The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US

This article from the good people at Human Rights Watch discusses the effects of “sex offender” registries on youth offenders. They interviewed several people for this report, both convicts and regular citizens including: psychologists, police, lawyers, and politicians. What they discovered about the truth regarding these heinous laws may or may not surprise you. Here’s just some of the findings that may already know:

Registering sex offenders and publicizing information about them is predicated on the idea that sex crimes are committed by strangers. However, evidence suggests that about 86 percent of sex offenses are committed by persons known to the victim. According to the Justice Department, 93 percent of sexually abused children are molested by family members, close friends, or acquaintances. Registration will not protect a victim from a family member.

There is discussion about the point to even having the laws in the first place. Why do we continue to do this to so many people? Obviously to prevent these perverts from ever committing another crime:

The focus on recidivism is misguided because sex offenders are among the least likely to re-offend. Individuals labeled as “sex offenders” have extremely low recidivism rates when compared to persons convicted of robbery, non-sexual assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, fraud, drug offenses, and public order offenses. The only type of offense with lower recidivism rates is homicide.

Yes, homicide. The only other crime that is repeated less is MURDER. One could be expected to wonder: why aren’t they subject to the same oppressive punishment as “sex offenders”? More often than not, they are sentenced so heavily that they are rarely released from prison. The same scenario happens with the worst types of “sex offenders.” Since they aren’t usually released back into the public, these laws don’t often even affect them; they primarily affect only the low-level, non-habitual offenders.

Now, just because most bad apples never see the light of day again doesn’t mean that all covered offenders aren’t dangerous, but the overwhelming majority are not. And unless there has been an unexplained explosion in rapes over the past two decades that hasn’t been made public, it’s not hard to discern that these registry laws are creating more criminals while simultaneously preventing less crime:

The enactment across the United States of increasingly comprehensive sex offender registration laws has brought predictable results: the number of individuals (adult and youth offenders) placed on sex offender registries has exploded. In February 2001, approximately 386,000 individuals nationwide were listed on sex offender registries. By 2011, there were 747,408 registered sex offenders in the country.

It doesn’t take more than simple reasoning skills to see that these laws are thorough failures with absolutely no endgame. Since they are ineffective at preventing crime and proving to be far more harmful than beneficial, especially to the children who are forced to register, why then do they still exist? Who is supporting this insanity? What is driving our sick motivation to continue torturing our fellow man?

For more information, please read the full article here and watch this video posted on our YouTube channel.