Why Aren't Sexual Predator Location Sites More Widely Known?

This is a sensitive subject. Whenever we combine the term “sex” with the term “children” in nearly any context, people start freaking out. Save the children! Save the children!

It seems that this matter with sex offenders is more and more in the public eye, likely due to Dateline's To Catch A Predator series. It's not surprising that the series is popular because, let's face it, anything that bothers people and/or makes their jaw drop is something they'll tune in to over and over again. The show is popular from the water cooler buzz it creates: “Can you believe that people like that exist?” The fact is, these people DO exist, but not in the sheer numbers we're being led to believe. Our perception of the dangers posed to America's children is inflated. Sensationalism sells.

I understand the idea of trying to track dangerous criminals. What I don't understand is why sexual criminals are the only ones we're keeping track of in this way. First, aren't other dangerous individuals worth keeping tabs on? People who we know are apt to get behind the wheel after way too many drinks, people who burn down neighborhoods, muggers, and people who commit aggravated assault aren't as important for us to know where they are? How does that make sense?

Secondly, we lump a violent rapist or a sexually abusive father in the same category as a guy who says obscene words on a telephone call or an 18-and-one-day-old who has sex with her 16 year-old boyfriend. Again, how does that make sense?

I do see what the law is trying to do here, but I think come changes need to be made. We need to drop it altogether until we get it right, tighten up the program so it makes sense, or, apply it evenly across the board to all dangerous criminals. Or is voluntary manslaughter not sensational enough anymore?

The fact is, the world always has been – and always will be – a dangerous place. Knowing the residential location of a man who was arrested in college for indecent exposure after he had half a bottle of vodka won't change that.