Oh, Well Hey There, Sex Offender!

The scuttlebutt last night was unpleasant and unnerving: we have us a sex offender living and lurking in the neighborhood. Well, living, at least. We don't know if he's technically "lurking."

That's because we don't know what he did. Is this a guy who did something unspeakable to a defenseless child? Or a guy who, at 23, found himself in the company of a willing, 16-year-old, scantily clad skank? No one knows. All we know is there's a registered sex offender living in an apartment right behind a family with four children.

But there are only two possibilities: 1) he's a threat; 2) he's not a threat.

If it's #1, why is this person not in prison? Clearly, the law considers it important that everyone know when a sex offender has moved in, so they must consider him a threat. So why isn't he in prison if he's committed a sex crime in the past and considered likely to do so again? What are the residents supposed to do with that information? Restrict their own freedom or that of their children? Run the guy out? Arm themselves? Set a trap? What are they supposed to do? I mean, other than live with worry, fear and trepidation?

If it's #2, then why make the guy register as a sex offender and alert all of his neighbors to a crime he's supposed to have paid for already? Prison isn't supposed to be about punishment, we're told by lofty thinkers. It's about reform. OK, he's out. So he's reformed, right? Why turn all of his neighbors against him and throw a dark cloud over every home in the immediate vicinity? All that's happened is life has been made a little less pleasant for everyone around him.

Thanks for that, legal system.

Laws making it mandatory to register sex offenders were created because some people repeated their crimes after serving time. And no doubt, Borough Council will be asked to pass more laws and ordinances that will make it necessary for this man to move. They'll say that registered sex offenders can't live within a mile of a playground or school. They'll make it incumbent upon landlords to check backgrounds of tenants. They'll drive him out to...

Some other neighborhood.

Wouldn't a simpler solution be to use some common sense? If it's a true sex crime involving a child (rather than the aforementioned skank), the guy never gets out of jail. He's no threat there. And his sentence might just serve as a deterrent to other would-be predators who instead of seeking a victim might instead seek help.

Either way, the neighborhood isn't punished.