Funny, she doesn't LOOK vicious...
The Penn State scandal will have one good effect: it will embolden victims of sexual molestation to confront those who harmed them. Unfortunately, it will also embolden political grand-standers to propose draconian and unconstitutional measures that will encourage fear, bigotry, hate and persecution. Rhode Island’s Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, D-Woonsocket, is ready for her close-up.
Baldelli-Hunt proposed a law this year that would allow local police to place signs on public sidewalks or streets in front of the homes of sex offenders, designating them as threats. This shows a nice 17th Century strain, placing her in the ranks of town elders of the past that encouraged various forms of branding former offenders to ensure their perpetual mistreatment. To give her credit, though, she also can claim international inspiration from the past, and may want to consider requiring registered sex offenders to wear, say, brightly colored star-shaped badges.
The Anti-Golden Rule logic of such a proposal is stunning: how would you like a sign proclaiming the worst thing you ever did in your life in front of your home? How would Baldelli-Hunt like a sign in front of her house that says, “Outspoken endorser of persecution and hate”?
An elected official who has no concept of ethics is not only unqualified for office and incompetent, but dangerous, because there are always a lot of ethically-challenged people to lead. Baldelli-Hunt is squarely in the “the ends justify the means” camp with every brutal dictator, vigilante killer, and mad scientist fictional and real, from Dr. Frankenstein to Josef Mengele. “I have some concerns regarding sex offenders because, quite frankly, they don’t walk around with signs telling people they are sex offenders,” Baldelli-Hunt told reporters. “I’m not interested in their rights or protecting them. I have no concern for them because they are the worst of the worst.”
Baldelli doesn’t walk around with signs telling people she is a vicious fool, either, but her words do the job:
1. She doesn’t know who “they” are or what “they” did. The vast majority of former sex offenders have paid their debt to society and are not dangers to anyone. She is, therefore, selling and facilitating bigotry.
2. Every registered sex offender did not commit an offense of equal seriousness. An 18-year-old boy who has consensual sex with a 15 year-old girl is not “the worst of the worst,” or any kind of worst at all.
3. Elected officials in a community are obligated to care about every citizen’s rights, not just the citizens they like and admire. Officials like Baldelli-Hunt brought America witch trials, lynchings and segregation.
She, in fact, is this worst of the worst.
Consider this her sign.
Ethics Alarms 
Very well written article! I am very concerned not only about her but all the politicians that pass uncontitutional, draconian, laws like these to continue to persecute a person or group of people. Are we living in Germany during the 1930’s and 1940’s? We’ve become so socialistic we don’t even know the difference between FREEDOM and socialism anymore. I’m sure most of the veterans who fought in WWII and our founding father’s have rolled over in their graves several times! It’s time to vote these ignorant and self-serving “in the interest of public safety” and “to protect our children” politicians out of office! They’ve pulled the wool over our eyes for too long for POOR laws that suck up MILLIONS of dollars, patting themselves on their own backs, that do nothing to protect us or our children and continue to ruin the lives of people they don’t even know! We’ve allowed them make HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS and even MILLIONS during their terms. It’s time to VOTE THEM OUT! Political office is to serve the people!!
How is it socialism? I think this is improper, but it isn’t socialism as hit has nothing to do with economics. Also, capitalizing entire words doesn’t make your rant any more relevant.
Clearly, the post brings out the capital letters in people.
FIRST, JACK, YOUR BLOG NEEDS AN UPDATE. I JUST WROTE A FOUR PARAGRAPH RESPONSE, BUT BECAUSE MY DOG KNOCKED MY MOUSE OFF MY DESK, I LOST IT ALL. I AM SINCERELY INCLINED TO STOP RESPONDING, BECAUSE YOU’RE SYSTEM SUCKS!
So my hilarious and very clever response will not appear. i simply don’t have the time to screw around with your Neanderthal system.
I will only say here that Lisa Baldelli-Hunt should require all levels of sex offenders (regardless of their actions) to wear big red penis patches on their outerwear. Hitler and Goebbels would be in nirvana.
MEANTIME,FIX YOUR BLOG, KIDDO. I HAD LOTS MORE TO SAY, BUT DON’T HAVE TIME TO SAY IT TWICE, BECAUSE YOUR SYSTEM AUTOMATICALLY DELETES TEXT AS IT CHOOSES.
I AM TICKED OFF!
Elizabeth, check into your own system. I use this site quite a bit, and I have never had any indication of a problem. You can by-pass a problem by typing your comment in Word, saving it, and then copying and pasting here. If it disappears, you will still have it and can try again. I always copy before I hit post so that if something weird does happen, you still have it.
Best to you.
E-
Are you using Internet Explorer? I use Chrome and when it hits the fan, Chrome generally remembers what I have written.
Elizabeth,you are so funny! There are simple ways to respond where you won’t lose all your work. If you have the technology to be on the net, you have the technology to write a comment and response and then copy and paste it on Ethics Alarms. Unless you’re lazy.
I had similar thoughts about sex offenders at one time until I learned that most sex offenders are usually known by their victims. I have seen where friends and family members have had to share the persecution of the offender after the offender has served their time. I don’t think it is fair to make more victims by guilt through association. Which is just one con to placing signs in front yards.
What bothers me the most about Ms. Baldelli-Hunt’s statement is not her obvious dislike of registrants (or “offenders”, if you like), but that she states “I am not interested . . . in protecting them.” Taken to the extreme, Ms. Baldelli-Hunt’s comments might inspire the very worst form of vigilantism against, in many cases, perfectly harmless citizens. Moreover, I wonder what her response would be if the elderly mother, or innocent young child, of a registrant was harmed because some foolish individual saw the posted sign and decided to exact additional punishment.
I am intimately familiar with a registrant. He abides by all the conditions imposed in accordance with the registration requirements. However, he is hardly ever at home except to sleep, and then only on some nights (he spends time at his girlfriend’s home, as well). Nevertheless, his elderly mother is at the registered address 24-7, and stays in fear for her life much of the time because of it. Policy makers really need to pull their heads out of their behinds on this stuff. It’s not just the registrants who are affected…it’s the lives of many otherwise innocent people.
Yes, Peter, you and me both. Her statement is far more chilling than her proposal, which is bad enough.
Another anecdote.
In the first month I lived at my current house, both the house and my car (parked at my house) were egged. No other houses/cars were egged, and I hadn’t made any enemies of kids in the neighborhood, but one of the house’s previous occupants was a sex offender, and the address was still listed on the online registry. Could that have been the reason?
Come Halloween? A handful of trick-or-treators, when there are (literally) hundreds of kids walking up and down my townhouse development. After 3 years, I gave up on stocking candy for Halloween.
Now, I’m just glad Baldelli-Hunt doesn’t represent my district.
Makes you wonder what the family that lived there before you went through. Makes you wonder why they moved.
Makes you wonder how much damage the registry really does to innocents.
Makes you wonder who may be next to fall when any law is retroactive.
makes me wonder and fear what or who will be next
When I read the original article, I wrote and emailed this letter to Ms. Baldelli-Hunt through the contact information given on her official website. However, her spam filtering system would not put it through to her; I received it back with a “failure” notice explaining that. If the Representative has her spam system set to reject her constituents’ emails, much is explained. I will attempt to reach her through this forum.
Dear Representative Baldelli-Hunt:
After reading your remarks in the article about your proposed legislation–“I’m not interested in their [those released after a sex conviction] rights or protecting them. I have no concern for them because they are the worst of the worst.”–I am quite frankly appalled, and I beg you to think about what you have said.
You know that these men, women, and children who are on the registry are almost always released back into their home communities. Therefore, they are your constituents just as much as any other person. Many are on the registry for offenses that, when you were a teen or young adult, were not considered illegal or were misdemeanors. Some were falsely accused. How can you have no concern for them? How can you call them the worst of the worst when you don’t even know the circumstances of their alleged offenses and of their lives? Many of them had no offense involving a child. Many of them are children themselves. Well over 90% of them will never re-offend and want nothing more than to atone for what they did and to assimilate back into their communities, yet you would drive them in fear and desperation from your midst.
And speaking of that, you also said, when openly advocating public shaming for them so as to drive them out, “It’s not our responsibility to be concerned with how other states handle their sex offenders.” Again, I am appalled. We no longer live isolated and separated from others; we are a global community. To openly admit, in any situation, that you have no concern for your neighboring states shows a degree of selfishness and arrogance that is not what one hopes for in his government representatives.
I do not write this to create antagonism but rather to beg you to think about your responsibilities as an elected official. I beg you to spend 30 minutes researching with ordinary online computer search engines what all reputable studies, both governmental and university, have to say about the sex offender registry and those on it. I beg you to develop some compassion for all, not just those that you deem worthy.
Thank you for reading my letter.
Sincerely,
Shelly Stow
Thanks Shelly. This is one of the Comments of the Day.
To think we have people making our laws who are so closed minded scares me too death. I bet if they ever met a RSO and gave them half a chance they would see they are human beings not all Monsters!!! What bothers me the most though is none of them ever think of the children and families of the offender. I will post a letter that was put together after talking and hearing from such families over the past year or so and I wish they would consider ALL the consequences of such Hate Filled Laws……….
Life as a Child of a Sex Offender
I would like to take the time to tell you what it is like to be a child of a Sex Offender.
I wake up every day wondering how many signs may be on our front lawn. How many people are going to ride by our house and point and take pictures? How many people are going to watch every move we make today? How many times are people going to call the police because my parent has done something, which for an average person would be normal but because they know a Sex Offender lives here that activity with their child looks suspicious?
How many more birthdays will be with just family because parents will not let their kids come to my party. How many parties will I not be invited to? How many more games will my parent not be allowed to watch me play? How many field trips will I not attend because it is too hard to listen to the whispers of the parents?
Are we gonna have to move again because my parent cannot find a job to pay for rent? Are we gonna have to stay in the car again; because it is hard to find a place to live, because our government has decided we are Prohibited to live in Low Income Housing????
How many YEARS am I gonna have to watch my parent cry with frustration because they can’t provide even the simplest life for our family.
Why is it everyone wants to Protect children but NO ONE thinks about me or kids in the same situation as me?? Can anyone answer that question??? Why do we not count?
I was always taught to do the right thing and if you didn’t you would have to pay for it. I did not know that meant you would pay for the rest of your life. I did not know that people would treat you as an outcast forever!!!! The Bible says; you should forgive.
The Constitution (which I learned in school) says we have rights, but it seems to me if your parent is a Sex Offender the Constitution DOES NOT APPLY. Otherwise how could they make laws that are Retroactive? Laws that continue punishing the person (and their family) forever. Prohibit us from living somewhere or prohibit us from free travel. Is the Constitution obsolete now??? I know everyone says these are not laws but civil regulations but in my mind regulations are the same thing as a law. They tell you what you can or can’t do and if you DO NOT follow them, you go back to prison!!! So, what is the difference between laws and regulations?
I have also noticed that the same laws that punish my parent do not always punish others who have committed the same crime. Is that because they are public figures( Professional Athletes, Government Officials, sons of Well Known Advocates, or people who have tons of money) and society is ok with them committing the crimes????? (I watch the news, read newspapers and research stuff on the internet) This affects my life everyday so I must pay attention.
I am hoping someday before it is too late that I too can have a normal life. Not always be a VICTIM of societies unfounded FEAR of all people labeled a Sex Offender. They are not all MONSTERS!!!!!
Maybe if people looked into their own lives they would realize they too could be considered a Sex Offender for things they have done. Maybe even if these laws were in affect a long time ago you or someone in your family could be one!!!
I cannot give you my real name as I fear it would put us in more danger, so I will give you a name for the life I wish I had.
Thank you for listening,
Living Free
Thanks for your perspective—this is re-posted as a Comment of the Day.
My response to this article is not as articulate as others. For that I apologize, however, mine is from a mother’s heart. You see, I am a mother of a young man who was 17 at the time he was accused and charged with a s*xual crime. I am also a mother of a young lady who was 5 years old at the time the police came (3 officers) into my home and tore my son’s room apart for over 3 hours. They found everything the young lady told them to look for in his room.
My son is only guilty of trusting adults and his girlfriend. Adults for giving him their word of approval to date their daughter, who was 14 at the time. His girlfriend broke her trust to him when it was brought out that she was 14 and not the told age of 15, soon to be 16. To make a long story short, her many lies became too much for her to cover up and the “rape” story came out to her parents. While awaiting trial for over 4 years, we learned the reason why it had taken so long to go to trial. She had another boy’s baby and the prosecution didn’t “want her pregnancy to sway the opinion of the jury of her.” The prosecution’s office personnel even babysat her child while she testified how horrible my son was in court! That was after they made her up to look like a 12 year old. They washed her makeup off, clothed her in clothes that only saints would wear and put her hair up in a pony tail. When my son was found guilty on two of the 15 charges, she and her family walked out of the court room laughing and carrying on with happiness. I on the other hand, sat and watched as they handcuffed my son and looked in to his eyes as they were filled with fear of the unknown. It was 4 months later that I would see him again, wearing an orange jumpsuit.
My daughter, she has prayed every night for her brother to come home. She won’t sleep in her own room, go to another room with out my husband or I. She lives in constant fear. She has not seem her brother now in over 5 years. She is 11 years old now. But when he comes home, she will not be allowed to see him because of the laws. She will be 18 years old before she can hug him again.
As for my husband and I, well we have suffered financially, with our marriage, and physically from all the stress involved with this ordeal. We miss our son horribly and want him to come home and be able to build his life and live happy.
This all happened because of the lies and the ease to accuse and convict someone on these lies. To know that we have politicians out there that continue to placate to these types of laws and seem to add fuel to the hysteria, just breaks my heart!
My son and my family want nothing more than to free his name and to live a life of contentment and happiness.
May GOD Bless the USA.
I am sorry RWsMom. Stay strong.
Thanks. And a Comment of the Day.
The new laws (AWA Adam Walsh Act) That were just passed in Alabama are sick. The state will get some big bucks from the Feds,,,surely money could not be the motivation.. Some of the laws are, every 3 months register with the city police and the county police. Pay 10 bucks to each department.
It requirs mug shot and fingerprinting. Your drivers license must have the scarlet letter for all to see when you use it to cash check, rent a movie or whatever. Sex offenders will have picture, address, crime, and a map to show where you live and work. (assuming you still have a home or job. Offenders cannot leave their residence for 3 days without permission and a travel permit. Notify the police where you are going and when you return.You are not allowed to live, work or loiter or be within 2,000 ft of schools, colleges, parks sporting events, bus stops, or vendors who cater to children. Many offenders had to move from their homes.Posters are sent to ocupants within the 2,000 foot boundry. Vendors who cater to minors… I guess if the ice cream truck rolls up you need to disapear quickly being carefull not to enter any of the listed bounderies. Another new addition states you cannot live within 100 feet of other sex offenders. I am not sure what thats about…Do sex offender operate in gangs of two or more or are they afraid sex offender wil rape each other.
I am A convicted sex offender and am under these new laws. There are over 100 pages of the AWA. My conviction was in April of 1981. I was in prison for 9 years, parole for 5 years. My home is paid for and I have lived here for 22 years. My wife and I are still dismayed that the powers that be can impose a retro active law on a crime that was committed over 30 years ago and impose new punishment. (ex postfacto.) Next uo the little yellow star with the “S”. They are already building the camps.
Saddly the registry is a joke. The public humiliation, the shame and disgrace that it imposes. The already overloaded system keeps law officials chasing people like myself. People who have already paid the price that the courts and the system had rendered. The worst part though, may be I deserve it. My wife did nothing, her only fault was to marry me.
Memories ressurected of a childs hidden fears
Of truths and of lies, of blood and of tears
Monsters from closets of a childs hidden fears
Monsters imagined and monsters that be real
All nightmares and memories…forever sealed