Defending the indefensible? Plea to clean sex offender registry

11-2-2012 Texas:

More registered sex offenders live in Bexar County than in all but three other counties in the state, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The overwhelming majority of registrants will spend the rest of their lives wearing this scarlet letter: obligated to check in with law enforcement, and put on a publicly accessible website run by DPS.

In the eyes of society, it's indefensible to defend a sex offender. But Mary Sue Molnar hopes to change your mind.

The San Antonio mother of two is the executive director of Texas Voices For Reason and Justice, an advocacy watchdog for non-violent sex offenders in the state.

“What I do... it's certainly not popular. And it's not understood," Molnar said.

Molnar launched the controversial campaign five years ago after her then-22-year-old son was convicted of a sex offense for a relationship with a 16-year-old. He was sentenced to prison and put on the sex offender registry.

“This is messed up. These laws are messed up,” Molnar adamantly stated. “A lot of these people who are on this registry for life would never hurt anyone."

Molnar argues that the registry -- created in 1991 -- gives the public a false sense of security. As of October 23, DPS reports 72,761 active registered sex offenders in Texas.

"I can type in a zip code and come up with 200 sex offenders in that zip code. I have no idea if someone should be watchful, or if somebody made a dumb mistake 20 years ago,” Molnar said. “Law enforcement cannot keep up with this growing registry. If they would focus on the few who are most likely to re-offend, then we might have something here.”

Instead, those on the register express fear, shame and scorn, well aware they’re branded by the majority of society as “the worst of the worst.”

“They see it and think that you're some sort of monster," said "Paul," a registered sex offender. Paul is now in his late 30s and asked that we conceal his ...continued... by Jeff Goldblatt