I agree with you. My husband is a registered sex offender for an offense that happened right after his 18th birthday. He is now 42 years old and this still haunts us as a family. We have raised five children together and it was always an issue about if he could go to school events. The kids’ friends’ parents found out and questioned us. We are on the no-no list of houses at Halloween. It comes up on background checks when he was job searching. He is a good man who made a bad choice at 18. Should him and our family be punished for life because of that? Just to put it in perspective, he did 9 whole months of work release, and a lifetime of shame of ridicule.

I’m sorry to throw a wrench into your bicycle spokes here but umm….I’m appalled that you even gave kind of a “props” to the Probation Dept. Those baffoons aren’t worth the tax money they steal from the states for their paychecks.
You say “However I completed my probation and theropy. I am no longer a threat!”

You probably were NEVER a threat. And here’s a little something for everyone to take into consideration about “plea bargains” –
If your crime could land you 5 years in prison but the D.A. makes you a deal to do 2 yrs with 5 suspended and 5 yrs of probation, YOU CAN DENY THAT OFFER and take the FULL 5 YEARS and get out of prison SCOT FREE with no bafoon probation officer or “treatment” group to answer to. This goes for convictions for ALL types of crimes. No one wants to do the maximum sentence, however, if you do, you come out free as a bird with no one telling you that you CAN’T HAVE A COMPUTER, YOU CANNOT GO TO YOUR DAUGHTER’S HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION, YOU CAN’T SHOP AT A MALL OR GO TO A MOVIE THEATER. None of this utterly useless nonsense if you take the full (or close to it) amount of prison time. Remember, the ACCUSED can have his/her say in a plea bargain.

That in and of itself PROVES that there is no real “threat” and no need for so called “supervision”. All that nonsense is to earn $$$$ and get votes from the frightened puppets known as the tax payers.

I am a former SO. The registry wouldn’t stop me from re-offending if I so chose to do so! Yes people near me know I’m on the list but most trust me anyway because I am a good person that made a bad choice once in my life! I just won custody of my daughter in fact! Now if I wanted to re offend I’d simply go to an area where I’m not known. I mean do you know the face off every offender 100 miles away? The list gives a false sense of security to the public! and again if some one wanted to re offend they would already be determined to do it and a list on a computer isn’t going to stop them! In fact they may be more determined to eliminate the evidence of there crime AND VICTIM! Another issue I have is why isn’t there a list for all crimes? Look at people who commit DUI. This is one I take personal because I lost a good friend to a drunk driver. And don’t think I don’t take sex offences personally because both my wife and sister are victims of rape and child hood molestation! Back to my point with the DUI offenders, how many people re offend with drunk driving? How many deaths have occured from drunk drivers compared to sex offences! why don’t they have a way to prevent these people from being served or sold alcohol? I committed my sex offence but my wife and daughters have paid the same price as myself for being on megan’s law just from association! I agree while on probation I should have been on there because I had not paid my debt to the public off yet. However I completed my probation and theropy. I am no longer a threat! And now because of the new laws I’ve gone from the minimum time on the list to the maximun(LIFETIME) simply because of how my judge listed my crimes! And that is just a kick in the pants too. you just can’t change a punishment after you deal it out! I mean what if you got a speeding ticket and are told you have to pay $100 and you sign guilty and before you get to pay it they up it to $300 and you now loose your car. that isn’t what you agreed to. this isn’t fair!

When I began my term, the release rate for incarcerated sex offenders was about 15%, and subsequently dropped even lower, despite the fact that such offenders had the lowest risk of re-offense among all categories of offenders. When I was finally released, in 2009, the release rate had climbed back up to about 30% for sex offenders. CAPPS may have been indispensable to this move.

This comment is my way of saying thanks to them.

I can NOT agree with you more. As I have described before…politicians and lawmakers are “numbers/statistics”, “WINDOW DRESSING”… addressing the problem would be to much trouble.

People, and especially those on SOR, need to go on. They need a voice. Many have been victimized by those in powerful positions and taken advantage by those in those positions to feed their egos.