Sexual offense laws require anyone who is convicted of a sexual offense to be put on a registry once the individual has served out their sentence. Public registration and restrictions extended beyond an individual’s sentence are punitive and put the registrant and their families at risk. A 71-year old man who was on California’s online registry for an act he committed 30 years ago was repeatedly stabbed to death after running down the street for two blocks in suburban Fremont to escape his attacker. His 29-year old assailant was unapologetic, saying all pedophiles “deserve to die.” He added, “I’m hoping that because he is a pedophile… like, everyone hates pedophiles… so like, it should be cool.” The assailant had a list of potential victims he found on the registry, and had previously hunted the CEO of Hyatt Hotels, whom he believed to be a pedophile. The dehumanization of those convicted of sexual offenses leads to such incidents on a regular basis. In August, five inmates in an Arkansas jail teamed up to kill a man who had just been arrested for possession of child pornography.
How the Sex Offender Registry Kills
