Cynthetiq

I find this woman's actions reprehensible. While I'm not a parent, this isn't setting a good example nor is it being a good community leader or member. The fact that she isn't showing any remorse for her actions and is willing to do it again in my mind is just as bad as those repeat offenders. If I were the judge in her case, I'd make sure she served each and every day and every hour she was sentenced.

I agree that there should be some sort of notification for the schools, but the ability for someone to harass another individual for time served is disgusting and reprehensible. Having checked the websites available to me, I know that there is a Level 3 sex offender that lives 3 floors above me. Our community asked the Board of Directors and management office to notify all the parents that this "animal" was released from prison and moved back into the community after serving almost 20 years for his crimes.

When requested to do something I instructed them that we would be harassing the individual who is living the life of a paroled private citizen. He's following the requirements by registering and that's about all we could do.

As I've explained that I've done nothing to this individual.

What would you do?

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Glory's Sun

This is a difficult one.. I mean the guy has served his time and paid his dues..but he is a level 3. Knowing that offenders often use some sort of tool to groom their victims (giving her fireworks) I could see how the mother would be provoked to do something...however she did the wrong thing in this case.

First thing she should have done was to call the sheriff's department, and then the parole officer to notify them that he was in her yard offering her child fireworks. The laws vary greatly by state, but I'm sure they wouldn't want a level 3 offender in someone's yard..much less someone's yard with children.

Granted.. if I found a level 3 talking to my kids I would probably call the police..but I can't promise I would do that. If I thought the offender was trying to molest my children..I'd gladly spend a few months or longer in jail.

cdwonderful

that is just wrong. I can understand caution but that is just wrong....

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dippin

I am against sex offender lists. If someone is likely to do it again, then either dont release them or keep them at a mental facility.

There is no surer way to guarantee someone is going to live a life of crime than to make him or her a pariah.

Xerxys

The mothers actions were wrong. I agree with Cyn ....

But he is a level 3 and he WAS talking to a minor. Common sense means stay away from peoples children at all costs. I dont think I'd have the attitude the lady had, but Cyn, I think what she was doing was sending a message to the dude .... coz I would do the same.

Besides, the sex offender label has lost meaning in protecting our children anyway ... another thread, I guess.

cdwonderful

don't think it was the message that is at fault , only the delivery of same.

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mixedmedia

It says he was talking to the minor 'the previous summer.' Am I reading that right? A whole year had gone by without her kid being molested? The woman is an idiot and a disgrace.

What he is is irrelevant.

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ngdawg

Nah, I think she was sentenced just now for the assault after he was talking to her kid last summer.

This guy she hit was a level 3, which is defined as "moderately to highly likely to re-offend."


Honestly, I don't know how I'd react if I saw a convicted and registered sex offender talking to my child. I got angry enough that we had one living around the corner and we weren't notified. I understand her motivation, just not sure I'd start swinging; I know I'd start screaming and cussing, though. I'm rather good at that.

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cdwonderful

that would be a lot better than going to jail , I think

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mixedmedia

Well then the wording is confusing. It makes it sound like it was the summer previous to the summer she attacked him. I read another article about the case and it also uses the same phrase - she recognized him from the flyer as the man who was speaking to her child 'the previous summer.' If the beating and arrest happened last summer, then the previous summer would have been the year before...

But whatever. I don't understand a provocation to violence over something like this and her attitude about it is even more ridiculous. Three months sounds perfectly reasonable.

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PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

Slims

I think I hear the worlds smallest violin playing just for him.


If the guy is a no shit child molester then I would want him out of my neighborhood. While I think that woman was an idiot for going about it the way she did, I fully support letting that sort of person know they may not meet a nice end if they become overly friendly with the local children.

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ASU2003

The way I understand it was that he might have been visiting his uncle the summer before, but nobody was informed that he was on the sex offender list because he hadn't moved there. Then when he moved, the deputies handed out the flyers, but she remembered it was him because there aren't too many people that tall.

What she did might not be right, but I understand where she was coming from.

The better fix would be to figure out what causes people to become sex offeners and commit crimes before ruining their life for doing something bad.

ngdawg

Oops. I read it wrong, so I correct my previous erroneous correction.

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Rekna

She should have to registers as a sex offender offender....

mikec

The article doesn't make complete sense to me either...maybe like ASU2003 said, he was visiting the previous year, and then moved in a year later.

as ngdawg said, level 3 is typically defined as an offender who has been determined to be a high risk of re-offending. So the real topic to debate isn't so much about the woman, it's more about, why the FUCK do sick fucks like this get let out into the world, into our communities, when they're high risk?

Sex offenders are not wired right. I'm no expert, but from all I've gathered on the subject, most pros think that there is no curing them. They might [MIGHT!] be able to try to control their urges, but the fact remains that the urges remain - whether it's rape or fucking with little kids...They might do their time, but let's face it, rehabilitation is pretty much non-existent...jail is punishment, not rehabilitation. If anything, people come out of jail with more connections than when they went in.

And let's not talk about how drug dealers get more jail time than sex offenders....definitely a different subject, but shortly, it's crazy that people who rob innocence and trust spend less time in Jail than people who sell shit to other people who are asking for it..Let's put it this way - I'd rather have a convicted drug dealer in the neighborhood than a convicted sex offender.

As the father of 3 girls, if I knew a sick fuck was living in my neighborhood, and chatting up the little kids - well I'd probably go to jail too...you know, if the dude was just minding his business that's one thing...maybe it could be possible to try and let the guy live his life. Maybe

Why not definite? Well, it's hard, because you can let these people live their lives, and not interfere, and maybe they're OK for years. Just quiet Charlie minding his business, he won't bother anybody. Then one day, your kid doesn't come home from the bus, or from out playing with their friends, and next thing you know she's found dead, beaten and raped a week after she went missing, and as it turns out, it's that supposedly "rehabilitated" convicted sex offender who lives around the corner whose semen is found in her tiny womb... Then what do you do?? Maybe that seems dramatic, but it HAS HAPPENED and WILL HAPPEN AGAIN! Question is, if you KNOW someone has a history of this type of behavior, do you sit back and do nothing, and wait for it to happen again?

Back to the story, if this mofo is bold enough to be chatting ANY little kids, AND offering them any type of gift (fireworks??????) he's clearly demonstrating that he's not rehabilitated. So what do you do? Let it slide...NO...Call the cops - who will possibly give him a talking to, but in the end, do nothing? Or do you send the message yourself? hmmmmm

I could go on and on - I just cannot imagine what I would do if someone did something terrible to one of my girls.

Some might think my views are whacked...I have a lot of tolerance for a lot of things, but there are certain things which are completely intolerable....murderers, rapists, child molesters - kill them. Period. They are not going to serve any use to society except to terrorize. Who needs it? We haven't had a good plague in a long time, and the world needs some cleaning out. Why not start with the scum of the earth?

I can't believe how much time I spent on this reply - clearly I'm passionate about the subject, because if something heinous were to happen to any of my girls at the hands of one of these fuckers, I'm pretty confident I would go insane with grief and anger, and would gladly do life in prison to get to that bastard before the cops. Jail would not be punishment enough. I'm hoping from my comments that those of you who think the mom was in the wrong might at least be able to see why she did what she did. I'm not sure if you can understand if you don't have kids. I know that sounds so cliche...but trust me, the love you feel for your child far exceeds the love you could possibly feel for anyone else, friends, parents, lovers...and the idea of some piece of shit tearing apart your greatest love in life.......hopefully you get the picture.

Peace!!

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SSJTWIZTA

you would be surprised how many people have the "sex offender" title that dont deserve it.

thats all i have to say without reading anything. ill come back when i sober up.

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dippin

Yes. After reading this article I went to check sex offenders in my zip code. My state doesn't differentiate by levels, so it's all one thing. So in this list there are about 5 child molesters, 1 rapist, one guy caught with child pornography, etc. Tossed in the middle of these guys are two guys who are 21 now. They were convicted when they were 19 . The crime? Statutory rape. Now, I dont know the ages of the girls they had sex with, but given that the age of consent is 16, it is quite possible that these guys were 18 or 19 year olds who had sex with a 15 year old and are now forced to register as a sex offender for life, being grouped with the 46 year old guy convicted of aggravated child molestation.

If someone is likely or very likely to commit another crime, then by all means put them in a mental facility for life, if needed be. Giving someone freedom but making them a pariah increases the likelihood of relapse, simply put.

MacGuyver

This is absolutely awesome. The fact that this lady had the balls to go beat a 7'fucking3" criminal with a baseball bat is pretty sweet. The fact that she is on her high horse and doesn't give a shit that she'll be punished is even better. Now, don't get me wrong here. Those are my first thoughts. The awesome part is the sheer act and manner of the situation, removed from the fact that the guy was a former sex offender. Not awesome in a good way necessarily, but awesome in the literal definition, as in I am in awe of what this woman did. Now, I'm not saying it's morally right at all, and it's not really my place to make a moral judgment. In fact, it's probably not the best way to go about things, you can report it to the police, etc. But nope, she beat up a huge dude with a baseball bat. Amazing.

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mixedmedia

My kids were molested. I do not 'see why she did what she did.' Sometimes imagining how you would react to a situation is far different than you actually react to it. In my experience, and I have talked to quite a few other parents of molested children, this kind of anger and outrage is largely reserved for people whose kids have not been molested. Or, I imagine, people who already have a tendency towards anger and/or violence.

I do understand your point about recidivism and jail terms. I think we need to do more to determine which sex offenders are truly dangerous and keep them institutionalized - no, there is no reforming true pedophiles...and currently our justice systems do not recognize a 'pedophile' (as a psychological condition) amongst other offenders.

And the man who molested my children received 20 years (for a first offense), certainly not a light sentence. Murderers have gotten lighter sentences in this state since he was sentenced. But Florida is one of the better states for recognizing the particular threat of recidivism in sex crimes. Of course, it was a lesson learned hard...

---------- Post added at 07:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:29 AM ----------

While I was walking my dog, I realized that this story and the subsequent discussion about it reminds me of another story and the discussion I had with some people at another place. It was about this man in Texas who was being sued by a group of illegal immigrants for holding them at gunpoint and threatening to shoot them and sic his dog them. I wandered into the conversation in the midst of a praise-fest about what a hero this was guy was and how outrageous it was that these illegal immigrants were being allowed to sue him. But with a little research it became obvious that this guy was a verifiable nut with a history of erratic behavior and was successfully sued by a family in his town for false imprisonment. I'll bet a dollar on a dime that this woman is a nut with a tendency to react to stress with anger...and under almost any other circumstances she would be reviled for acting out with violence. I really see no sense in glorifying a person like that.

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Baraka_Guru

mixedmedia, thanks for sharing.

I agree with you completely.

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mixedmedia

Thank you, Baraka.

I just want to share one more thing that I think is important to remember.

Even with all of the sex offenders roaming our streets, that collective 'other,' we should all keep in mind that our children run a much higher risk of being harmed and/or molested by a member of their own family.

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PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

kramus

A sex offender chats up my step-kids, I will step into his/her personal space. I will speak to them with clarity and intensity. They will have absolutely no way of mis-understanding that if there is any hankypanky they will be scrubbed against the nearest brick wall. By scrubbed I mean they will see the results of my displeasure in the mirror every morning for the rest of their lives. No problems and no confrontations unless something gets started - however I don't care if they get upset because I am aware of their sick-shit history. I will not talk to them unless they talk to my kids. Then it opens up a little.

Any sex offender will also know that it is ok to live in the community, but if they want to chat up a kid or offer a kid some little gift, I will be calling on them to repeat my message. If I see them while I'm out with the young ones, I will stop and point him/her out to the kids, and repeat any warnings the kids will already have heard. This is done with clarity and focus. I want any offender to know that the kids are out of bounds. If an offender feels unwelcome in the neighbourhood, or worries that their societal debt payment is unrecognized, tough shit. He can move to some stag location such as a lumber-camp or mine, and do missionary work among the adult males who live there.

I think it is a bit like knowing there is a dangerous animal living in the forest nearby, or finding out about some toxic site which could be attractive to children. I don't need to take a baseball bat to anybody until shit goes down. I do need to let any twisted fucks in the neighbourhood know that I am a seriously intense fellow when it comes to the young ones in my care.

Live where you want. Stay away from the kids.

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Glory's Sun

I'm the first one who will agree with most that the registry is a joke and probably does more harm than good.. I'll also agree that in most cases the chances of molestation are greater from a family member. I have no problems with them living where they want (within the rules of the registry) but I have to take some exception when they are chatting up kids and offering gifts. Even more so when that person is a level 3. In most cases, a person only gets a level 3 tag when they've re-offended or they've been evaluated by a shrink and that person has been determined to be highly likely to re-offend. This is where as a parent I have to step in and make it clear (like Kramus) that he has no business chatting up children or being in other people's yard.

Some of this blame goes to the sex offender as well.. I mean how stupid does one have to be to go into someone else's yard and offer their kids fireworks or chat them up, when they have a level 3 tag? Maybe it was an innocent gesture, maybe it was a grooming technique... either way.. I'm not going to just ignore that kind of contact and let the fact that he has served his time get in the way of me making sure that he understands to never step foot in my yard again.

genuinegirly

I have no children. I do not interact with children on a daily basis.
I can't make decisions about what to do with a former child molester who has served his/her time.
As a general rule I'd rather not harass people who have served their time and are trying to live a quiet life.

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SabrinaFair

I'm not a parent, so my opinion on this is that of a single childless woman who has no kids in her day-to-day life.

I understand parent's concerns over living near registered sex offenders. However, I feel that these registries almost create a false sense of security--it allows parents to focus their suspicion on a single person rather than the world at large. I personally would be wary of *anyone* unknown to me talking to my child. I obviously wouldn't go after them with a baseball bat, but I would be naturally suspicious. Children should be taught to be on awares with all strangers, not just those on a registry. Not all sex offenders are convicted--I don't want to even venture a guess as to how underreported a crime child molestation is.

This woman's actions are not justified, obviously. She had many other options, none of which involving an assault charge.

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MSD

"Well, there's a good chance he'll do it again, but let's let him go anyway."

The sex offender registry is a perfect example of what's wrong with our justice system.

Xazy

This is hard for me, I do not agree with what is being done, but I think that sex offenders, well actually even more pedophiles can not be cured. You can send them to jail, you can castrate them if it was allowed, but they would still touch a child after, since they feel they are teaching, helping the child. They are wired very different and that is the problem.

Personally I think the only cure for them is a bullet, but that is not what the law allows. I think she deserves to go to jail. I do also feel she went about it wrong and should first have gone through official channels, and if despite that the man came back I would applaud her actions in defending her child.

mixedmedia

To be clear, I am not advocating doing nothing when a known sex offender has approached your child. Just that there are ways to go about it that don't involve baseball bats.

And just to expand a bit on what Xazy says above, there is a huge difference in recidivism rates between pedophiles and other child molesters. 'Other child molesters' representing a very wide range of offenders, the majority of which do not offend again...the majority of whom are convicted of having consensual sex with teenagers. Yes, check out your local registries if you don't believe me! Rapists have a much higher rate of recidivism than most child molesters because rape is often an obsessive mental preoccupation, much like pedophilia (and pedophilia is not a common disorder). This man was a Level 3 which is definitely more of a threat than the vast majority of men and women who are convicted of child sex crimes, but without knowing the nature of his previous crimes it's hard to say if he is a pedophile. In the article he is called simply a 'sex offender.' Perhaps other articles could illuminate more details about his past, but he is not necessarily a pedophile.

And the point of saying all that is, I think people react too quickly when the words 'sex offender' and 'child molester' start getting thrown around. It's really easy to fall into the 'lynch mob' mentality. Just slow down.

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gardens

While I don't agree with what the mother did and believe that she should be locked up for longer then three months, I can understand the feeling, acting on it however is wrong if she had gone to the police she could have got him locked up again

I believe that if they have such a strong belief that any proven child molester will rape another child then they need to keep them in prison

the idea of branding people for life disgusts me either they have served their time and are now "free" or they should not be out of prison

The_Jazz

Huh. Stupid people do stupid things. Happens all the time.

I have two kids. I would not strike a known sex offender who spoke to them. I would watch the interaction to make sure it was appropriate and make sure that my boys understand that they are never to be alone with that individual. That's about it. If they touch my child inappropriately in front of me, I might strike them, but that's neither assualt nor battery.

In other words, she's a moron, the law's a failure and, if I remember the last really heated discussion on this particular topic from about three years ago, MM is right that analog is an asshole. (just to resurrect the dead)

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mixedmedia

doh

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PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

FelixP

We have at least five sex offenders in my neighborhood, and we get one or two more every year; they really come and go. I'm not a parent, but if a sex offender was talking to my little brother without supervision, I wouldn't beat is ass with a bat. I'd beat the shit out of him barefisted and then sodomize him with the bat.

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uncle phil

damn, you do bring up some interesting memories...

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mixedmedia

And this makes you what?

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settie

I agree with you.
Someday, maybe there will be a better method.

I have no children, but the most I can share is a personal experience from my own childhood.
There was a registered sex offender or two close to my elementary school when I was a kid, and we weren't scared at all that they were close, we were scared of the enormous bear-like dog that got free and roamed our parking lot/playground! lol

Sometimes nothing shows your fear better than anger. And fear is a powerful tool to manipulate.

I think that if I saw my hypothetical child close to or talking to a sex offender, or a strange adult in general, I would approach, and join the conversation. Instead of death threats, I'd keep a serious tone once the child had stepped away, and let them know that I was uncomfortable with them talking to my child.

Maybe that's naive, but I would rather point it out than cover it up with threats and such.
I tend to tell it like it is, regardless of the subject.

My mom taught me as a young child who was unsupervised at times, what to do, what to look for, and just typical street smarts. I was no dumb child, do parents today not do this? I don't know.

Psycho Dad

I doubt the woman did much damage to a 7 foot tall man, and I'd feel little pity for him if she did. Of course she was wrong to hammer away with the bat, but...

I've had sex offenders in my neighborhood. Directly across the street in fact. There was also another guy that while not a registered offender (or even offender to anyone's knowledge) I had uneasy feelings about. What worked was keeping an eye on my kids and explaining to them why I had concerns about these people and what it could mean for their safety. While I don't know that I would go ape with a ball bat, this approach or the fact that these guys weren't a threat never gave cause to have to decide if violence was the action I would take.

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Terrell

I agree with this. I'm reminded of the story in Miami where the sex offenders have to live under a bridge, because it's illegal for them to live anywhere else.

Besides, the offenses that the sex offender list should contain, (not the frivilous bullshit that some are put on it for) should carry life without parole.

Quite frankly I'd rather see the thing done away with, and send rapists/molesters to prison for the rest of their lives. Just make sure you take steps necessary to only convict the guilty.

I have to agree with this (Mixedmedia pointed this out too), since all they say is sex offender that's likely to reoffend, we really don't know what the man was convicted of. Public urination in some states can get you the "sex offender" label.

If he were indeed a child molester, they shouldn't have let him out of prison in the first place, however that does not justify, or allow me to condone in any way the woman's actions.

Since she sought him at his home, and attacked him with a baseball bat, why was she not charged with aggravated assault at the very least, if not attempted murder? She did attack a man using a weapon, in a situation that cannot be deemed self-defense or defense of others from immediate physical danger. The child in this instance was not in immediate danger, so regardless of the mother's feelings, she had no right to attack that man.

If it's true that he did actually talk to her daughter, then she should have reported it to the police and the police or his PO should have violated his parole and sent him back to prison.

I'm not inclined to believe the woman, without some evidence (other than her testimony) that he did indeed talk to her child (if I understand the article correctly 1 year before the assault). She has motive to lie, and it's an easy lie to believe without question. If she had attacked him while he molesting her child, I would have a totally different view of the whole thing.

Glory's Sun

SO then you'd be in prison for quite a while getting American History X'd everyday. Nice piece of thinking.



Perhaps, you should do as MM as already said and search out to what their exact crime was. Without starting the whole "there are many people who are innocent and shouldn't be on a list" subject.. the fact remains that half the people who are on the list shouldn't be. Sex Offender != Pedophile. Even if it was a pedophile, if the person was just talking to your little brother, you could at the very least call the sherriff, and then take your brother inside the house. Tell the person to leave your brother alone and let the people who deal with these type of people everyday handle it. There's no sense in getting yourself into prison over an act of talking. Now if other things happened, I could understand your position but it would take quite a bit more than talking to get me to that point..

MSD

What a levelheaded, rational response.

levite

Another +1 kudos to mixedmedia.

I think that this woman's actions were despicable. Had, God forbid, her kids actually been molested, and in the heat of the moment of finding out, she had gone after the guy with the bat, I would have understood.

And I certainly think that since he is a level-3 offender, she should have clearly and unequivocally told him never to speak to her kids again, she should have notified the police that he was speaking to her children, and she should have warned her kids about the guy.

But I'm sorry, a person is innocent until proven guilty. And once they have completed their sentence for a crime, they become innocent until proven guilty again. If you're suspicious of someone, call the cops. But nobody has the right to beat up ex-cons-- no matter what their crime was, or how heinous-- just because they think that what the person once did was awful. That's why we have a justice system.

Yes, child abuse is awful, inexcusable, horrendous, and unforgivable. We all know this, we all agree on it. But the equal protection clause applies to everyone. If a person has gone to prison and served their time, and been let out on legal parole, and is keeping to that legal parole, then there is no cause for attacking them. Doing so-- especially in the absence of any evidence of criminal activity-- is just insanely paranoid, and a gross violation of the ex-con's civil rights.

Rehabilitation may be next to impossible for such people, but we have to let them try.

__________________
Dull sublunary lovers love,
Whose soul is sense, cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
That thing which elemented it.

(From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)