2006-10-04T01:04:00.000-04:00

Former Florida Rep. Foley, the force behind the Adam Walsh Act and the leading member of the House Caucus for Missing and Exploited Children proved that sex offender proximity and community notification laws are ineffective and do absolutely nothing to make children safe. Politicians are using an imaginary sex offender panic to win votes. In reality, they can care less about the safety of your children. At the end of the day, proximity and notification laws create second-class citizens and families. We need to be more concerned about absconders, not low risk, or even medium risk offenders who are working hard to comply with their court and therapy guidelines. Many have paid their debt, and are on the Sex Offender Registry by law. They are in fact, former offenders who have not re-offended and are productive members of society. Currently, law enforcement spends precious resources tracking low risk offenders, instead of high-risk absconders and Internet predators. Ask yourself, if the sex offender registries were working, why are we seeing an 8% increase each year in the number of registrants? In lieu of fostering fear for election year sound bites, legislators should step up to this societal challenge. They should strive to dispel the myths and establish an environment for policy and subsequent legislation to succeed, creating a safe society for everyone’s children. What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong. We must have more faith in ourselves than in government to solve the problem. Citizens, communities, journalist, media personalities, and legislators should demand a National Sex Offender Public Policy Forum to address this issue. Then state and local governments can better formulate workable, cost effective laws that protect the rights of all citizens. Educate yourself – protect your children. Visit http://sosnet.bravehost.com/index.htm

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