Parents: Find Registered Sex Offenders near you

http://www.familywatchdog.us/

Someone sent this link to me, and I would like to post it for anyone who might be interested. (I'm not promoting vigilantism, but believe parents should have this kind of information)

You can input your address and get a map of residences of registered sex offenders near you- for free. It also has a subscription service which will notify you if a sex offender moves into your area, and any addresses you specify. The site is supported in part by "The Safe Side" a joint venture by Julie Clark (founder of Baby Einstein) and John Walsh(America's Most Wanted) and runs on corporate and individual donations, and subscription fees.

Site does not have data yet for 6 states: Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Maine, and Delaware. Offender data for these states will be added soon.

Some info from the site:

90% of all sexual assaults against children are committed by someone whom the victim knew. *

The typical sexual predator will assault 30 - 60 times before being caught. **

The re-arrest rate for convicted child molesters is 52%. ***

I also received this from two people yesterday. This stuff really freaks me out. My state is not listed yet, but will be soon. I know that there are four registered sexual offenders in my town. I looked it up through the state government page, but it does not give the address for the individuals. My children are very young and are not out of my sight at this point, but I would still feel better knowing where offenders are located in reference to where we are.

county jail, which dutifully showed up on the map in the correct spot.

That information would be alot more effective (but much, much less scary) if they declassified the 22 yo's who went out with the 17yo's. But then there would only be a fraction to report in the crime statistics.

And while I'm certain to get flamed for saying this, my grandmother got married and started making babies at age 14, which was not uncommon at that point in time. Some of this age stuff has migrated higher over time, like the drinking laws. There are those mature enough and many, many more who aren't mature enough to handle various things in their lives. The age that they write into the current law isn't going to change that one bit.

Not to make light of any molestation (and please, please don't take this as any attempt to justify that type of abuse) I think the parents are responsible for not only providing a safe environment, but the emotional security so that these predators can't be effective in luring many of these kids into situations.

Knowing that the guy down the street was convicted of something really doesn't defend against the guy right next door who hasn't been to jail, only because he hasn't been caught yet. I personally think these 'where do the molestors live' sites are doing a disservice to the public, they are creating a false sense of security because we don't have any of 'those' people in 'our' neighborhood.

providing a safe environment and the emotional security to their children to prevent predators from being successful in luring their children in.

I also agree that someone can go unnoticed right next door to you doing horrible things. The thing is, I have a right to know if a convicted sexual offender is going to be living in the same area as my children. They have one of the highest rates of recidivism that there is. It is not worth the risk to me not to know.

out of jail again in their lifetime.

All I was trying to point out was that for many people, looking up on that list and NOT finding someone in their community is going to create a false sense of security. Too many people already want think that all the drugs are done in the projects, not the lily white gated communities out in the suburbs. That murder is a poor, inner city thing - in spite of it being a domestic thing about 85% of the time.

I completely agree with you! All of your other points too. :)
I just get so sick thinking of the possibility of one of these predators ever looking at one of my boys or going after one of them. I think, or no, I know I would completely lose my mind if something like that were to happen to one of them. I don't know what I would do.
Before becoming a mother, I worked as a social worker and then went back to school to become a teacher. Unfortunately, I was confronted more than once with the issue of sexual abuse in young children. I am very sensitive when it comes to this issue. Even more so now that I am a parent. I am sorry if I misunderstood you.

This site is amazing.....Indianapolis has thousands of sex offenders listed. I guess that goes along with living in F***ed up red republican state. Scary

suburbs. My Man Mitch signs were everywhere here.

!

.46 miles away from me. Thank you for the link.

Not real happy about that. Glad I'm moving next month.

Once your a sex offender, I am sure you get re-arrested all the time when an issue near you comes up.

they also post corporate criminals addresses on a website to warn those whom they will prey on after their vacations at federal white-collar country clubs.

Shouldn't these types also be banned from living within a certain distance from retirement homes and other places where their victims live?

I have yet to understand why this type of post-prison punishment does not fall under the cruel and unusual punishment category. We do not single out any other kind of criminal except SEX offenders.

America does not forgive.

I hope your not legitimately comparing white collar crimes with child sexual abuse.

predators like this loose their "rights" of privacy when they choose to prey on children.

there's a special place in Hell for such people.

Because stealing tangible items, such as money, from people is the same as raping children, stealing their innocence, and fucking them up for life. It's probably a lot easier for adults to replace the tangible items they lost from a white collar crime. Try being a kid and having trust, innocence, and possible your virginity taken away from you. I don't think you can work a 9 to 5 to get those things back. Yea, I see the connection between those two crimes. :eyes:

Thanks OP for the site. I got quite a few in my neighborhood.

which the founders would be very much against.

Children have to be protected - but so do the rights of citizens who have served their time. Pedophiles shouldn't be released into society if they are still a danger. And individuals who have served their time should never be subjected to vigilante/mob justice.

This is nothing new, though. "Moral panics" throughout history have robbed individuals of their rights, and will continue to do so. Such is the nature of humans.

In 50 or so years we'll look back and realize how anti-American all of these pre-emptive "sex offender" laws really are .. we'll look back and see where the slippery slope began. Eventually, when almost anyone can be branded "sex offender" for even the smallest offense - and thus be stripped of their rights/privacy at a whim - will society wake up.

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." - Thomas Jefferson

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." - HL Mencken

and WHO was protecting the rights of the little girl in Florida who was kidnapped from her bed by a registered sex offender living undocumented in the home of his sister, who was kidnapped from her bed, raped and BURIED ALIVE? If her grandmother knew this predator was staying a stone's throw away, wouldn't she have locked her doors, windows, and/or done whatever was required to keep this child safe? Why are this bastard's rights greater than an innocent child's?

Sorry, but the responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in our society has to come at the expense of the small percentage of sex offenders who do not repeat their crime... however, most of these predators are repeat offenders, and per the stat on this site:

The typical sexual predator will assault 30 - 60 times before being caught.

Sorry, I think when one feels an inclination to rape, molest or otherwise abuse a child, they should go for counseling, call a help line, or do what they have to not to succumb to destroying a child's life.

I won't argue further, I believe once THAT line is crossed, a person surrenders their right to be treated like the rest of us. Child predators do not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

or whatever society deems to be "most heinous" at the time.

Even as a libertarian, I believe in the death penalty and strong punishment of crimes. Justice is a key element of liberty. If an individual can deliver the ultimate punishment, so too should he be subjected to the ultimate punishment, so long as it is not 'cruel and unusual'. If an individual has committed a heinous crime, and poses such a great threat to society, he/she should be imprisoned for life or executed.

The major issue I have is not punishment, but justice being delivered by one private citizen to another. That is mob justice, and violates the values of liberty America was founded on.

As with any other crime legislation, The People should have democratic debate as to what the punishment should be, and then let The State should handle the job of law enforcement and justice.

What is happening with this 'sex offender' mania is that The State has outsourced it's job to private citizens.. for one "good" citizen to take on the role of authority figure over another "bad" citizen.

I disagree.

one a block up and one three blocks up. Jeez. Glad I'm not a parent.

It is amazing to me how many live by local schools!

As the father of a toddler I'm glad I'm seeing this. This matches what I saw in another link from DU about a week ago. Infact that site had pictures(sorry no link on this PC).

I actually waved at this guy the other day... and he is a kiddie porno guy. The other guy who I haven't seen is marked as sodomy.

Is why do parents take their children to strangers' homes on Halloween and beg them for candy and then expect their children to not take anything from strangers? Not all sex offenders can be found on a sex registry. The double standards that parents set for their children are just amazing. I remind my children often that just because we know someone in passing, does not mean that we "know" them enough to trust them. Parents have to do a better job of educating their children about the dangers around them and that includes not giving them mixed messages about the people they can or cannot trust.

I know this wouldn't work everywhere, but my town (Hoboken, NJ) has a children's Halloween parade down the town's main street (Washington Street). Washington Street is lined with shops and restaurants on both sides. Anyway, on Halloween (afternoon and early evening), most of the shops and restaurants (participation is voluntary) will have a person outside (some wearing costumes) holding out buckets of candy, or a person inside the store/restaurant will likewise be giving out candy. So, kids approach, say "trick or treat" and get their candy.

This way parents/caregivers can walk with their kids down main street, in costume, say "trick or treat" and get candy, without going to private residences. My daughter is only 3, but she really had a good time, and I felt like it was a very safe, controlled situation. As a parent, I would prefer that she do this rather than knocking on strangers' doors.

Again, this might not work in a large, urban area or rural one, but is an example of how the traditional Halloween experience, dressing up and getting candy, can be enjoyed safely.

A friend of mine was told that there was a sex offender living in her neighborhood, so she looked it up in the database, and indeed, there was a guy right next door. She was in the process of selling her house, and was told by her realtor that now that she knew this, she had to disclose it to every potential buyer. It took her months to sell the house, because of this.

Her advice was, "If you're selling your house, don't look in this database!"

On the other hand, if I were buying a house, I'd certainly want to know...