Should We Get Rid Of A Public National Sex Offender Registry?

It's been a little bit since my last post, I know. I had PAX all weekend and it completely wiped me out until today. It was a really cool time, but man was it tiring.

I'd like to get a little serious in this post and talk about a topic that's been in the news recently: The National Sex Offender Registry. A couple of new studies were recently released that questions the effectiveness of sex offender registries and if they actually do anything. I also heard an interesting debate on a local radio show where they were talking to a Jefferson county man (Erik Mart) that is on the sex offender registry (drunken advances that went too far, no crime against a child).  

So in light of the studies do we really need a public sex offender registry? Look, I'm all for having a registry, I'm just not so sure that making it public is a good thing. I think (I haven't fully decided how I feel about this yet) that the police should definitely have it so they know who the suspects are should something happen in the community.  

However after listening to Erik Mart and reading more about the studies I'm leaning towards not making the list public. 

One of the things that stood out to me was that these people go to jail and pay their debt to society as we have deemed fit for their crime. Yet by putting them on a public registry we are basically making them be punished further. It's hard to get jobs, form relationships, and just basically be a normal person. I'd imagine you are always waiting for someone to come and accuse you of something you have not done.  

An interesting piece of info I picked up was that sex offender crimes have a very low recidivism rates. The rates vary by crime, but by and by it's pretty low overall. Much lower than many violent crimes. Some say that the public registry is doing it's job, but the rates were like that before we made them public so it doesn't really hold up.

However as a new parent I can see how knowing this info can be comforting. We are creatures of expectations. When we can plan and expect something we are more comfortable with it. So by knowing where the sex offenders are we feel safer. It doesn't neccessarily make us any safter, but we feel that way (much like the TSA, but that's another post).  

Like I said I'm still a bit on the fence on this, but I'm leaning towards the notion that we should get rid of a public registry (keep one for law enforcement). The offenders have paid the price that society has deemed fit. We should not continue to punish them after they have paid their debts.

I also do not want to raise my son in an environment of fear. That's not to say he shouldn't be aware of danger and resepect that danger, but living in fear is no way to grow up (I've also got more on this topic for a later post, but I am more of the free range kid type of parent).

As always I'm looking forward to your thoughts and comments!