Question of the day: Would a registry of convicted violent offenders like John White increase the public's safety?

11-3-2012 Michigan:

While police continue to investigate the slaying of 24-year-old Rebekah J. Gay, would a registry of violent criminal offenders provide greater safety to the public?

Gay, a Mount Pleasant mother of a 3-year-old boy, was reported missing about noon Wednesday, Oct. 31. Investigators found her body Thursday, Nov. 1, in a ditch near Pickard and Coldwater, where 55-year-old John Douglas White told police to look.

White, who previously worked as a pastor, has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder and an open count of murder in connection with Gay's death. According to court records, White told police he had been thinking about killing Gay, whom he lived near in the same trailer park, for some time. 

White told police that the morning of Halloween, he drank a few beers, then went to Gay's trailer, hit her over the head with a rubber mallet, strangled her with a zip tie and undressed her. He also told investigators he watched pornography depicting acts of necrophilia before committing the slaying, court records show.

This is not White's first run-in with the law. In 1994, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Kalamazoo County in connection with the disappearance of 26-year-old Vicky Sue Wall. A judge sentenced White to eight to 15 years in prison.

In 1981, White pleaded no contest to a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm for stabbing a woman in Calhoun County.

 

As White has never been convicted of a sexual offense, he was not on the national or state sex offender registry. Currently, there is no public registry for other offenses, such as homicide or armed robbery.

Should people who serve time for violent offenses be placed on some sort of registry once they're released from prison? On the other hand, if a person has served their time, should they be released without further requirements? 

Would you feel more secure knowing violent offenders have to register, and would you check it to see if your area is safe? Do you think having a violent offender registry would cut down on crime or just continue to punish those who have already served their time? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.      

..Source.. by Cole Waterman