What is Digg?195 Comments
- XxN3RDC0R3xX, on 10/12/2007, -9/+41People are getting way too paranoid over sex offenders.
- wolfger, on 10/12/2007, -6/+33It's not great, it's stupid. Do you know what constitutes a sex offender? Sometimes it just a 17 yr old fooling around with his 15 yr old girlfriend. Now he has to live with this dumbass system for the rest of his life. He'd be punished less if he killed somebody. Sex offender lists sound good in theory, but in practice they are absolutely horrible.
- dwight0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26i like the fake "loading..." so we look at their advertisers.
- ksgant, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23Maybe because sex isn't so repressed there? But more than likely they don't post that info.
I mean, "sex offender" can cover a lot of things that are NOT harmful to children. For instance, if some lonely guy wants to hire an escort service for just some human contact, if it's a police sting operation and he gets arrested he can be labeled a sex offender.
Now, would you really care if Joe down the street got busted for buying a hooker? Me, I could care less. If Joe was busted for raping a 8 year old girl, then yeah THAT I'd want to know. But for some people, especially the moral minority, there is no difference between the two.
Also, when I just tested it, it was NOT google.maps for me. Looked more like mapquest. - cbags, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21Didn't they just convict some guy of using this and a GPS unit to "hunt&kill" sex offenders that lived near him?
- zengonzo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21
Not all people classified as 'sex offenders' have hurt children.
Some haven't even hurt anyone .. - dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22My first instinct was, "Damn, these sex offenders are living awfully close to schools. How can they allow that?" then it occurred to me that schools are frigging EVERYWHERE. It's hard to NOT live by one (at least in my area). I think people need to take a step back and realize that perhaps something here is wrong. If someone is labeled something for the rest of their life, what incentive do they have to change? It's the Scarlett Letter 2006, people.
- kipin, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22This kind of thing pisses me off, it seems like a gigantic breach of privacy, nearly all of the "offenders" listed are not going to be a threat to you or your children.
- kipin, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19Exactly, these are just witch hunts for the digital age.
- Civil44, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20so true. half the people in my area are over 80 and im thinking 75% of those are past offences. the other half of the people are just dirty looking.
- chalmers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16Not really near him (he is from northern Nova Scotia, Canada, and the victims were in Maine), he had used the Maine sex-offender website to find name and addresses, and then went down and shot them. Then himself. Scary.
http://www.herald.ca/Front/499102.html - claco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15I'm quite against "sex offender" lists by default, and all of the associated laws that go along with them (like you can't like withing x miles of a school). Here's why: Doing something as silly as peeing along the side of the road and getting caught can land you on the "sexual offenders" list for public exposure. Now all of a sudden, people think you're a child molester, when you're nothing of the sort.
Just last week in Maine, a man picked two people off of the "sexual offenders" list, killed them, than killed himself. One person was indeed a convicted child molester. The other person just happened to sleep with his underage girlfriend (by only 2-3 years I believe) and piss off enough people to get in trouble for it.
The real problem is, these lists need to be segregated into two seperate lists: "sexual predators (child molsters, rapists, etc)" and "sexual/exposure offenses". Most states had no provision for doing so, nor laws prtecting non-predators from suffering the same issues as hardened criminals. People who make a stupid mistakes as A CHILD in most cases, should not be treated like the people who sexually prey on others, including children. The people on the former list, just because they're on the list, suffer from death threats, phone calls, police harassment, neigherhood protests, and even forced into selling their houses when new laws pass. - DisposableRob, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17This will just make it easier for the next vigilante so he doesn't have to go as far.
- jambarama, on 10/12/2007, -8/+22I have to say, I feel bad for these people. They did some bad things, no doubt. But they will be followed, and eyed, and hunted forever (like that guy who just killed 2 of them and visited 4 others). No other crime will haunt you like a sex crime (not even murder if you can get out of prison).
How are the offenders supposed to get better that way? Most of them are severly psychologically damaged (you have to be to do some of the stuff they do) - there is no way tracking them helps that. It is debatable if it protects innocent either.
I'm not saying we should let them all go, or not keep track of them, I'm just saying it may not be the best way to go. Trying to help them may go a lot further in protecting others. - anonym00z, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19You people disgust me. You are no better than the witch hunters or KKK.
Do you realize how easy it is to get on this list?
Do you know the details behind every case?
Do you think the justice system is never wrong?
What a sad day for liberty. - chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13@ zengonzo
Exactly. Public "lewd acts" can get you registered for life. I'm talking about a couple in a car in a park after hours. Yeah sure, citation them and all, but that does not mean they deserve to be hunt & killed. We can't depend on our justice system to filter out the anomalies. - NYtechGuy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12
What America resoundingly says is "we are scared of sex" - why aren't their registries for murders and other violent offenders? - kindablue, on 10/12/2007, -12/+23Nothing says America like making sure people can never be forgiven for a mistake.
- soogy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17Not your regular use of Google Maps, but it is.
One of the squares I clicked on had not one, but TWO offenders LIVING IN THE SAME BUILDING. WTF??
The map is full of squares, it's a pervert rainbow. - Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15First it's the sex offenders, then the drunk drivers, then the violent offenders, then the drug offenders, then the DMCA offenders...
- directedition, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"Raping a child is not a mistake."
You seem to think this list is only violent offenders. It has happened where someone did a search for 'sex' on LimeWire and downloaded all the results. A few of them turned out to be child porn, they got busted, and are now on this list right next to the rapists. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14Hey, I found Kevin Rose on here!
- altjeringa, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15Programmer(s) who wrote this should his hands cut off so he can never code again.
Yes I know it's flame bait, so digg it down, but I get so pissed off that this kind of thing can happen I just think straight. - spectre, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Jesus.
I live right so close to an elementary school I could literally step outside and hit it with a rock. I just checked my house and I've got 5 within a block of me, all but one were convicted for lewd acts with a child under 14...
Guess I'm going to the next city council meeting. I don't even have kids yet, but little kids live all over my neighborhood. That's ***** scary. - sithmat, on 10/12/2007, -8/+16"its great for women to so you know where to stay away from"
Are you aware that sex offenders target males as well? Or is that something else pop culture has neglected to inform you about? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Why are these maps only about sex offenders? I want to know if there is a murder, thief, burglar, suspected terrorist, drug dealer, drug user, drunk driver, cow rustler, shop lifter, poacher, jay walker, draft dodger, or mattress tag remover living near me!
- orangetiki, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9true. someone with a name very close to mine is one of these offenders. I had to prove that when I was 12 I didn't rob a bank and do da deed in a completley different state. ( no i didn't. i promise ) had to get papers from my grade school and everything. Now I know why Prince changed his name to that symbol. Soon it'll be almost any combination of name. Yeah there sickos out there, but you should trust yourself to parent your kids right and not rely on a computer.
- Adma, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8From the FAQ:
"There are still six states that we need to load data for. They are: Nevada, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont. These states either do not provide address data or do not have a centralized registry." - jambarama, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Wrong, many of us are parents - you aren't the only one. There may be a lot of high schoolers here, but some adults like this site too.
So you want to monitor sex offenders. Fine. So do most people it seems. But "chemical castration" or castration of any kind seems a bit like "cruel and unusual punishment." Something expressly forbidden. Making an offender a spectacle to be feared and reviled may also count.
Maybe rather than castrating them all, we should try to help them. That seems like a better defense to me, rehabilitate any that can be rehabilitated. - leadbelly, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10This isn´t just child molesters whose crimes are on display on the internet with maps, names and addreses. It may be some guy who was busted for buying sex from a prostitute 20 years ago. This all feels a little too much like 1984.
- cpmoser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7All controversy aside, am I the only that noticed that they completely butchered the Google Maps API?
- DisposableRob, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I think that only applies to pedophiles.
- NippleNutz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Pa actually does it right. Only the locations for the VIOLENT sexual offenders is released, and only with a request. It still shows you everyone with their pictures and what town they live in. This whole registry thing seems eerily like the Jew registration done buy the nazis. Im not saying the offenders are good people but we are going down a very slippery slope.
- treed, on 10/12/2007, -7/+12Yep, that rape was totally an accident. Really gotta watch where that dick goes, it's got a mind of its own, I swear. Whoops.
Of course, from another point of view, I suppose I should note that not everything that gets you on the registered sex offenders list is so egregious. I'm 22 and my girlfriend just turned 18 not long ago. If I'd had sex with her before her birthday (and gotten caught), it would have been a felony and I would be on that list. Keep that in mind, especially for the ones on this map for whom no conviction is listed. - nofunnyhats, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Why does Nevada have almost no sex offenders compared to other states?
- mousky, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6It's about "protecting" the kids. It seems that our kids are constantly in danger. We need warnings on CDs/DVDs/Video Games/Movies/TV shows to protect our kids. We need sex offender databases to protect our kids. We need car and booster seats to protect our kids. We need helmet laws to protect our kids. We need warnings on 'naughty' websites to protect our kids. I'm not exactly sure what we are protecting our kids from, but apparently some expert or group of experts that people have been doing a lousy job raising children over the past 3,000 or years or so, so we must protect the children.
- captaindan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I noticed that too. They have their own (inferior) zoom interface, stupid bars for panning, and who knows why they didn't just use markers and info boxes instead of their little squares and faux XP-style "windows."
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Behold the wisdom of crowds.
- joshv, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Yeah, and guess what? Convicted burgulars, murderers, and scam-artists live all around you. All of whom could potentially victimize you or your family. Why we obsess over sex offenders I have no idea. In the scale of things that other people can do to you, sexual assault is only one of many possible horrific acts.
- PhantomZmoove, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Why don't we have a list for other crimes? Like a map showing where convicted murders live?
- NippleNutz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Scarlet here is you Red letter in a digital form. Scary.
- gnilrets, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7If "there is high probability that they will repeat their previous tendancies," then they shouldn't have been let out of jail in the first place.
- ThePDW, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Wow! Google Maps + sex offenders = crazy disgusting!
- skoops, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5When you click on a 'offender'-icon they "simulate" a new internet explorer window popping up - even in firefox - hahah.... I don't like the style this site is coded - other than that - the information is surely useful
- gahal, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7A guy I grew up with is a registered sex offender, cause he was over 18 and she was under 18. Yep he is mapped on there. Not some foaming at the mouth psycho lurking in the bushes waiting to pounce on his next victim, just happened to be 3 years older than a girlfriend with uptight parents.
People freak out a little too easily. - plamoni, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Because what happens in Vegas... Usually moves to Alabama after the conviction :-)
- itzac, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5They're just very poorly implemented. It won't tell you when the offense was committed. It doesn't say what sort of treatment the offender may have received. It gives no details about the situation in which the offense was committed.
That and there are some really ridiculous sex laws. I can't believe sodomy is still a crime in some states. Yours is an excellent example. Having a single age of consent is just stupid. It's perfectly legal for two 15-year-old kids to have sex until one of them turns 16...?! - GravyTrain6, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6One thing to be aware of, there is a color coding system. Crimes against children, rape, assault and "other". One of the guys here at work was discussing it alot of the offenders on the maps are not truly a threat. In fact, some of the people showing up are required to be listed on the sex offenders list as part of a plea bargain.
- chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Of course the law is never abused and is always just, I mean we really don't need any kind of review system for the law because the people that make and enforce it are always right. They always follow their own laws.
As for pleaded to a lesser charge...I don't know of any case where a child was molested that the accused got a lesser charge. If that is the case, then you should be raising hell, because of all the cases out there, those should not be lessened because of some bargain. Yes you can get on the list for peeing in public, and I'm sure it is more often than you think. -
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