Md high court ruling - sex offenders

[Dakota (Premo)]

The Maryland Court of Appeals on Monday decided that sex offenders whose crimes took place before the registry was created in 1995 should not have to register, and the decision could have widespread implications for hundreds of others on the list.


Read more: Md. high court ruling could affect sex offender registry | Politics - WBAL Home

[getbent]

Stupid.

[migtig]

Well that is a genius ruling. So if they were convicted prior to '95 and then convicted again in say '97, they'd be registered though right?

They also say a lot of these types escalate over the years and get smarter about not getting caught.

I guess you may have more insight into the criminal behavior Dakota with your job experience...do you think this was the correct decision/ruling?

[Tilted (Premo)]

Originally Posted by migtig

Well that is a genius ruling. So if they were convicted prior to '95 and then convicted again in say '97, they'd be registered though right?

They also say a lot of these types escalate over the years and get smarter about not getting caught.

I guess you may have more insight into the criminal behavior Dakota with your job experience...do you think this was the correct decision/ruling?

I'm not sure if it's a good ruling when it comes to the best interests of society (i.e. not taking into account the larger legal principle), but I think it's the right ruling legally. You can't go back after a crime is committed and add punishments for committing that crime, just as you can't make something a crime after it's been 'committed.' One of the basic premises of our criminal justice system, and indeed of the concept of justice in so far as punishment by a sovereign goes, is that people are entitled to know what the possible consequences for their actions would be. Whatever the laws are, you should be able to know ahead of time whether you're allowed to do something and what might happen to you (at the hands of a sovereign) if you violate the laws.

As a more pointed example, a person who accepts a plea deal shouldn't be subject to additional punishment being added to the deal down the road (after the deal has been agreed upon). If you plea to a crime in exchange for a 5 year sentence (and whatever ongoing conditions attach to having accepted such a deal at the time), the government can't come back 5 years later and say - oh, we've decided you should have to serve 3 more years or we've decided that you have to agree to leave the state.

I think the whole sex offender registry thing is misguided anyway. If someone needs to be on a sex registry - and society has sufficient justification to believe that and act on such belief - then you should either still be in jail or you should be dead. If you forcibly rape someone or molest an 8 year old child, you should be executed not set free one day where society needs to be 'protected' from you by having your name on a sex registry.

That's the general problem with our criminal justice system - we don't punish people severely enough for real offenses against society, so we try to make up for it by defining more things as offenses against society and getting cute with ancillary regulations. We don't execute enough people or incarcerate other people for long enough, so we have to have things like sex offender registries.

Seriously... if we've concluded that you raped an 8 year old, why the hell do we let you live? We have plenty of people, we don't need to place such an emphasis on volume anymore.

[Dakota (Premo)]

Tilted,

They call it the 'criminal justice system' not the 'citizen’s justice system' which is the 1st of many problems I have with our system. I couldn't agree with your post more. The registry provides a false sense of security and there are instances where those on the list were in a relationship or the victim portrayed herself as much older than she really was, perhaps in a bar with a fake ID. But that isn't the reason for all this....

The Foxwell case is why they have became overzealous with the registry to begin with but the fact of the matter is he had already been convicted of TWO sex offenses, one in Maryland and one in Delaware. Thomas J. Leggs, Jr. should not have been on the streets but instead serving a life sentence. If there was a 'citizen justice system' his ability to return to society would not have happened.

It seems law makers have put way too much emphasis on this sex offender registry instead of sticking to one of the core reasons we pay taxes in the 1st place which is to incarcerate criminals from the rest of society.

Thomas Leggs Charges | A trail of charges for sex offenses, little jail time - Baltimore Sun


The system failed Sarah Foxwell, not the registry, IMO.

[Merlin99 (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Dakota

The Maryland Court of Appeals on Monday decided that sex offenders whose crimes took place before the registry was created in 1995 should not have to register, and the decision could have widespread implications for hundreds of others on the list.


Read more: Md. high court ruling could affect sex offender registry | Politics - WBAL Home

They've went 18 years without doing anything else to be put on the list,even hiring somebody to do the paperwork sounds like a waste of money.

[GURPS (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Tilted

.... then you should either still be in jail or you should be dead. If you forcibly rape someone or molest an 8 year old child, you should be executed not set free one day where society needs to be 'protected' from you by having your name on a sex registry.

That's the general problem with our criminal justice system - we don't punish people severely enough for real offenses against society,

Seriously... if we've concluded that you raped an 8 year old, why the hell do we let you live?

never let them out, or execute them

[tom88]

Originally Posted by Dakota

Tilted,


The Foxwell case is why they have became overzealous with the registry to begin with but the fact of the matter is he had already been convicted of TWO sex offenses, one in Maryland and one in Delaware. Thomas J. Leggs, Jr. should not have been on the streets but instead serving a life sentence. If there was a 'citizen justice system' his ability to return to society would not have happened.

Thomas Leggs Charges | A trail of charges for sex offenses, little jail time - Baltimore Sun


The system failed Sarah Foxwell, not the registry, IMO.

While I agree the system failed to stop the murder of Sarah Foxwell, I beg do differ on your point in relation to the sex offender registry. The current laws we operate under are part of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act that was passed by the federal government in I believe 2006. They gave the states a number of years to comply or face losing funding. I believe Maryland passed their version of SORNA in October 2010. Perhaps some politicians take credit and blame it on Foxwell, it was in the works long before that tragedy.