|
Your friendly neighborhood pervert
Check out this excellent column by my friend Lenore Skenazy on those registered sex offender lists. I don't know a mother who hasn't put her Zip code into one of those to find out how many sex offenders are in the neighborhood. In her typical contrarian fashion, Lenore (the creator of the Free Range Kids blog and book) suggests you knock on the door and have a chat with the fellow.
What you'll likely find is that there are tons of people on those lists that don't represent a real danger to our kids. The list includes 16 year olds who had sex with their underaged girlfriends and ended up on a lifetime registry. As she reports, "in 13 states you can end up on the registry for peeing in public. In five states, you can get on it for visiting a prostitute. Another 32 states register streakers. All in all, a study of 17,000 registered offenders by the Georgia Sex Offender Registration Review Board concluded that five percent of the people on the list were "clearly dangerous." It also determined that just over 100 of the 17,000 (1 in 170) were actual "predators" -- people who feel compelled to commit sex crimes."
It makes me angry when I think about how they have completely diluted the list to a point that's useless for parents and ruined lives in the process. Wouldn't it be nice if they limited the registries to, you know, actual predators?
This issue is coming to a head in Florida where the law limits where sexual offenders can sleep at night. In some counties, they can't live within 2,500 feet of a school or day care, leaving the registrants nowhere to live except under a bridge in Miami.
-- Sharon Kennedy Wynne
Most Recent Blog Posts
About the bloggers
Raising children isn't easy. Whoa, Momma! is here to help you with parenting tips and discussion of all parenting issues. We think there's no such thing as TMI, so our blogging moms aren't shy about the hot topics and won't back away from a good debate. Bottle or breastfeed? Public, private or homeschool? And sex -- it's all open for comment. Don't sit on the sidelines -- pull up a bouncy seat and join the chat.
Email us ideas you'd like us to write about.
Advertisement
Most Popular Categories
THE AUTHORS
Sharon Kennedy Wynne has sunscreen in her blood. She may have been born in Buffalo but she got here as fast as she could, in time for kindergarten. She grew up in St. Petersburg, graduated from the University of Florida journalism school, and even got married at Sunken Gardens. She's one of the few adults we know who actually loves taking her kids to the beach. She has two sons and with 10 years of parenting under her belt, she's starting to feel a little less out of her league. She comes from a large family and loves to debate, so brace yourself when the hot topics come up.
E-mail Sharon Kennedy Wynne:
|
E-mail Kate Brassfield:
|
|
|
Freelance writer Courtney Cairns Pastor wasn’t so sure about having kids and how she would balance child-rearing with her journalism career. It turned out that her journalism training went to good use. As the mom to a funny, active toddler, she learned to handle him like she did her sources. Never ask yes or no questions (the answer will always be no), get him to be specific (are you crying because you’re wet or your tooth hurts?) and be prepared for anything because no two days are the same. When she’s not playing trucks, Courtney crams for her book club, trains for races and occasionally bursts into showtunes. E-mail her at 
Suzannah DiMarzio has it bad for the Mouse. Although she grew up outside of Boston, she took her degree in tourism management down to Orlando just to work at Disney and the travel industry. Of course, when she married her high school sweetheart, the reception was at Disney. She’s now a seasoned stay-at-home mom to two tweens and a toddler – and yes, that is as crazy as it sounds. Suzannah has her own blog, Comment Policy
| Please be sure your comments are appropriate before submitting them. Inappropriate comments include content that: |
| Is libelous |
| Is abusive, harassing, or threatening |
| Is obscene, vulgar, or profane |
| Is racially, ethnically or religiously offensive |
| Is illegal or encourages criminal acts |
| Is known to be inaccurate or contains a false attribution |
| Infringes copyrights, trademarks, publicity or any other rights of others |
| Impersonates anyone (actual or fictitious) |
| Solicits funds, goods or services, or advertises |
| The Tampa Bay Times does not edit posts but reserves the right to delete comments that violate our policy. |
Registration FAQ
| Read our Frequently Asked Questions on how to register to comment on the site. |
