The past few months at work we've been entering data from the Michigan Sex Offender Registry into a statistical software program to be analyzed by one of our research professors. This is taking quite a long time since there are over 35,000 registered sex offenders in the state of Michigan. Now that number might seem alarming, but keep in mind...this includes all seemingly sexual offenses; including urination in public, kidnapping, flashing (indecent exposure) etc...
Whenever the topic of the MSOR is brought up people seem so quick to assume everyone on this registry is a child molester or a rapist. I never had much of an opinion on the issue until after entering this data and realizing some things. First, anyone on the MSOR is on there for either 25 years or for LIFE. There is no middle ground, no lesser sentence. So in many cases an 18 year old boy is "lumped" into the same registry as a rapist or child molester for having sex with his 15 year old girlfriend. He is branded for 25 years as a disgusting pervert to be avoided in society--25 years!
Now don't get me wrong, I think there is a place for this registry. I think rapists, child molesters, child pornographers and the like deserve to have their name, address and photo posted for all to see. But shouldn't there be some type of way to discern who is an actual threat to the public and our children and who may have just been a horny teenager?
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