Even
if nobody else outside the bishopric knew, I’d known there
were several sex registrants in our ward for a long time.
Running a sex crimes unit for a major west coast police
department, I’d long ago used the facilities mandated by
Megan’s Law to check on all the sex registrants in the suburban
community where I lived. While there was only a smattering
of registrants in my home community, compared to more than
5,000 in the city where I worked — or the 85,000 in the
state — it still startled me to find three of them to be
fellow ward members.
For
those unfamiliar with the legislation, Megan’s Law is named
after Megan Nicole Kanka, a seven-year-old New Jersey girl
lured into a neighbor’s house, where she was sexually assaulted
and murdered by a twice-convicted child molester. At that
time in 1994, nobody in Megan’s small peaceful township
was aware of the suspect’s background.
Shortly
after the discovery of this shocking crime, New Jersey legislators
mandated public information access regarding convicted sex
offenders who posed a moderate to high risk of re-offending.
Under the federal laws that quickly followed in 1996, it
became compulsory for all fifty states to release information
about known sex offenders when it was necessary for community
safety. These laws, however, did not mandate active
notification — in other words, citizens were still responsible
for requesting the information.
As
other tragic crimes involving re-offending sex criminals
occurred, the laws pertaining to the registration of these
individuals and public notifications continued to evolve.
Unrelated cases involving eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling,
twelve-year-old Polly Klass, six-year-old Adam Walsh, and
others — all abducted, molested, and murdered — enraged
the nation and raised the public’s consciousness regarding
sex offender registration and the presence of these individuals
in almost every community.
Since
the inception of Megan’s Law, state justice departments
and local law enforcement agencies have scrambled to meet
all of the legislated requirements. Today, most states
are in compliance, with those lagging behind facing federal
funding losses. Megan’s Law computers, usually located
at the front desk of local police stations, can be accessed
to run a specific name or a zip code area to obtain sex
registrant information.
Running
a zip code calls up the names and photos of all sex offenders
classified as Serious or High Risk living
within those boundaries. The first time I did this, I spotted
a local scout leader who was quickly removed from having
further contact with youth. This tool should be used by
anyone considering moving into a new neighborhood. In some
states, realtors are required to inform you if they are
aware of sex offenders living in the area. However, it
is far better to check for yourself.
Clearly,
one of the best uses of this system is to run the specific
names of the sports coaches, music teachers, day care providers,
and other individuals who may be spending a lot of time
with your kids when you are not around. This service,
however, is hardly infallible. Not all sex offenders have
been caught and convicted (requirements for registration).
Furthermore, as many as 90% of sex crimes involving child
victims are committed by family, friends, or acquaintances.
Further on we’ll discuss what can be done to minimize this
threat.
The Individuals Around Us
It
was through the use of the Megan’s Law computer at the police
department I first found out about the sex offenders in
my ward. Of the three, two were active members with young
families, and the third an elderly, long-term inactive.
From my position in law enforcement, I was able to check
further and discover the actual crimes committed by the
two active members that required them to register.
Therein
lies my dilemma. While these isolated incidents had occurred
long ago, the criminal cases resolved, and no repeat offenses,
these were still the types of criminals I spent my days
pursuing. I struggled with my interior responses as I interacted
regularly with both active members. I learned one had completed
the process of repentance and had his priesthood restored
(however, it should be noted, the Church would not be calling
him to positions involving the youth). The other was working
hard toward the same goal.
How
could I judge these men? In my secular life, I harshly
judged men (and in some cases women) like them every day.
I arrested them. I sent them to prison. I monitored their
activities after release. Yet, my spiritual interactions
were requiring me to follow the guidance of church leaders
whom I considered inspired by God. If they forgave, if
they restored, how could I not?
The
best I was able to do was to keep my own counsel — to reserve
judgment — and conduct myself in a professional manner.
I could fellowship these individuals, but I did not have
to open my heart to them.
Then
things changed.
Internet Access
Last
year saw a number of changes in the availability of sex
crime offender information. While the computers in the
police stations remain available, much of the information
captured by Megan’s Law has been placed on State Department
of Justice web sites on the Internet.
No
longer do individuals need to actually go to a police station,
provide identification (which was checked to make sure the
person was not a registered sex offender looking to find
other offenders), and receive limited information regarding
a suspect’s residence and crimes. The new Internet sites
provided photos of each convicted felon, a synopsis of the
sex crime(s) they had committed, and — controversially —
an exact address and a map to the sex offender’s home.
Could
this influx of additional information be a bad thing? If
used improperly, yes.
Too Much Information?
The
publicity surrounding the new Internet sites put the news
pundits in a tizzy. The public was repeatedly urged to
get on their computers and check if anyone associated with
their kids — from teachers to weird old uncle Ernie — was
listed as a registered offender.
Although
one of the offenders in my ward was not on the Internet
listings due to the minor nature of his crime, the other
active member was listed — mug shot-style photo and all.
It didn’t take long before the ward gossip started and his
wife and children (from youngsters to early teens) became
the targets of barbed comments regarding something that
happened almost two decades earlier.
Did
the family know? Did they not know? It’s almost certain
the kids didn’t know. Yet how was it that Church members
thought it incumbent upon themselves to show their disdain
for the suspect and anyone associated with him? Did the
wife or children commit the sex crime? Why should they
be a target? And what were the circumstances behind this
crime? Exactly how serious was it? Nobody knew the answer
to the last question because the Internet sites do not provide
that information.
Unfortunately,
a self-inflicted tragedy soon followed the Internet release
of the sex registrant information regarding this individual.
Now a family wasn’t just devastated by past revelations,
but also by heartbreaking loss. Were ward members to blame?
For their own actions perhaps, but not for the original
choices made by the suspect that caused him to become a
registered offender. However, a little compassion, a little
less voyeurism, a little less condemnation may have gone
a long way.
For
my part, I struggled mightily with the situation. I need
to remain detached in my professional position, but could
I have been more supportive of a fellow human being who
fell within my spiritual stewardship? Had I shown an understanding,
could tragedy have been averted? These are impossible questions
to answer. I do know, however, that Father expects me to
forgive if I expect to be forgiven.
Serious Crimes
Aren’t
all sex crimes serious? Yes, they are. But after more
than twenty-years investigating them, I am aware some are
far more serious than others. Sex crimes investigations
are rarely simple. There is a vast gray area into which
many of these cases fall requiring an understanding of human
motivations beyond comparatively straight-forward crimes
such as robbery, burglary, or auto theft.
In
California, it is illegal for a nineteen-year-old to have
sexual interaction with a consenting seventeen-year-old.
This suspect, however, is not likely to start stalking your
nine-year-old daughter. Unlike ‘gateway drugs’ such as
marijuana, which can lead to stronger and stronger drug
usage, there is no evidence of ‘gateway sex crimes.’
Flashers
and peeping toms rarely evolve into rapists. Their sexual
orientation is triggered by exposure or voyeurism, not violent
confrontation. Research has shown a large majority of pedophiles
were victims of sexual abuse themselves and target children
usually in the same age group the suspect was when they
were victimized. This is not an excuse for their vile actions,
but understanding of motivations is law enforcement’s key
to capture, confession, and conviction.
Of
the five hundred sex offenders my unit is responsible for
monitoring, only five of them are considered High Risk
— more than three violent crimes on their record, one involving
a sexual act — and pose a real threat to offend again.
These individuals are visited personally on a monthly basis
and have telephonic contact regularly. Their places of
work are checked, their travel monitored, and their activities
and companions vetted. Any violation, no matter how small,
is cause to send these individuals back to prison. They
know this, we know this, and the dance goes on.
The
remaining four-hundred-and-ninety-five registrants fall
into the Serious category. Their crimes range from
indecent exposure to rape to crimes against children. Some
of them have just been released from prison. Others committed
their single crime decades ago. All of them are required
to register with the police department yearly or within
ten days of moving. We talk to them, we check on them,
we monitor their lives from a distance.
When
an unknown suspect commits a sex crime, these are the people
who get our attention first. That being said, most of them
have ongoing jobs, families, and lives. They are neighbors,
co-workers, and churchgoers. They are upper-class, middle-class,
and lower-class, as sex crimes cut across all racial, sexual,
and economic boundaries.
They
are not, however, slavering fiends waiting for any opportunity
to scoop up our children or wives and have their way with
them.
Are
those predators out there? You bet they are, but they do
not form the vast majority of individuals required to register.
What is called for here is a modicum of common sense and
the ability to restrain ourselves from becoming vigilantes.
What Not to Do
Recently
in a pleasant suburban neighborhood, residents began picketing
a two-story home. Somebody had accessed the Internet and
discovered the adult son of the owners had recently been
released from county jail for after being convicted of Unlawful
Sex — a catch-all charge covering consensual sexual intercourse
with minors between the ages of fourteen and seventeen.
One neighbor erected a sign announcing in attention grabbing
letters SEX OFFENDER, with arrows pointing to the
offender’s residence.
The
registrant had been convicted of engaging in sexual intercourse
with a student athlete he was allegedly ‘coaching.’ As
a result of all this continued attention, the offender waited
until his ‘victim’ turned eighteen and then fled the state
with her — devastating the family she left behind and leaving
his parents to deal with the wrath and indignation of the
neighborhood.
In
another incident, a wheelchair-bound twenty-year-old with
minor mental challenges was convicted of having consensual
sexual intercourse with a teenage girl. When he returned
from court as a sex registrant on probation, his house was
sprayed with graffiti proclaiming him a ‘baby raper’ — a
far cry from his actual crime. The following morning he
was found dead by his own hand.
In
my own neighborhood, I have torn down homemade printouts
from the Internet data bases plastered over the group mailboxes
perched on numerous street corners. This anonymous ‘outing’
does nothing except create fear, loathing, and agitation,
when what is needed is awareness and calm.
It’s
easy to say these individuals deserve everything that happens
to them, but do they really? Who are we as individuals
to pass further judgments after the court processes have
been followed? Many sex crimes are true violent atrocities.
I know. I deal with the devastating results every day.
But the result of vigilante action — taken by individuals
acting out of fear or anger based on minimal information
— always makes a bad situation worse.
Obviously,
we should be on guard against sexual offenders. It would
be silly to let someone baby-sit your kids knowing he/she
is a sex offender (that said, I’ve arrested parents for
knowingly placing their children in such a dangerous situation).
However, attempting to punish these individuals further
not only circumvents the intent of the law — it can also
break the law that vigilantes are attempting to enforce.
It
is a crime to use the information from sex registries to
commit a misdemeanor or a felony. It is also against the
law to publicly distribute the same information unless it
is used to protect a specific person at risk. Furthermore,
use of this information pursuant to employment, health benefits,
loans, credit, housing, etc. can place you in jeopardy of
civil actions.
Colleen
Cason, a columnist friend summed up the situation succinctly:
“Knowing a fact isn’t enough. It’s the applying of information
in ethical, effective ways that truly matters.”
Using Information Wisely
The
proper use of sex offender registration laws and technology
can provide a wonderful tool to protect those who are dearest
to us. As mention earlier, using the Megan’s Law computers
or web sites can provide information on adults whose criminal
actions should red flag any contact with our family members
– especially our children. Don’t rely on another organization
or individual to do this checking. Do it yourself.
Sports
coaches (especially for travel teams), music teachers, dance
instructors, new personal relationships — don’t let that
new love use you to get to your kids — karate instructors,
and the adult neighbor down the street who lives with his
mother and always has teenage boys hanging around, should
all be checked. Is the last one a stereotype? Absolutely.
But even if the individual has never been convicted of a
sex crime, the described situation is far too often a recipe
for disaster. Make sure your children avoid it at all costs.
Don’t be conned into thinking the individual is just somebody
who likes kids. He does like kids — far too much. Normal
male adults do not have the kind of tolerance for young
male testosterone that makes them want to spend all their
time with them. Sooner or later somebody like me is going
to be starting an investigation into the individual. This
will inevitably lead to neighbors in the area saying in
wonder, “But he was such a nice man.”
If
you are concerned about sex offenders living in close proximity
to your home, there are a number of appropriate steps you
can take. These don’t necessarily depend on Megan’s Law
technologies, but are guidelines designed to protect you
and your family.
