Author Topic: How many sex offenders live near you?  (Read 25137 times)

Offline delalluvia

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How many sex offenders live near you?
« on: June 13, 2010, 01:22:30 pm »
On another board I go to, someone asked this question.

Curious, seeing as I just moved to my mother's neighborhood and some of my neighbors look scary, I went to check the registry of sex offenders.

There are 5 registered sex offenders within two blocks of my mother's house.

 :P

Offline Mandy21

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2010, 03:29:51 pm »
Hey Del, hope things are getting a little easier or more comfortable at your mom's house?

I'm curious -- what is the website where you can check this stuff out?
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Offline delalluvia

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2010, 10:10:55 pm »
Hey Del, hope things are getting a little easier or more comfortable at your mom's house?

I'm curious -- what is the website where you can check this stuff out?


Just google "registry of sex offenders".

Offline Brokeback_Dev

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2010, 05:09:49 am »
Just google "registry of sex offenders".

Oh my!  We have 32 sex offenders living nearby.  Thats scary.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2010, 10:32:57 am »
We have 47 within the area shown on the map. The closest one is more than 30 blocks away, though.

In the photo, the guy looks like someone sent by Central Casting to play a sex offender.


Offline Mandy21

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2010, 10:36:24 am »
Yeah, I've got 3 rapists either living or working within a couple miles of me, but that doesn't make me any more cautious than I already am.  Guess if I had children, I'd be a little more wary and attentive to these kind of stats.
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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2010, 10:47:37 am »
I haven't checked the registry and I don't know if I really want to.  I think it would just freak me out.  Mandy, I think it's a really good point that folks should be careful/cautious/alert no matter what.  I think it goes without saying that there are probably some number of sex offenders in any given community.  

What benefit do people get from looking up info on the registry?  I ask this out of genuine curiosity.  I think it's a good thing to have the information available... but, then what do folks do with that info?  I think it does almost automatically generate some sense of fear for most people when they see the stats like that spelled out.  And, it's even more scary when you realize that it's just the registered sex offenders list there... not all the rapists and molesters that go unreported and unarrested.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2010, 01:09:45 pm by atz75 »
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2010, 01:14:06 pm »
What benefit do people get from looking up info on the registry?  I ask this out of genuine curiosity.  I think it's a good thing to have the information available... but, then what do folks do with that info? 

I think that if an offender lived within a few blocks of my house I would want to know about it, especially if I had small children. Otherwise, who knows, I might unwittingly hire the person as a babysitter or something.

But knowing that a bunch of offenders live within a 20-mile radius, or whatever the map shows, isn't much help, IMO. In fact, I think you can safely assume that if you live in a heavily populated area there will be some offenders and other dangerous people living somewhere around you, whether you can find them on a website or not. I can't think of a situation where detailed information about specific individuals would be all that helpful. Unless maybe you have some direct involvement with a person you are concerned about, and want to check on his/her background.

BTW, I realized after posting that the reason I have no offenders living in my immediate neighborhood is probably that my immediate neighborhood contains an elementary school and a middle school.

Also, coincidentally, my local paper today ran a story about sex offenders. In the comment section, some people pointed out that "sex offenders" can include 18-year-olds who date younger teenagers. And one commenter posted that s/he has a friend who was arrested for peeing in someone's yard while walking home from a bar. Apparently, at least in that person's community, that qualified as indecent exposure, thus a sex crime. So the hapless urinator is now classified as a sex offender and has to register, introduce himself to neighbors as a sex offender, etc.


Offline oilgun

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2010, 03:18:56 pm »
I think that if an offender lived within a few blocks of my house I would want to know about it, especially if I had small children. Otherwise, who knows, I might unwittingly hire the person as a babysitter or something.

But knowing that a bunch of offenders live within a 20-mile radius, or whatever the map shows, isn't much help, IMO. In fact, I think you can safely assume that if you live in a heavily populated area there will be some offenders and other dangerous people living somewhere around you, whether you can find them on a website or not. I can't think of a situation where detailed information about specific individuals would be all that helpful. Unless maybe you have some direct involvement with a person you are concerned about, and want to check on his/her background.

BTW, I realized after posting that the reason I have no offenders living in my immediate neighborhood is probably that my immediate neighborhood contains an elementary school and a middle school.

Also, coincidentally, my local paper today ran a story about sex offenders. In the comment section, some people pointed out that "sex offenders" can include 18-year-olds who date younger teenagers. And one commenter posted that s/he has a friend who was arrested for peeing in someone's yard while walking home from a bar. Apparently, at least in that person's community, that qualified as indecent exposure, thus a sex crime. So the hapless urinator is now classified as a sex offender and has to register, introduce himself to neighbors as a sex offender, etc.



Excellent point.  I was going to ask what exactly does Sex Offender mean?  There's a big difference between someone who gets caught having consensual sex in a public washroom or park(or peeing on someone's lawn) and a rapist or child molester.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: How many sex offenders live near you?
« Reply #9 on: June 21, 2010, 03:29:15 pm »
Excellent point.  I was going to ask what exactly does Sex Offender mean?  There's a big difference between someone who gets caught having consensual sex in a public washroom or park(or peeing on someone's lawn) and a rapist or child molester.

This locator site http://www.familywatchdog.us/Search.asp offers brief descriptions of the offenders it pinpoints.  I only looked at the one closest to me (again, about three miles away), which said

"Offender has a history of sexual contact with juvenile females.  The contact includes penetration .  The offender was known to the victims."

But that could involve anything from molesting small children to having consensual sex with a teenage girlfriend.

I didn't get far enough to find public consensual-sex offenders or urinaters.