Reposting my original post from the "Verdict in Steubenville" thread:
It's highly doubtful that either of them will manage any of the dreams that they may have had, or accomplish anything outside of quietly living alone with minimal interaction with a community that fearfully hides their children from them.
While I agree they deserve to be punished, I can't help thinking that this and the shaming and lifelong ostracism the label "sex offender" carries go beyond the pale. Considering that in many states you can now be labeled a sex offender for such things as urinating in public or a 17-year-old having sex with their 16-year-old SO, I think that label has been watered down to the point of uselessness, while at the same still being considered synonymous with "violent child molester".
Consider the following:
This is a case where a good-intentioned, if misguided law has been turned into a weapon to inflict extra punishment on people who have already legally paid their debt. Studies have shown that residency restrictions and public notification actually INCREASE the chance of a sex-offender reoffending, because they have so much less to lose than if they actually had a chance to build a somewhat normal life again. On top of that, they do nothing to reduce actual sex crimes committed, particularly since the vast majority are committed by people the victim knows and trusts, in direct contradiction to "stranger danger".
What these boys did is horrific. They deserve to be punished for it. Once they're out of prison, law enforcement should be able to keep an eye on them. But lifelong public shaming can't be called anything other than "cruel and unusual." Why do we not have public registries of drug dealers, who inflict far more damage and are much more likely to reoffend and to hurt strangers with their crimes? For that matter, if we're going to insist a category of criminals be forever separated from society, why not make like 19th-century England with transportation?
Honestly, how is putting someone on a registry that makes it all-but-impossible to find friends, get a job and build a stake in a community supposed to make it less likely for them to reoffend?
Sources:
Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1136U.S. Sentencing Commission’s 2009 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics, Table C)
http://www.ussc.gov/ANNRPT/2009/SBTOC09.htmRegistering Harm: How sex offense registries fail youth and communities, The Justice Policy Institute
www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/08-11_RPT_WalshActRegisteringHarm_JJ-PS.pdfMichael Seto and Angela W Eke, “The Criminal Histories and Later Offending of Child Pornography Offenders”,
17 SexualAbuse: J Res. & Treatment 2005
http://reason.com/blog/2012/01/23/out-of-747408-registered-sex-offenders-hhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/opinion/sunday/sex-offenders-the-last-pariahs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0And a reply to a comment made by Rabbit of Caernebog:
Personally I feel that I can call the sex offenders registry anything other than cruel and unusual. And I also don't think that drug dealing is an analogous crime to rape/molestation. At least in the case of purchasing drugs, people have a choice in whether or not they do so. Is that the same as when someone forces themself upon you sexually?
No, but neither do you have a choice about being caught in the crossfire of a drug war, or targetted specifically because you stood up to drug dealers. That was the damage I was referring to.
