The "DUH!" moment concerning this and similar laws across the country is that they are not about children's safety, but are about politician grandstanding. The mathematics of reality is against these laws having any benefit to children's safety.

I. The vast majority of child molestation is performed by someone near to, and known by the victim, ie. family member, family friend. These laws have no way to protect children from victimization from this potential body of future offenders. Do the math.

II. At current count (and rising!), approximately half a million citizens of this country are required to register as sex offenders. Your comments name three recent infamous repeater offenders. Other cases in recent news coverage could expand that, generously, to a dozen or so violent repeat offenders. I just don't see "the serious problem of violent sexual predators preying on [their] kids", as you put it. Is it right and just to restrict the rights of the rest of the half million citizens caught in the web of registration because of a lapse of personal judgment, even after they have paid their judicially determined debt to society? I say no! We do not punish the majority for the sins of the minority. Do the math.

III. Politicians across the country, with a few exceptions, have not done the hard work of dividing between those offenders likely to offend again, and those who will have learned from their mistakes. Formerly this was done by experienced sitting judges. Now it is done by broad-brush legislative fiat. Included in the web of sex offender registration across the country are young people having consensual sex with their (underage) peers. Other offenses which will land you on the registry are the victimless crime of possession of juvenile pornography, lapses of judgment such as physical groping of another or exposing oneself. Now I do not defend any of these behaviors, but a just country should weed these offenses out of a list which will cause a restriction on where one can reside, if such a restriction is to have any legitimacy. Do the math.

IV. I see that you do not touch the red herring of repeat offender statistics. Keep in mind that "while figures don't lie, liars can figure". Lots of numbers are thrown around by politicians and their supporters wanting to put the screws on offenders, but sources are never given. Check out the Bureau of Justice Statistics at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/rsorp94.htm If you don't agree with me that the numbers there argue for less restrictive legislation, note that the study was done on serious offenders, not the broad-brush classifications that make up the half million citizens currently registered as sex offenders. Do the math.

When you talk about registered sex offenders, watch what you say. They are a diverse group. Contrary to popular belief, they are not all pedophiles. Some I would not care to knowingly be around. Others are people like my son, who you would be proud to be a friend to. Yes, my son is a registered sex offender. I stand by him in the progress he has made since his offense. In time I expect him to marry and have a family.

Yes, registered sex offenders have families, too. When you propose to restrict where a former offender can live, by extension you restrict where his or her family can live. Now you are not talking just about half a million people, you potentially are talking about a million and a half people affected by residency restrictions. Let's not go down that road. We are a country with better judgment than that.

Lord help us!! Another bigot!! Let me see another I believe everything I hear in the media redneck.

This site should not be called Pardon my English it should be called Pardon my Stupidity.

I don’t expect you to climb down from Mount Olympus and look into the facts before you shoot off that big mouth. Obviously that’s beneath a Web God like you. But if you did you would learn a few things about Sex Offenders.

First you might be surprised what can get you classified as a Sex Offender. You know like those sick SOB’s like John Couey?

I’m going couch this in the “Your know you’re a Redneck if” style so you can understand it.

If you ever took a bio break by the roadside and someone saw you! You would be registered as a Sex Offender.

That girlfriend you had sex with when you were 18 and she was 16. The one you broke up with? Well had she told her Mother about it? You would be registered as a sex offender.

Even you will like this one Bubba!!

If you were the old fart in the nursing home that accidentally grabbed a breast instead of a hip for that dance. You would be registered as a sex offender.

If you were accused of being a sex offender and were proven innocent? You would be registered as a sex offender.

If you went through a nasty divorce and your wife accused you of molesting your son or daughter and your attorney told you to take a plea or you may spend 10 years in the state pen. You would be registered as a Sex Offender.

You see many of those 500,000 plus sex offenders in the US never touched a child and many that did probably never will again. You see only about 6% of registered sex offenders re-offend after 3 years. (That is the second lowest group as compared to all others by the way.)(Get someone to explain the math to you because you will run out of fingers and no one wants you to take off your shoes and socks!) and less than 1% are sick monsters like John Couey.

Fortunately, at least for now, common sense will prevail and the rights of every citizen will be protected from the I believe everything I hear in the media rednecks like you.

Thank God for the ACLU it protects us from people like you!!!

The current banishments going on in this Nation of rehabilitated former sex offenders and their families is an Atrocity. America should be ashamed of itself. I realize most of society can't really help it as they have been taught to be closed minded. You not only listen to but also believe everything you hear on the news and read in the news.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice states the recidivism rate of sex offenders is 3.3%. Are any of you aware of the fact that 95% of sex offenses occur by someone known to the child? Stranger danger is actually around 1% of child sexual offenses. You are allowing the media to take these offenses and pound them into your heads making you THINK there is stranger danger. To date the registries have not prevented on single offense. They will never prevent an offense. You think that by banishing sex offenders from your neighborhood will save your children. All this will do is give you a false sense of security. You will be lax in supervising your children and that is when the true predator will come from any area they wish and grab your child. The responsibility to supervise your child is yours. It doesn't belong to a website or law enforcement. Think about the 4 high profile cases of this year. All of the alledged abusers were registered sex offenders, yet nothing saved those children.

The original intent of the registry was for VIOLENT SEXUAL PREDATORS! Not the teen consensual sex, incest, streaking, skinny dipping, public urination, the 18 year old who was lied to about the other partners age and the many other absurd cases on the registry. Most of these involve no abuse at all. The incest cases would be much better served with Family therapy as well as extensive therapy for the offender. This will not only make a healthy family, but will also ensure a child doesn't feel guilty because that family member is in jail. Children have these feelings and you can't make these feelings go away. Healthy therapy for the entire family would be a much better way to handle these situations.

Most of the time the victim of the former rehabilitated sex offender is one (or more) of their own children. By the parent's inclusion on the registry, the attending ridicule being extended to the child by its peers has caused further harm to the victim in the case. Newly empassioned politicians who are banning SO's from residency within their local jurisdictions are blithely overlooking this point, fully aware of the fact that their breast-beating will garner votes as champions of families' safety. These votes are coming more at the expense of the offender's family than the purportedly desired effect of protecting the public.

The main thing you need to realize is how easily the next person on the registry could be you. All it takes is an accusation. It doesn't take any evidence. Just he said/she said. You or your loved one could be in this same predicament tomorrow. Will you feel the same then about these registries?