Bothe CURE National and Prison Reform Movement have posted a striking video designed to educate the public about the collateral consequences of sex offender registries. The video promotes the use of sex offender registries by law enforcement, but encourages the elimination of them on public sites.
Sex offenders are on top of the list of American public’s most feared and hated criminals.
Social media sites have erupted with posts that call for violence, death and all types of harmful treatment for sex offenders. Examples include posts that state unequivocally that all sex offenders should be executed, or that they should be forced to undergo experimental drug trials, or otherwise be used as human guinea pigs because their despicable lives are worthless. These posts get millions of “Likes.”
All sex offenders are not alike. The law provides different categories of sexual offenses. The majority of convicted sex offenders are not the violent, dangerous monsters that grab headlines, but the public rarely pauses to differentiate between the types and classifications of offenses. This video gives examples of crimes that can force a person to register as a sex offender, acts that are commonly committed every day without a thought that they can be considered criminal offenses.
David Harrison, who produced the video in order to open dialogue, writes:
I don’t condone or support heinous acts against other human beings, and that goes for everybody. I don’t believe all sex offenders are bad or that all are good. Many need to be held in prison, many need to be carefully monitored, many are just simply young and stupid. Some are pedophiles, not all. This video is part of a project I am doing in school. This topic is one that most people are all too ready to discuss one side of, but tremble at looking into the other side. This is an attempt at opening eyes to a rarely seen side of this story.
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