Beware Election-Year Laws!

Politicians on all levels LOVE to pass stupid laws to pander to some interest group. They never think through the ramifications of their actions. They are only interested in getting that soundbite, that headline.

Georgia is passing a draconian law against sex offenders. The law is being held up in court, but the problems have already started.
The law prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, playground or other place where children congregate. The law includes bus stops. This makes it illegal for 10,600 Georgians to live just about anywhere in the state.
Stupid voters love it because it's for the children and sex offenders are the worst scum on earth. Right?

Yes, some of the registered sex offenders are real scum, but some aren't, and the law doesn't make any distinction.

I knew a woman once. She was about 40. Beautiful. She had screwed around with a 17 year old boy. Everything was fine until the boy started demanding money from her. If she didn't pay, he'd go to the cops. She didn't pay. He turned her in. Now she's a registered sex offender. Who's the victim and who's the predator here?

Another woman is on the list because she gave her boyfriend a blowjob when she was 17 and he was 15.

A man convicted of statutory rape several years ago in Indiana was told to move from his home, where he lives with his wife and their children. Like many offenders, he was found guilty of consensual sex with an underage teen. The former teenage victim is now his wife.

Thousands of others are on the registry for having consensual sex when they were teenagers, or for lesser crimes such as flashing, peeping through windows and sexual battery, which often translates into inappropriate touching. One of Whitaker's co-plaintiffs, a 23-year-old Georgia State student, got on the list for drunkenly groping a co-ed at a keg party.

One of the results of the law is that it often breaks up the only support the offenders have; family. For those that are married, it may mean separating a husband and wife.

Another result is that the only place that these people can live is often way out in the middle of nowhere. Great, right? Not if the only counseling is available near cities.

Another result is that hundreds of offenders have decided to go underground. They have stopped reporting into their parole officers and have disappeared. That is, until they get picked up for speeding. Then they will be imprisoned for years. If not, how much more dangerous to society are they now?

One size fits all government never works well.