MI- Sex offender list: Too close to home

2-16-2009 Michigan:

I was reading an article about sex offenders when I decided to go where I had never gone before: to the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry.

A few moments of pause, a few questions ("Do you really want to do this, Oneita?") and a few mouse clicks later, I am staring at a face I know.

Oh, my.

That made me very uncomfortable -- too much information.

The idea of a sex offender registry has always made me uncomfortable. It's public information, yes, but do I need it?

I am responsible for my child and for me, and I am not convinced that knowing a person is on a list -- or not -- will make me feel safer or empowered. It shouldn't change my behavior or how I respond to people, should it? "Hey, I saw you on the registry yesterday! You stayin' outta trouble?"

The New York Times article, "Effort to track sex offenders draws resistance," addressed an issue I have with the registry: It is too broad. "There are also concerns that the law does not take into account the individual circumstances of each sex offender, including the likelihood of committing more crimes," the article said.

"Instead, it lumps all offenders into broad levels of dangerousness based on the crime for which they were convicted, allowing, the law's critics say, the worst offenders to blend in with less threatening ones."

Even the State of Michigan Web site addresses the conflict in a question about offenders who visit libraries. "It is clear that not every person that appears on the PSOR database is a sexual predator," it reads. "Indeed, the people whose names appear on the PSOR list have the same rights and freedoms as everyone else for the most part, subject to any terms of their probation or parole."

After reading the article and checking to see if I knew any more people -- there are so many offenders! -- Oneita the Conflicted asked around for more opinions.

"Kill them all," an older friend said.

"Your issue is that it's at your doorstep now," said my brother, who has no children and no strong feelings about the registry. "Think about it. The information has always been available, but who was going into their downtowns to get it?"

If he had children, my brother said, he would check the registry often.

The fellas at the barbershop agreed: "Yeah, we need to know!"

I told them I was conflicted.

One of the fellas said it didn't matter to me because I have a son. "Oh, yes, it does!" I said. "I have to focus on the other side, so he won't end up on the registry!"

I stopped by a hair salon to ask a girlfriend.

"Oneita, you only know that person casually," she said of the face I recognized. "But what if he was trying to be friendly with you or to date you and you pulled up that info and saw him there?"

"Now that," Oneita the Still Conflicted told her, "would be different." ..News Source.. by ONEITA JACKSON