Let’s Talk About: Crime & Punishment

About four months from obtaining a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from a pretty decent university, I would say I’m somewhat well versed in this matter. Maybe it’s my education that makes me so frustrated by the way other people view the subject but I’d like to think I had common sense before a college education.

I don’t expect the average person to know all the ins and outs of offender motivations or the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs. I guess, unfortunately, in reality, the average person doesn’t give much thought to these things. I have always found these things to be of extreme importance and relevance, but that’s why I ended up going to school for it. I have always had a fascination with the topic and, luckily, this fascination has led me to want to pursue a graduate degree in criminal justice when I finish undergrad this June. I do, however, expect my fellow criminal justice students to understand the implication of policies which are currently in place and how that jives with what we know to be effective and what we know to be an absolute failure.

To embrace the truth about the criminal justice system and offenders, you have to be brave. I’m not saying just to be a cop you have to be brave (in fact, quite the opposite, but more on that later). The truth about the criminal justice system and the way it (dys)functions within America is that it is not black and white. People are not just “good” or “bad” and treated accordingly. There are many complexities in offending and reoffending and treatment for offenders. I know there are people out there who understand this better than myself. Unfortunately, it seems these people are not running the justice system.

The people who are running the justice system, or at least playing a huge role in it, are average people. That’s a problem.

One of the clearest manifestations of this fear is the way sex offenders are treated. Prior to Megan’s Law, some states kept record of sex offenders and their whereabouts. Post-Megan’s Law, the public is now able to gain access to this information. While it is quite clear to see how keeping tabs on sex offenders is beyond beneficial for law enforcement officials, the fact the public now feels some sense of entitlement to this information is absolutely atrocious. America was a country founded on freedom and individuality. Why is it any of your business who that man is living down the street?

I would never go so far as to say sex offenders (or any offenders) should have their record cleared after serving their time. That too is atrocious. However, sex offenders – and all other criminals – are still people who should still have the right to privacy that the rest of us enjoy as American citizens. If you go to the site http://www.familywatchdog.us/, it’s possible for you to find information about the sex offenders who live and work in your area. You can see a picture of this person, their specific offense (which most people don’t fully understand anyways), their exact address, their place of employment, even what tattoos they may have. You have got to be kidding me. We are now cataloging the tattoos of sex offenders. Clearly their picture, full legal name, date of birth, address and picture wasn’t enough to help us identify these people.

I sincerely hope the average person never looks at this in an attempt to gauge the safety of their neighborhood or where to let their children play or anything of the sort. You can even find your child’s school on the map, find out how many sex offenders live within a half-mile radius and see their pictures/information in a list. What good does this do? Will you be sure to run out into the street and grab your child if you see this man walking by? How absurd.

If you are not keeping a close enough eye on your child to ensure they are not abducted or molested, you are a complete fool. In fact, parents are usually pretty good about not allowing their children to fall into the hands of strangers. That would be why most sexual assaults are not committed by total strangers. Keeping this in mind, what good could the sex offender registry possibly be? You should be cautious of all new people you meet and even more cautious of who you allow to be in the company of your child without your direct supervision. This stupid registry will not prevent bad parenting or lax supervision. I wish it were possible to stop mentally inferior people incapable of protecting their children from even having children in the first place, but alas, that it totally impossible.

The only thing sex offender registries serves to create is an unreasonable, unjustified sense of fear in the community. Oh no. That poor old guy who has never been properly socialized to interact in a normal manner with his peers just moved in next door. Forget the fact he is clearly beyond troubled. Let’s publish all of his personal information on a website and allow people to post giant signs in his yard which state “Sex Offender Lives Here!” Yes. That is really helping his attempts at reintegrating into society and getting back to a normal life.

The truth is, many sex offenders are successfully rehabilitated. Clearly no method will fully prevent every kind of offender from going back to their bad ways, but can we not give these people the benefit of the doubt? Do we keep a registry of where all the thieves live? People who commit property offenses have great motivation to reoffend. Why don’t we track them? When I come home and my TV is gone, I would like to know where the closest burglar is so I can have the police go fuck with him about my missing flat screen – A flat screen that I obviously didn’t care too much about as I left my apartment door unlocked while I left so someone could easily waltz in and take it. It’s absurd, isn’t it?

If you give a flying fuck about your children (and you should), you should be overly cautious all the time. Not just when there is a sex offender in your neighborhood. There are plenty of new sex offenders just waiting for the opportunity to butt rape little Bobby when you turn your back. Are we so foolish as to think keeping track of existing sex offenders will rape-proof our children?

Please note, I am not attempting to alleviate sex offenders of their responsibility for the atrocious things they have done and the negative lifelong effects their actions will undoubtedly have on their victim. I’m just saying…target hardening is not just some irrelevant theory in my text books. It’s beyond sad that people who like to touch little kids exist. It really and truly is. But, as the non-mentally ill parties in this dynamic, it is our responsibility to help them help themselves. Those parents who thought Michael Jackson was anything but a rich version of the creepy guy in a van with candy are idiots. (The man had every child’s dream in his back yard for God’s sake. Why would you let your son hang out there?)

What spurred all this was a slide in my crime prevention class earlier today where the lovely state of Wisconsin (or some other W-state), has decided to put “sex offender” on the drivers license of convicted sex offenders. In three different places. In case you missed the first two bright red warnings this guy had sex with a girl a few years under the legal age of consent, there are three chances for your retarded ass to catch this. Great.

What pissed me off most was this older woman in the class said “that is a great idea.”

No. Actually, you misinformed, fear-thriving twat, that is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Think of all the places you are required to show your state ID. When buying movie tickets? When Test driving a car? When buying a case of beer? Does the idiot working at McDonald’s checking that the name on my credit card and ID match really need to know I’m a sex offender? I think not. Why is it necessary to put someone’s criminal history on their driver’s license? It’s not like it was a DUI and we should be warned this person is getting tanked, swerving all over the road and killing innocent people. (Oh, speaking of offender populations which have a high rate of recidivism!) Sex offenses and driving seem totally unrelated in my opinion. If anyone has any insight on the matter, hook a bitch up. Do you ID people you meet? How could this possibly serve as a deterrent to future offending? In reality, this is just further alienating people, many of which may be trying to move on with a semi-normal life.

Contrary to what the misinformed, fear-thriving general population thinks, offenders feel remorse for their actions. There will always be the few-and-far-between heartless serial killers who will stab you, fuck your dead body (perhaps in your eye socket), stab you a few more times and then eat your body parts. Sure. But in reality, with proper rehabilitation, a lot of these real people gain the empathy they lacked before and understand why what they did was wrong.

It takes a certain amount of faith in our fellow humans to believe this. Maybe that is why people are so eager to condemn the pants off sex offenders. (That joke was funny for so many reasons and I didn't even realize it at first.) We’re willing to believe in a big man in the sky that created the earth in seven days and then sent his son down to walk on water…

But have faith in one another and the inherent good that surely lies somewhere within us all?

Fuck that.