Why Can't People Forgive?

[Jorge10]

I dont understand why people can't forgive criminals who have paid for their crimes. My brother in law hired a woman who was on parole to work in a restaurant he runs. He was telling us about it the other day and my mother said, "Why would you hire a person like that? Couldnt you just tell her to look elsewhere?" Then today I see this on CNN: Plates

[ QUOTE ]
MADISON, Wis. Lawmakers in three states are pushing bills to require convicted sex offenders to display special license plates on their cars.

Proponents in Wisconsin, Ohio and Alabama say the sex offender plates would be another tool to keep the public safe. Critics say the plates would lead to a false sense of security and unintended consequences.

""For too long child sex predators have been watching our children,'' said state Rep. Joel Kleefisch, a Wisconsin Republican. ""It's time we have an opportunity to watch them back.''

Wisconsin's bill, authored by Kleefisch, would require people convicted of the most serious assaults involving children to use a chartreuse-green plate. The license plate in Ohio would be fluorescent green, and the Alabama bill would leave it up to the state Department of Revenue to design the plate.

An Assembly committee approved the Wisconsin bill 8-3 last month. Hearings have been held in Ohio, where Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, has said he would sign the bill if it makes it to his desk. The Alabama bill was introduced only recently.

Oshkosh resident Travis Hoddel, 30, a registered sex offender following a 1994 conviction for an assault involving a relative that was not severe enough to be covered by the proposed Wisconsin plan, called the license plates ""ridiculous.''

Hoddel, who would not have to use the plates, nevertheless wondered what would happen if an offender's wife used the car with the special plates.

""There are people like me (for) who it was an isolated incident, and we are trying to move on and live a normal life, and we can't,'' he said.

Mark Jackson says he has ""not even the slightest iota'' of sympathy for any inconvenience the license plates might pose.

In 2002, a convicted sex offender abducted, raped and murdered his 14-year-old daughter, Kristen, after she attended a county fair in Wooster, Ohio.

""It's destroyed us,'' Jackson said.

Jackson recently testified in support of Ohio's bill, dubbed ""Kristen's Law'' after his daughter.

""We would have known this perpetrator lived in our neighborhood,'' he said.

Carl Wicklund, executive director of the American Probation and Parole Association, said he isn't sure the license-plate laws would make communities safer. He said they potentially could create a false sense of security.

Wicklund said the vast majority of sex offenses are committed by people the victim knows.

Carrie Abner, a research associate who studies sex-offender management with the American Probation and Parole Association, an affiliate of the Council of State Governments, said she is not aware of states other than Wisconsin, Ohio and Alabama with pending license-plate bills and that she knows of no states that have passed such a law.



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I dont understand. People go to jail and pay for their crimes and its not enough? Why do people have to keep bringing it up? Why cant they just let things go and realize that everyone makes mistakes instead of making the lives of people who made mistakes miserable?

I believe the license plates law is really stupid, but feel free to disagree.

[mbillie1]

I think the license plate law is alright actually, but that is because of the statistics regarding repeat sex offenders. Convicted sex offenders are much more likely to commit another offense than say, convicted burglars, etc. One state (Ohio maybe) has color-coded license plates for DWI-convicted-people, that I think may be over the top, but who knows. It's a very gray-area privacy vs. public risk issue.

I agree with you in principle a lot of the time, but sex offenders are the worst example to use to support your case because 1) they are so much more likely to repeat offend (violent sex offenders, that is) and 2) they are generally found to be so despicable that people will go along with almost anything that's done to them.

Finally, one flaw in the argument. Your argument seems to be as follows:

1) If a person commits a crime then he/she has to suffer the consequences prescribed by the law for committing that crime
2) The proposed legislation is not currently law - hence people have served their time and should be considered free/starting over/etc

But if the law was passed, then having license plates etc would be part of their punishment... just seems like a weak specific example to argue although again, I do agree with you 85% of the time.

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
Convicted sex offenders are much more likely to commit another offense than say, convicted burglars, etc.

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This is incorrect

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In the largest and most comprehensive study ever done of prison recidivism, the Justice Department found that sex offenders were in fact less likely to reoffend than other criminals.

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http://www.livescience.com/strangene...tor_panic.html

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One study looked at 61 other research projects and found that the repeat rate for sex offenders is lower than that for other criminals in general. Some 13 percent committed another sex crime, compared to a repeat rate of 36 percent for all other crimes. If that's the case it may suggest why the crime rate at least appears unaffected by the introduction of sex offender registries.

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http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5708799

[mbillie1]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Convicted sex offenders are much more likely to commit another offense than say, convicted burglars, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is incorrect

[ QUOTE ]
In the largest and most comprehensive study ever done of prison recidivism, the Justice Department found that sex offenders were in fact less likely to reoffend than other criminals.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.livescience.com/strangene...tor_panic.html

[/ QUOTE ]

But legally "sex offenders" != colloquially "sex offenders" ... violent sex offenders is what I'm referring to, although I may be wrong here. There are a lot of people technically classified as sex offenders who got charged for stat. rape, date rape and other things that are not what we generally consider when we think of sex offenders. However point taken, I will try to find the article I got my original impression from lol

[Dale Dough]

I remember the story about the 17 year old guy who had a bj from a 15 year old and was sent to prison for it. In principle, I guess real serious offenders might deserve this, but I think it's ridiculous if such cases would warrant the labeling.

Also, why would anyone in his right mind actually drive a car with those plates? I'd personally just somehow arrange for a different car to 'borrow' if I were forced to drive around with those plates.

[jackal47]

How about because;

Just because someone has 'paid their debt to society' in the form of jail time or whatever, it doesn't mean they are in the least bit rehabilitated or remorseful of their crime, and they can easily go and do it again.

How would you feel if someone you loved was sexually attacked by a known sex offender but they were allowed to live wherever they wanted without people living near them knowing etc. would you still agree that it was right that this person was forgiven and allowed to roam the streets again?

[almostbusto]

[ QUOTE ]
How about because;

Just because someone has 'paid their debt to society' in the form of jail time or whatever, it doesn't mean they are in the least bit rehabilitated or remorseful of their crime, and they can easily go and do it again.

How would you feel if someone you loved was sexually attacked by a known sex offender but they were allowed to live wherever they wanted without people living near them knowing etc. would you still agree that it was right that this person was forgiven and allowed to roam the streets again?

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i can say very confidently that i would be ok with that.

[GTL]

they are not him

[mosdef]

[ QUOTE ]
How would you feel if someone you loved was sexually attacked by a known sex offender but they were allowed to live wherever they wanted without people living near them knowing etc. would you still agree that it was right that this person was forgiven and allowed to roam the streets again?

[/ QUOTE ]

You're appealing to emotion instead of reason. The "ZOMG you're babies are in danger!" argument can be used for any former criminals.

If sex offenders pose a serious danger to society, then the jail time associated with the crime should be reviewed. It doesn't make any sense to extend someone's penalty beyond the penalty they're given in court. If sex offenders are so dangerous that they can't be allowed back into the public then maybe they should just be given a life sentence.

[MasterLJ]

Make their sentences longer if you are going to treat them like a criminal after their parole/release.

This stuff gets to me because I almost became a sex-offender after an argument with my live-in girlfriend. I was arrested for domestic abuse (I never laid a hand on her and the charges were later dropped), and had I been convicted I would have been on these lists for the rest of my life.

I simply don't have faith enough in the system to be able to believe they wouldn't screw this up royally.