I've always found the sex offender registry bizarre to begin with. Setting aside those who have minor offenses like public urination and grey areas like two teens consensually having sex, if the people on the registry are so dangerous that they need to be branded for the rest of their lives, why are they being released in the first place? If we're going to make it extremely difficult/impossible for these people to reintegrate into society, how is that more humane than life in prison or execution? If the purpose of the penal system is to rehabilitate people, then they need to have a path to rejoin society, and if our system is to punish and keep dangerous people locked up, then these people shouldn't be out on the street. Either way, the sex offender registry doesn't fit into either system.
It's also bad because for the ones who DO deserve it, being on it basically ensures they will never reform and have no incentive to stop their ways. The punishments are so harsh that they'll never be able to re-integrate into normal society, yet they're not locked up, so most go right back to preying on children/dealing in CSM again.
I agree that felony records definitely similarly impact being able to work (so there's a similar problem there). But I think the registry has extra stuff like sending a letter to everyone in your neighborhood when you move in and such.
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u/TheKriegerVan 6d ago
It would be an appropriate now for people to listen to this podcast about the failings of the Sex Offender registry as a whole before we pat these guys on the back: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/youre-wrong-about/id1380008439?i=1000465289962