Imagine checking Kentucky's sex offender registry because you have small kids. You are just curious at first, but then you get a shock: you find you have a couple of convicted perverts on your street. What are you supposed to do with this information? Want to sell and move to protect your children? The only problem with this strategy is home buyers check the list too, so now you can't sell. Some defense attorneys contend that the problem is the list, the registry of predators. Might some twice-victimized homeowners be inclined to agree, at least until they can get out of the neighborhood?
This scenario is happening right now in Kentucky. This is bad enough in a few isolated incidents, but what if this plague of sex offenders continues to spread, leaving a trail of blighted neighborhoods caused by the presence of sex offenders? What if, heaven forbid, one of them moves in next door to you?
I have an idea.
Let's remove the legal penalties for harassing sex offenders. Presently you can be sentenced to ninety days in jail for "harassing" someone who is on the registry.
I remember a few years back the state of Louisiana struggled with the issue of flag burning. They couldn't make it illegal, so someone had the outstanding idea to institute a $25 fine for beating up a flag burner. Maybe we could do the same with sex offenders. Got a pedophile on your street? No problem. Go to the ATM, get $50 and go kick his ass twice.
