Confidence is a Preference for the Habitual Voyeur of What is Known as... Parklife!

Good news from New York: Finally, a way to get rid of sex offenders!

Under a new county law that took effect last month, convicted sex offenders can now be charged with a misdemeanor in Orange County if caught loitering within 300 feet of places where children congregate.

... The rules apply to all sex offenders, regardless of how they're classified.

How it's being enforced.

The county is helping police enforce the restrictions by creating detailed maps of each municipality with marked "child-safety zones," the areas now off-limits to sex offenders.

The Department of Social Services has been gathering addresses for those maps, going so far as to walk through Newburgh to find a pool hall and other prohibited areas that weren't readily known, Social Services Commissioner David Jolly said.

Jolly called the new law an additional law enforcement tool, not a solution to sexual predation.

"There is no magic bullet," he said.

But that doesn't mean we won't keep shooting them at people! Two years ago Kerry Howley was poking holes in the logic of plans like this.

Headline explained here.

Comments

Pottsy | February 27, 2008, 9:58am | #

In a just world full of people with good taste, the headline would need no explanation.

Other Matt | February 27, 2008, 10:03am | #

Why is it when I read about law enforcement having a new "tool", I get shivers and feel like heading to the mountains of Montana?

Taktix® | February 27, 2008, 10:04am | #

Pottsy,

Someone got my reference to "Bugs" by Pearl Jam the other day. You'd be surprised.

Citizen Nothing | February 27, 2008, 10:11am | #

Can anyone add some context to that title video for this poor, uncool middle-aged scribe?

Jennifer | February 27, 2008, 10:16am | #

It must be comforting, to convince yourself that the hatred which consumes you is not a moral failing to be overcome, but proof of your inherent virtue. If sex offenders didn't exist, we'd have to invent them. Or just heap extra invective on smokers.

highnumber | February 27, 2008, 10:21am | #

You need to cut down on your pork life, mate!

Paul | February 27, 2008, 10:31am | #

Why the hell are you people defending these degenerates? If you had children of your own you would be defending these laws. How else do you suppose we should defend children? Everyone knows we can't be too tough on these fuckin scumbags. Anyone on these lists deserves whats coming to them. In reality we should quit with this nonsense and just execute them all.

Citizen Nothing | February 27, 2008, 10:32am | #

"Paul" the troll seems to protest a bit too much, eh?

Jennifer | February 27, 2008, 10:51am | #

No, he's just bored.

Mitch | February 27, 2008, 10:54am | #

There are a few crimes out there that still scare me... Possibly muggings, assault, murder. The government needs to realize that something's wrong when they have increased the penalties for sex crimes and drug crimes to beyond that of what some murderers get.

Sex offenders are dangerous, but let's face it. There still aren't very many sex offenders out there in comparison to regular old violent criminals.

John-David | February 27, 2008, 11:06am | #

Pottsy,

Bite every part of me.

Jorgen | February 27, 2008, 11:16am | #

Paul:

I don't know how much you've looked into this already, but it's important to remember that a sex criminal can be someone who had sex with a 16 year old when they were 20, and many of them are. Putting someone on a registry and hampering their ability to lead their lives decades after such crimes when they've shown no interest in threatening pre-pubescent children makes no sense at all. If the lists were limited to just those sex crimes committed on victims under the age of say 12 when the perpetrator was over the age of 18 then I would be more sympathetic. Even there, though, I'd be just as worried about having convicted muggers and murderers within 300 feet of my child as I would be about convicted sex offenders but we don't put them on this sort of restricted watch.

Paul | February 27, 2008, 11:38am | #

I don't know how much you've looked into this already, but it's important to remember that a sex criminal can be someone who had sex with a 16 year old when they were 20, and many of them are.

Doesnt matter if it is an 18 yr with a 17 yr old, the law is the law.

Jennifer | February 27, 2008, 11:41am | #

Trolls are boring, Paul. Do something less lame with your life.

Citizen Nothing | February 27, 2008, 11:42am | #

No, Jenn - I figure he's got the hots for some Lolita (or Lolito) and is trying to talk himself out of it.

Citizen Nothing | February 27, 2008, 11:46am | #

(Trolling for trolls is an underappreciated art form.)

Urkobold™ | February 27, 2008, 11:52am | #

NO, IT ISN'T.

Citizen Nothing | February 27, 2008, 11:54am | #

FYI -- Just moving on the wires - William F. Buckley Jr. dead.

The Wine Commonsewer | February 27, 2008, 12:00pm | #

The problem is not the sex offenders per se, it is the failure of cities to take care of business.

Making it illegal for a convicted sex offender to hang around a park will not make that park safe for your kids. Arresting the guy flashing your eight-year old from the nearby bushes will.

Salvius | February 27, 2008, 1:16pm | #

I'd be just as worried about having convicted muggers and murderers within 300 feet of my child as I would be about convicted sex offenders but we don't put them on this sort of restricted watch.

Not yet, anyway...

Geotpf | February 27, 2008, 1:51pm | #

"Citizen Nothing | February 27, 2008, 11:54am | #

FYI -- Just moving on the wires - William F. Buckley Jr. dead."

I didn't know he was a convicted sex offender.

Citizen Nothing | February 27, 2008, 1:55pm | #

If he were, could he be buried near a school?

J sub D | February 27, 2008, 2:02pm | #

If he were, could he be buried near a school?

Could he be buried in the same cemetary as children? Does he have to keep his distance from children in Hell?

Theist philosophers, discuss.

Rhywun | February 27, 2008, 2:02pm | #

"There is no magic bullet," he said.

The problem is, people seem to want these laws. This battle is just as uphill as the battle against junkies and streetwalkers.

PS. I have great taste, especially on bank holidays when I head over to the track.

Tom Cruise | February 27, 2008, 3:02pm | #

People should just cancel sex offenders from their area.

Bronwyn | February 27, 2008, 3:38pm | #

Damn, I thought Paul was kidding. His comment was ubertroll to the point of farce.

If he meant it, I'll be very sad :(

Robert | February 27, 2008, 5:56pm | #

Wait, aren't children supposed to be prohibited from congregating near the pool hall? Now I'm confused.

The thing is, ordinances making "loitering" in general a misdemeanor are common.