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Jun. 5th, 2008 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyssacToday is my grandmother(/foster mother)'s 75th birhtday. That's quite a milestone, and strangley enough made me a little melancholy about the fact that one of these days she's not going to be there at the end of the phone anymore. I really want to see her - I miss her. I haven't seen her since shortly after my grandfather passed away and I decided to leave for Arkansas, almost 11 years ago.
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On an unrelated but strange note. I came into work to work today to see a Community Notification for a level 4 sex offender who is staying at the motel. "Level Four status is reserved for offenders who are deemed sexually violent predators."
The notice was issued yesterday, but I checked him in Monday night. A local church is paying for one week stay for him. I am not sure how I feel about this. I have been a victim of sexual assault and molestation, and a rape crisis counselor. I support Megan's Law and community reporting. On the other hand, I am getting to see it in action.
When this flyer was posted, the man was fired from his job. After Monday, he has nowhere to live, as he has been told that he cannot go live with his mother (I believe it's because his kids live there). Reporters have been calling for him, and the fact that he is staying at the motel will be on the 10:00 news tonight.
He is getting frustrated. I know this because he came to talk to me and tried to express how he is trying and asking for a copy of the notice after I gave him the message from the reporter. My question is what happens next - with no job, no place to live, no prospects, and mounting frustration, what real deterent does he have against reoffending? Is his new religious beliefs, and the support of people in his church enough when the rest of the world is against him?
What can we really do about it when our criminal justice system is focused on punishment rather than rehabilitation, and the punishment isn't really a deterent from crime? I know that if I really wanted to do something criminal that I wouldn't be scared of going to jail, and neither are most criminals.
***************
On an unrelated but strange note. I came into work to work today to see a Community Notification for a level 4 sex offender who is staying at the motel. "Level Four status is reserved for offenders who are deemed sexually violent predators."
The notice was issued yesterday, but I checked him in Monday night. A local church is paying for one week stay for him. I am not sure how I feel about this. I have been a victim of sexual assault and molestation, and a rape crisis counselor. I support Megan's Law and community reporting. On the other hand, I am getting to see it in action.
When this flyer was posted, the man was fired from his job. After Monday, he has nowhere to live, as he has been told that he cannot go live with his mother (I believe it's because his kids live there). Reporters have been calling for him, and the fact that he is staying at the motel will be on the 10:00 news tonight.
He is getting frustrated. I know this because he came to talk to me and tried to express how he is trying and asking for a copy of the notice after I gave him the message from the reporter. My question is what happens next - with no job, no place to live, no prospects, and mounting frustration, what real deterent does he have against reoffending? Is his new religious beliefs, and the support of people in his church enough when the rest of the world is against him?
What can we really do about it when our criminal justice system is focused on punishment rather than rehabilitation, and the punishment isn't really a deterent from crime? I know that if I really wanted to do something criminal that I wouldn't be scared of going to jail, and neither are most criminals.
