Comment on AWA

Thanks to a kind reader, whose site can be found here, (and which I've added to my blogroll under the appropriate heading, Sex Offenders, Public Education and Civil Rights, the following comment on a Topix piece from Hampton Roads: "States can protect children without the problematic Adam Walsh Act"

It is so refreshing to see writers print facts and not just follow the politician's methods of preying on a mostly uneducated public's fears.

People need to wake up to this mess that is being created by politicians. Ted Strickland & Marc Dann should stand up & be LEADERS and admit they have made a wrong decision. Thank God some other states are thinking this modern day witch hunt through & are concerrned about financial and social ramifications. This law does NOT make us any safer.

I feel terrible for what happened to Mr. Walsh's son but it does seem to me now that this entire thing has BECOME a business and money making venture for him.

I want the to know who PREDATORS are. The mess in OHIO has created so many Tier 3 offenders it has watered the entire registry down and makes it useless. PLUS, how in the world is Ohio going to pay for this???? Strickland is now making budget cuts because we can't afford our current system.

People may think this law does not apply to them or anyone they know. When we are complacent and allow politics to start strippping constitutional rights away it is a VERY slippery slope. YOU ARE AFFECTED WHETHER YOU REALIZE IT OR NOT.

Then, there was this one demonstrating how the registries can, and have been used:

Sex offenders should be castrated with a plastic spoon dipped in vinegar. The governments should do what ever it takes to keep these POSs out of society.

The first comment is right on. Check out this NYT piece today, about a slice of history we'd all rather forget, but can't, called How Democracy Produced a Monster. As for the second comment. This is the best argument why the registries are going to go, or should go, the way of the Edsel, known as the "most monumental failure in the Twentieth Century" . . . according to Failure Magazine, which suggests that its legacy could also be the most instructive. The Most Instructive could be a bit of a stretch but I'll not take that argument too vociferously. I can think of bigger ones, but it'll take time, time. Tick tock, waste not want not, said our most famous Richard.