How Many vigilante victums??

From one part of the country to another it seems that these cases are not limited to one area. In the cities and in rural areas victims are beaten and a good number are murdered. This is occurring and law enforcement, legislators and the public are turning a blind eye.

Can we define the causes of these crimes? If we simply look at newspaper reports we can clearly see the cause; the cause is none other than the public sex offender registry.

The latest vigilante action to come across the internet is a case from Florida. A register Offender was walking his dog in his own front yard when he was attacked, beaten and his dog was killed. Those responsible had found his name and picture on the public hit list known as the Sex Offender Registry.

Was this an isolated case? Hardly. Here are a few interesting cases.

Michael Dodele had been free just 35 days when sheriff's deputies found him dead from stab wounds last month in his mobile home. A neighbor was arrested for the murder. The neighbor had "told every house" that he had found Dodele's name listed on the Sex Offender Registry. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/10/the_skinny/main3597422.shtml

Two released sex offenders who were on the Sex Offender Registry were murdered. A man is believed to have posed as an FBI officer, went to their apartment and shot them. Police said that the man spoke with three roommates and said he was as a member of the FBI and said he wanted to talk to them about their Level III sex offender status. http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/08/29/340/52675

Dennis McCarthy was stabbed to death at his Holly Township home Sunday morning, just one week after release from prison. Police said, "We have strong suspicions that he was targeted" http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/08/murdered_sex_offender_released.html

Stephen A. Marshall shot and killed Joseph Gray. The victim had been dozing on a couch at his home in Milo, Maine. Five hours later, Marshall knocked on the door of William Elliot's vinyl-sided mobile home in Corinth, 24 miles away. When Elliot appeared, the 20-year-old assassin fired at point-blank range. The murders were vigilante strikes against registered sex offenders who were strangers to Marshall and to each other. http://archive.guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=BF0FA813-7607-4666-B1F081D6A6C701CC

Registered Sex Offender Targeted - Investigators say two Scott County men took the law into their own hands. They admitted to setting a fire that killed an innocent woman. "It was vigilante justice," said Scott County Sheriff Anthony Lay. "This is a prime example of how an innocent person has been fatally injured," added Sheriff Lay. http://deaths-of-others.blogspot.com/2009/02/tn-reaction-to-vigilante-justice.html

These are but a minute sample of the vigilantly murders that are being carried out with the full knowledge of police departments across the country. I say full knowledge because any time you make it easy for vigilantes to target a group that they hate, the outcome is obvious. In this case murder. However beyond the murders of RFSO's, there have been other vigilantly attacks such as these:

Vigilantes Use Online Sex Offender Map to Burn Down Wrong House. Critics of these tools often say that they can make those sex offenders targets of retribution crimes by would-be vigilantes, and that seems to be just what was attempted in a case of arson in Evansville, Indiana. There, a trailer full of equipment sitting in the driveway of a house was ignited by arsonists who also scribbled "GET OUT PERV" on the garage door. The vigilantes, however, seemed to have the wrong address. http://www.switched.com/2008/02/05/vigilantes-attempt-to-burn-sex-offenders-house-and-miss/

Vigilantes: Coming soon to a community near you "in a scene reminiscent of the Salem witch trial days, a crowd of angry neighbors descended on a New Hampshire home, taunting the woman resident as a "molester" and "skinner" (prison lingo for a child molester) before tossing a burning scarecrow on her front porch."

"A drunken father and son broke into the house of a paroled sex offender in New Jersey and began beating another man whom they mistakenly took as the sex offender. Yet again, the vigilantes had found their victim through a "Megan's Law" community notification law."

"In Bakersfield, California, a knife-wielding vigilante tried to break down the door of a sex offender whose name, photograph and address had been distributed in the neighborhood by police. Police shot the vigilante dead." http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2007/10/vigilanteism-coming-soon-to-community.html

Vigilantism against a wrongfully convicted sex offender "In June 1995 the state of California opened up a 900-number hotline in which callers can get information about registered sex offenders. Someone in the neighborhood found out that Ted was on the list. He and Jean have since been hounded and harassed. The neighbors have placed posters all over the neighborhood containing information about Ted. They have received three death threats." http://www.privacyrights.org/node/2878

Once again these are but a few of the enormous number of vigilantly attacks that are taking place here in the land of the free. One would expect this in some place like Siberia, but here?

So why are the police and legislators still backing the registry? Well maybe it is working to protect children, that would explain it right?

Report finds Megan's Law fails to reduce sex crimes, deter repeat offenders in N.J. "Despite wide community support for these laws, there is little evidence to date, including this study, to support a claim that Megan's Law is effective in reducing either new first-time sex offenses or sexual re-offenses," [ihttp://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/study_finds_megans_law_fails_t_1.html

Megan's Law: does it protect children? "Most states have very little evidence on the actual impact of community notification on their jurisdiction. Most of the understood benefits of the laws are based on assumptions about the nature of sexual offending and the behavior of parents and community members. Such assumptions are rarely supported through research, but continue to legitimize the law for law enforcement workers and members of the public" http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/Findings/meganslaw_wda48233.html

Seems that the registry is not protecting children and the government knows it.

Considering the real danger to life and limb that the public registry poses, it is time for humane people to stand up and call for an end to the violence, murders and vigilantism. It is time to take the registry out of the public view and place it back in the hands of law enforcement. It is time to make America safe for ALL of its citizens.