Ohio Mulls License Plates For Sex Offenders

[Kor37 9]

Ohio Mulls License Plates for Sex Offenders

 

CINCINNATI (March 1) - Lawmakers in Ohio said on Wednesday they want to force convicted sex offenders to use a fluorescent-green license plate on their cars so they can be easily identified.

 

A Republican and a Democrat in the state legislature have joined forces to propose the law, which echoes measures in several U.S. states that require convicted drunken drivers to use a yellow, pink or red plate on their cars.

 

"The fluorescent-green license plate will make the most egregious sex offenders easily identifiable," state Democratic Rep. Michael DeBose said in a statement.

 

Police said the green plates would allow them to track sex offenders, who are already required to register with the local sheriff's office and are prohibited from living within 1,000 feet of a school.

 

"It will give Ohio families a great peace of mind knowing that their children will be able to recognize where this danger exists," Summit County Sheriff Drew Alexander said.

 

Opponents of the proposed law argue the use of a special plate would stigmatize everyone who shared the offender's car -- including their spouse or children.

 

The proposed law will be debated in committee before a decision is made whether to put the proposal to a vote.

 

 

03-01-07 07:49 EST

 

 

Sheesh...why don't they just force them to have "Sex Offender" tatooed onto their foreheads!!??

 

I'm all for keeping track of these people but this seems a bit much. There has to be a more civil way to do this.

[Vulcan_lover 1]

Kor, what do you expect from Ohio? We already apparently make sex offenders put signs up in there yards, why not have the sign follow them where ever they go and constantly have them tortured?

[Odie 0]

Lets make it easy for the mod the kill these people. What these people did was wrong they still have rights.

[nerd359 0]

Lets make it easy for the mod the kill these people. What these people did was wrong they still have rights.

 

When did driving become a right?

 

 

 

My only issue with this is that the term "sex offender" is very lose, and it could very easily be improperly applied. Example: In high school one of my friends who was 15 (and a sophomore) was dating an 18 year old Senior. Under strick legal terms anything they did was going to be statutory rape, and thus it would have made her a sex offender, even when anything they did was consentual [i still to this day don't know if they ever did anything though].

[Theunicornhunter 2]

True, the term sex "offender" has been too easily applied - but the article suggests it would apply to only the most serious offenders.

 

But IMO sexual predators shouldnt' be on the street to begin with so just being out puts them ahead. And since many of them use cars to snatch children - it's not a bad way to warn children.

 

Just to be clear - this is what you're defending - from the Orlando Sentinel.

 

MIAMI - Her blood was on his bed mixed with his DNA. Her fingerprints were in his closet, and when 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford's body was lifted from the ground wrapped in two trash bags, her fingers were poking through the plastic.

 

She had been buried alive.

...

 

A convicted sex offender with a lengthy record, Couey, 48, is accused of snatching Jessica from her Homosassa bedroom in the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 2005, sexually assaulting her, then burying her in two trash bags knotted at her feet and head.

 

Her body was unearthed nearly three weeks later, behind the trailer just 150 yards away where Couey lived with his sister. In the child's arms, which were bound at the wrist with speaker wire, Ridgway said, was the prized purple dolphin her father had won at the fair just days before.

 

...

 

Jessica had "rights" too or should have.

[Odie 0]

If you take the away their drivers licences that will not stop them from driving a car. When they are out of jail they still have to get a job and place to live, and their is no public transportation than what should they do make a living.

 

This is by no means I am defending them. I am just seeing the problems that it will cause them and everyone else.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Odie, they aren't suggesting taking away their driver's licenses - just putting bright green license plates on their cars so when kids see a car with a bright green license plate they'll know to avoid the car or run the other way.

[nerd359 0]

Odie, they aren't suggesting taking away their driver's licenses - just putting bright green license plates on their cars so when kids see a car with a bright green license plate they'll know to avoid the car or run the other way.

 

Yeah I FUBAR'D that one (Driving and tags), and I apologize for it. What I should have said was "When did not being publicly humiliated for a crime become a right."

 

 

Mind you I'm also for physical castration in most of these cases (I don't really care for the way the Eight Amendment has been interpreted).

 

[shrug]

 

[Odie 0]

Odie, they aren't suggesting taking away their driver's licenses - just putting bright green license plates on their cars so when kids see a car with a bright green license plate they'll know to avoid the car or run the other way.

 

Yet again, they can change license plates on the car. This will not protect children, because an adult still can over power them. If this law does get past it will change anything about the problem.

 

They are can be target be those who feel they need to take the law in the their own hands. We minus well put a very large scarlet letter "A" on their chest.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

You're right it won't solve the problem - those states that are working on plans to permanently incarcerate sexual predators will be the most effective. But making sure every one in the neighborhood knows they have a sexual predator in their midst is the next best alternative. There is no way whatsoever that these people should be allowed to operate in anonymity.

[Odie 0]

I can do that right now by going on the internet.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Yes, but little children can't pull up the internet everytime a car slows down and the driver asks for directions.

[jadziaezri 0]

everyone seems to be missing the biggest flaw in this guys plans. Sex offenders can borrow other peoples cars!!!

 

So the sex offender can have their car sitting at home and have borrowed someone elses car and still pull up next to a child and ask for "directions"

[nerd359 0]

everyone seems to be missing the biggest flaw in this guys plans. Sex offenders can borrow other peoples cars!!!

 

So the sex offender can have their car sitting at home and have borrowed someone elses car and still pull up next to a child and ask for "directions"

 

Then we get to nail the person who's car is being barrowed on an aiding and abbetting charge.

[Odie 0]

Yes, but little children can't pull up the internet everytime a car slows down and the driver asks for directions.

Little children are normal with a parent(s), family member, daycare, and so on and forth. Now a days parents will not leave a little child by themselves very much anymore. At least the parents that I know and work with.

 

Parents can and I very much do go on the internet. I know where every single sex offender lives near me. I do not like it, but I have the peace of mind that I know where they live. That is of course, are the ones that are obeying the law.

 

The problems with the law:

 

1. They can steal a car that does not have the green license plates.

 

2. Rent a car that does not have green license plates.

 

3. Barrow a car that does not have green license plates.

 

4. They can steal the non-green license plates.

 

5. The ones that do obey the green license plates are now targets to those who want to take the law in their own hands. It has happen before, and it has happen with the sex offenders list in each state. Some are removing the addresses so they do not get harmed from anyone that has the idea that they have not paid their crime. The green license plates makes it to easier for it to happen.

 

6. They do not need a car if there is public transportation or live in area with lots of children. That is everywhere in the country.

 

7. The problem is not the ones that we know of it is the ones have not been caught.

 

everyone seems to be missing the biggest flaw in this guys plans. Sex offenders can borrow other peoples cars!!!

 

So the sex offender can have their car sitting at home and have borrowed someone elses car and still pull up next to a child and ask for "directions"

 

Then we get to nail the person who's car is being barrowed on an aiding and abbetting charge.

 

If the person truly does not know that purpose behind the borrowing than how can they be charged with aiding and abetting? If the crime happen against a child this new law did not stop it.

[mj 7]

 

Opponents of the proposed law argue the use of a special plate would stigmatize everyone who shared the offender's car -- including their spouse or children.

 

The proposed law will be debated in committee before a decision is made whether to put the proposal to a vote.

 

 

03-01-07 07:49 EST

 

 

 

 

 

I have to agree with this argument. The car that the released felon uses may belong or be shared with family members, who already have the nightmare of trying to live with and help their wayward relative.

 

Even though living with a relative did not help in the Lunsford case, we do not know how many situations have been prevented because the released felon was living with relatives who kept up with him. While having one's home address listed on a website may not be a happy prospect for many relatives living with the ex-con's, it does not have the same stigma as driving a car, and having people think it was actually you

that did the misdeeds, And the false label would follow you every where you go. I think the main affect of the law would be for relatives to move the individual out of the home, so the car would not be parked in the family's driveway, and the family car would not be so labelled.

 

Then no one would be watching the individual and asking for an accounting of his wearabouts.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

The ultimate goal here is to prevent the guilty party from committing similar acts in the future. The problem is, if the guilty party is on his own, society - including immediate society such as family - has less control over him to do this.

 

By mandating special license plates, or a sign in the yard, or an address on a website, the family has an incentive to let the guilty party be on his own. This makes it more difficult for the family to do their duty for society to keep watch on him.

 

So what is the solution that ultimately leads to the fewest repeat offenses? Getting the family involved in a way that doesn't stigmatize them as innocent parties or letting the guilty person on his own? That's a tough one to answer.

[Vulcan_lover 1]

In Ohio, we are basically just obsessed with license plates. A few years back, we basically sued the state of North Carolina for their license plates, because it said first in flight, even tho everyone knows that Ohio is the state responsible for flight. And apparently we have neon yellow plates for convicted DUIs, but I've never seen one, and I have friends that have gotten several DUIs, and they just got their license taken away, and now we are getting green plates for sex offenders, and I want to say we have an additional special plate for something, like convicted felons or something, I don't really remember.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

So what is the solution that ultimately leads to the fewest repeat offenses? Getting the family involved in a way that doesn't stigmatize them as innocent parties or letting the guilty person on his own? That's a tough one to answer.

 

The short answer is permanent incarceration - but if we as a nation really wanted to protect our children we'd also look into why we are creating increasing numbers of these monsters.

[Odie 0]

Are the numbers increasing or they just getting more national attention?

[nerd359 0]

Then we get to nail the person who's car is being barrowed on an aiding and abbetting charge.

 

If the person truly does not know that purpose behind the borrowing than how can they be charged with aiding and abetting? If the crime happen against a child this new law did not stop it.

 

If you don't know a person well enough to know if they have a the charge then why would they let them borrow the car in the first place?

Edited March 4, 2007 by nerd359

[Odo 0]

Where i work We have to be finger printed and have

CBC (Backgrond check).

but to display the fact that theese people did this has its drawbacks

by looking at plates it makes its easy for them to get a little group together.

even though these people are sick and perverted

if they did there time. and let out do they not deserve a second chance

by making them have a plate like that they have no chance

to change there life. Thay are shound and hated wont be able to get a job

so they will go back to there old ways like a drug addict

We send hundreds of billions over to other countrys to help them

but really nothing to help our own