ratbandit

Again, the general public just isn't that well informed about sex offenders.

As someone who grew up with a parent who was a sex offender, yes, the public is very well informed, thanks to those wonderful lists that also posted our fucking home address for 20 years straight.

Sorry but some of this response kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

I do believe we must look at our culture to understand why we have such an incarceration rate.

The drug war, corrupt cops, corrupt judges, corrupt prosecutors. It's not really about culture.

the actual high rate of crime we face in the United States

The crime rate that's been on a steady decline for 20+ years?

Aren't most (child) sex offenders related to the children they abuse or already know the children the abuse? How exactly does a list help people protect their children exactly? And isn't the mother of the girl that Megan's law was named after now against registry lists (I could be mistaken on that point, but I do remember reading about her)?

I know you're not responsible for this stuff and whatnot, but I have yet to see a valid reason for giving out the home address, recent picture, detailed description, etc of sex offenders.

But I also realize some of the potential

Definitely interested in hearing what benefits you think the list has.

I'm not pretending they're the sole factor but hey I appreciate the assumptions.

There's no denying that there are way more people in prison right now than need to be because of the 'drug war'.