The registry: An unusual event took place last night in lower Manhattan, a rare live public debate about the sex offense registry. In front of a packed house Emily Horowitz, a sociologist and author of Protecting Our Kids?: How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us, went head-to-head with Marci Hamilton, a prominent child safety advocate. The pair debated this proposition: “All the laws requiring those convicted of sex offenses to put their names in a registry should be abolished.” It was quite a show! And timely – with nearly 900,000 individuals required to sign the registry questions about its effectiveness are growing louder. Kudos to moderator Gene Epstein and everybody at The Soho Forum as well as co-sponsor Reason for sparking a great discussion! Check out the archived video, you’ll get to see a carefully built, strong case *against* the registry. Also below are the informal poll numbers, there was a big shift in the post-debate figures. -Bill Dobbs, The Dobbs Wire
WATCH ARCHIVED VIDEO:
http://reason.com/blog/2018/02/12/should-the-sex-offender-registry-be-abol
POLL RESULTS
Proposition: All the laws requiring those convicted of sex offenses to put their names in a registry should be abolished.
Pre-debate
Post-debate
Change
Yes
38.89%
72.22%
33.33%
No
22.22%
15.56%
-6.67%
Undecided
38.89%
12.22%
-26.67%
Our vision for a just future
1. Abolish pre-crime preventative detention laws
2. Free our friends and loved ones from dehumanizing labels
3. Realign our justice system with the values of restoration and reintegration
Just Future Project is a new initiative focused on challenging pre-crime preventative detention laws. We are a people-driven grassroots advocacy campaign dedicated to building a movement of community members demanding an end to indefinite detention regimes.
Why Is This Important?
Pre-crime preventative detention systems are a dangerous departure from the traditional values of our legal system.
We believe in justice, that persons who have caused harm may be held accountable for their actions. But justice also demands proportionality and due process, elements essential to distinguish justice from mere vengeance. The goal of any true system of justice must be restoration and re-integration, not the perpetual containment and incapacitation that have come to define the U.S. criminal legal system.
Recent Comments
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- Donna on Inside Coalinga: California’s Worst Shadow Prison
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