Facts about Megan's Law and SOs

We received a link to this very informative site:

Facts about Megan's Law and SOs

It contains useful articles about the politics of SO and registry laws as well as SO scapegoating.

Here's a quote from the site:

"The myth is that all [SOs] are alike and that most re-offend. The facts are the opposite. Most former [SOs] want nothing more than to rebuild normal productive lives. If we prevent them from doing so, our communities will be less safe, not more so."

Here's another:

"Political parties are using [SOs] [as an easy, relatively cheap, effortless way that requires little investigation, action or work on their part] to demonstrate that they are tougher on law and order than the other state," said John La Fond, a retired law professor and author on [SO] treatment in Washington state.

"No one really wants to know the facts anymore."

And last:

A national hysteria about [SOs] has led to illogical public policy that has not been proven to make children safer, said Nancy Sabin, executive director of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, a victim advocacy organization in Minnesota.

"There's an awful lot of legislators going for the feel-good, quick fixes to enhance their own careers and reputation," Sabin said. "We need to marry policy with science-based tools."

"Stop having lay people figure out goofy things that don't work, like green license plates, pink license plates, e-mail registries, chemical castration and residency restrictions."

"Instead of enacting public policy such as residency restrictions, more resources should be spent on preventing [SO] crimes in which the victim and perpetrator know each other, which make up the majority of such crimes," Sabin said. (The Arizona Republic, March 16, 2007)