Easy Being Green?
Mar 14th, 2007 by Amanda
Randy Thomas has an interesting post up about the new proposal that sex offenders must have green license plates in order for them to be easily identified.
Personally, I think it’s a bad idea. I agree with the response of Bob Van Domelen that Randy posted.
Green License Plates
Bob Van DomelenAs one who might be affected by a recent proposal that Wisconsin institutes special green license plates for sex offenders (being convicted of a 1st degree assault in 1986), I am obviously a bit distressed.
Before any other personal feelings are expressed, let me share that:
· The majority of offenders will not likely molest children they don’t know
· All current legislation that deals with living restrictions (1000-foot rules, etc) is somewhat misguided because of the presumption that all molesters are drawn to be where children are
· There is already an internet sex offender registry in place that will be increased to a national scale through the Adam Walsh Child Safety and Protection Act of 2007 so the public can know the location of an offender’s home.
My current correspondence with hundreds of offenders around the country tells me that offenders fear getting out of prison because there is absolutely no support available to most of them (including church support). These are men who, like me, acknowledge what they have done and are actively pursuing treatment programs to deal with issues that encouraged abuse in the first place. As they read the paper or see the news, some of them are asking “What’s the use of trying to change? People won’t let me change.”
When offenders are released from prison, the presumption of the public is that it is the same individual coming out of prison as the one who was arrested x-number of years earlier—no change, no relapse prevention in place, no desire other than to molest more kids. State mandated programs are determined ineffectual by a public not even aware of the components of those programs.
…
The green license proposal encourages open and justified hostility against not only an offender driving a car so marked, but also anyone else who might be driving that car or in it as a passenger. “We will do what it takes to protect our kids,” stated the Wisconsin bill’s author. The proposal invites damage done to the car and to the offender’s property simply because it has a green license plate. “We will do what it takes to protect our kids.” The proposal blankets levels of offenders who have never physically acted out against children—internet porn, adult rape, and juvenile offenses. “We will do what it takes to protect our kids.”
Personally, I struggle because those who know nothing of my life for the past twenty years are willing to reduce it to a green license plate. At the same time, I know that my concerns must go beyond me, whether or not I will be directly affected. Change is possible—a deep relationship with the Lord assures if not the desire to change then the conviction that my life needs adjusting—and that is the message of hope and encouragement I have offered repeatedly in places all over the country. I do pray for the peace that surpasses all understanding but I am also reminded of John 14.27.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
There are no easy solutions for a society seeking to deal with crimes against its children nor would I expect them to be found. But as one who has been on both sides of this issue I cannot help but think we are in the wrong direction with answers like green license plates. I can only pray that common sense will prevail.
I love Randy’s immediate response:
I will honestly say that if I didn’t know Bob, and more importantly Jesus, I would agree with what one pundit said last night on some cable news show, “…if it were up to me I would stick their head’s in green paint!…” Bob humanizes the issue for me and Jesus reminds me that He probably wouldn’t dunk people’s heads in paint. In fact, His head wore a crown of thorns as part of His redemption of sin. Instead of humiliating us He saved us.
Randy still ends conflicted, which is understandable. But I think we need to humanize the issue. People who have been convicted of sex offenses are not “sex offenders.” They are people. Human beings. I’m not better than any of them. Neither are you.
How many of you read The Scarlet Letter in high school and were horrified that Hester was forced to be branded for her offense? These license plates are nothing more than a scarlet green letter.
I know a better way to be able to identify sex offenders especially if their victims
are young children. Give them free room and board for life. Then you will
always know where they are and they will destroy no more lives.
I understand wanting to issue pink license plates for repeat DUI offenders, but how is having a green license plate going to prevent someone from abusing a child. For those folks who desire to do that, they’ll find a way around it.
My understanding is that it isn’t intended to prevent abuse. It’s just to let everyone around them know that they’ve been convicted of being a sex offender.
Isn’t there a “cruel and unusual punishment” statute somewhere in American law? I’d suspect that it would apply here.
Wow… that’s a tad bit too harsh. It does go beyond the line of cruel and unusual.
There are already ways to find out who’s a sexual offender in your area.
There are websites one can go into, all you need to do is type in your zip code and voila… you get a list of people within a 20-30 mile radius, their offense AND their picture.
Or you could go into the local police department and simply ask for a list. They do give them out if someone asks, like a concerned parent who just moved into the area.
But it’s not right that they should be “tagged”. It’s like a permanent mark against them. Yeah I can see why a parent would be concerned… but this is just over the top.
Parents should be able to just tell their kids to be careful rather than just putting all (past/present) offenders in a hole they can’t get out of.
We might as well put a target on their backs for all the good that’ll do.
I share the disgust for the actions of sex offenders, but I am equally disgusted by the hate that so-called tolerant law makers have for these offenders. Harming children is the only taboo we have left and these criminals are the only outlet for “moral outrage” left for people whose only morality is tolerance. So they pursue it with vigor. Unfortunately, legislators who vote against this travesty would be seen as not tough on crime.
Green license plates taint everything they touch from the places where they do business to residences they visit. Would a cautious parent go to a zoo or amusement park where a car with a green plate was parked? How would neighbors react to those who allowed that vehicle in front of their house?
Frankly, I agree with those who would put child molesters in prison for life. The crime is that serious and the victim NEVER forgets.
My understanding is that it isn’t intended to prevent abuse.
Amanda, I’m not sure that’s so. I think some of the (faulty) reasoning behind it was that people could spot the plates around schools or around their neighborhoods.
Even if it’s not supposed to be about targeting for harassment, that’s what it will end up being. All because some politican found a new way to prove that he is “protecting” his constituency. The cars sporting these tags will always be vandalized…in driveways, in parking lots, wherever they are parked.
It’s one thing to publish their addresses; most people won’t go up to someone’s house and attack them. But a marked car is just asking for trouble.
If we truly believe that pedophiles cannot be rehabilitated (and there are studies that claim they can’t) then we shouldn’t let them out of institution.
I hate politicans.
Frankly, I agree with those who would put child molesters in prison for life. The crime is that serious and the victim NEVER forgets.
It’s true that the crime is that serious, and probably true that the victim does never forget (absent serious repression). On the other hand, the same is true of someone whose family member is murdered. So why don’t we lock all murderers up for their entire natural life, rather than letting most of them out after a few decades?
We do it because we accept their ability to change. These are people - their criminality is just one aspect of who they are, and an aspect that prisons should ideally work to exorcise or at least modulate.
Prisons should be an institution not of retribution but of transformation - otherwise they are failing. If anything, pigeonholing people as green-platers just makes this effort harder.
Lifewish, it’s rare that you and I agree so completely on something, but here’s an example of one of them.
I think the green plates would get them killed. I am NOT in favor of making someone drive around with an indentifying label any more than I would prescribe that they wear t-shirts with the words “Sex Offender” on them.