rights and think more about the victims. Pretty clear, isn't it. Thats enough for me. It doesnt have to be enough for you.

It would be a bad idea because:
A. Vigilantes
B. Mistaken identity, leading to innocent people being attacked.
C. It would lull people into a false sense of security, watching out for the man at number 22 and not being careful enough about their new boyfriend/ Uncle Bob, etc. After all, registered offenders are just the ones who've been caught.
D. Since most abusers abuse those close to them, if you know who is an offender then it's quite likely you could work out who their victims were. How is that helpful to the victims?

What you're saying is that parents ant be trusted with information. In case they commit an offence.

Slightly worrying that they're entrusted with bringing up the next generation.

Nobody beyond the appropriate authorities should be trusted with the information, that's the whole point. You might not agree with vigilantes, but there are plenty of people who would.

Nanny state right there.

I can see that releasing addresses wouldnt be right but I would to be able to check out a bf to see if he was on register for child offences before letting him near my kids.

Under Clare's law you can.

And you can also find out about things that are not sex offences such as if a bf has beaten up a previous girlfriend, tried to kill one of his own children or other relevant information that would not be available if there was a 'paedo app'.

I may be flamed for this.

Not all sex crimes are as serious as some other crimes. I am not saying they are not serious, just that some other crimes are as serious.

Offences for which you can end up on the register include rape and child abuse.

They also include having sex with a 15 year old when you are 16.

Sexting between teenagers.

Flashing.

Do you really need to know if the kid next door sent a naked selfie to another teenager? Surely the present law where you can find out if a potential partner has hurt someone else in their past or has other indicators that may mean harm to yourself or your children is better?

That's what we have.

Has there been a case where a convicted sex offender has attacked a neighbour's child and the parents could have prevented it by doing anything more than the general common sense things you do re: managing how your children interact with other adults anyway?

Add message | Report | Message poster ChelworthBrond Sun 06-Apr-14 21:31:27
What if they've reformed?

how the hell can you eb reformed sexual perfenace is innate people who like little kids sadly will always do so this is not something that can be cured or you can reform from

I should say cant