Registered Sex Offender Lists

*Soon we will have links to the Sex Offender Registry in Your State.*

 

John Walsh's Website, Family Watch Dog

 

FBI's Sex Offender Registry for each state

National Sex Offender Public Registry

Suggested Ways to Use the Sex offender

       Registry

Something to Keep in Mind

       (Not everyone on the list is dangerous.)

Sex Offenders Who Are Not on the List

How the Sex Offender Registry in Your State Works

 

 

- Click here to go to John Walsh’s website,

    Family Watch Dog.

 

Visitors can enter their address, and view a map of their neighborhood with the residences of Registered Sex Offenders clearly marked.  Clicking on the marked locations brings up a window that gives the offender's name, address, photo, and  crime.

 

Suggested Ways to use

The Family WatchDog Site:

 

Trace your child’s path to and from school, as well as and places where they play, and see who might live along that path.

 

 

FBI's Sex Offender Registry for each state

 

NATIONAL Sex Offender Public Registry,

United States Dept. of Justice

     You can search for registered sex offenders in any state (except Oregon and South Dakota).  You can simultaneously search up to 5 zip codes.  So if you live close to a state line, you can search the areas on each side of the line. 

 

Suggested Ways to

use the Sex

Offender Registry:

 

Looking through the list can quickly become overwhelming. There is no way you can memorize it. So what do you do with it?  The way I use it at my house is that I simply scroll through it on my computer, with my kids next to me. We glance at the pictures, and see if we recognize anyone. Because we are always meeting new people, and because new offenders are added to the list, we go back periodically and see if we recognize anyone now.

If there is someone new in your life who is going to be spending a lot of time with your children; a new babysitter, a close family friend, or your new romantic interest, check the list.  It doesn’t make you neurotic or paranoid, it just makes you a responsible parent in an age where such precautions have unfortunately become necessary.

 

 

 

Something to Keep in Mind:

There is one more thing to be aware of while perusing this list.   There are some "offenders" on the list who are probably not a threat to our children.  Let me explain: 

Some states do not classify their sex offenders as clearly as other states do; they just lump them all together under the generic term "sex Offender."  Here's how that can become a problem: An eighteen-year-old boy who gets caught sleeping with his 15-year-old girlfriend is a sex offender.  While we agree that an 18-year-old should not be sleeping with a 15-year-old, there is a world of difference between this situation and a 40-year-old luring 6-year-olds into his or her bedroom.  Lumping these two "offenders" together creates problems. 

Until this changes, use your best discretion when viewing these lists.

- SMAC'M's Director

Sex Offenders Who Are Not on the List

There are currently 255 registered sex offenders in Kootenai County, and over 500,000 in the United States. This does not mean that there are a total of 255 sex offenders in Kootenai County. The list only contains the names of people who were caught, convicted, served their time, and were then released and required to register.

This does not include, then:¨

p the people who haven’t been caught

- For every sex crime that is reported, two more go unreported¹

 

- By the time a sex offender is caught the first time, he or she has had an average of 50-100 victims^2¨

p or the Predators against whom the authorities did not have enough evidence to file charges 

 

p or the Predators who plea-bargained down from a felony to a misdemeanor, and are now not required to register as sex offenders

 

p or the Predators who were guilty but not convicted, due to lack of physical evidence, loopholes in the law, or a variety of other reasons.

Don't let this subject become overwhelming.  When we're overwhelmed, we panic and turn away without taking any action at all. 

We can't possibly know who all the child molesters are, or where they are.  That much is true.  But what we can know is where our children are, and who they're with -- at all times.  We can make sure our children don't walk down the street or hang out in public places unattended.  We can make sure our babysitters don't have friends over whom we don't know, and leave our children alone with those friends.  We can build a relationship with our children so that they know if they ever feel threatened, scared, or uncomfortable in some way they can't really articulate, they can always come to us.  We can teach our children simple black and white rules such as, "If anyone ever touches the parts of your body that your bathing suit covers, and that person is not a doctor who's examining you or (Mommy or Daddy) helping you take a bath, I want you to tell me." 

Or, you can do what I did.  I just told my kids straight out: "There are some adults in this world who like to try to have sex with children.  ...Yes, that is really gross....  Now listen, if you ever feel like someone is trying to trick you into taking your clothes off or letting them touch your private parts, I want you to get away from them, and tell me.  I will take care of it." 

If you have a good relationship and open communication with your kids, you can find ways to discuss matters like this without instilling them with fear.

 

- SMAC'M's Director

 

 

How the Sex Offender Registry in Your State Works

Go to KlaasKIDS at http://www.klaaskids.org/pg-legmeg.htm, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click on your state.

Here is a sample of the information you will find there:

     ___________________

1 From YelloDyno

2 From Enough-is-Enough

Copyright 2007, SMAC’M. All Rights Reserved.