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Old 03-03-2016, 04:21 AM   #41
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Keep in mind also that not all "sex crimes" are alike, and some of them are extremely low risk for actually committing significant sex crimes. In some places you can be put on the offender registry and branded with the "scarlet letter" just for getting a little too intoxicated at a college party and urinating into a bush outside. Or someone who was barely over the age of consent having "consensual" relations with someone just under that age, maybe no more than 1-2 years younger. I don't think that's the kind of person the system intended to be treated as dangerous, unemployable garbage for the rest of their lives.
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Old 03-03-2016, 05:10 AM   #42
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In addition to my comments above, I would guess that in most major cities there are higher crime areas.

Those areas would be exponentially more dangerous that living near a sex offender.
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Old 03-03-2016, 06:58 AM   #43
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Being labeled a sex offender is not so cut and dry. If I had children I may be singing a different tune...but like others said what if you buy a house and a sex offender moves in down the street? Then what...

2 stores on opposite ends of the spectrum about sex offenders.

I knew a guy that went to my high school...he was in the military and 18 years old. Him and his buddies had consensual sex with a 17 year old girl...all parties were sober at the time...multiple guys, one girl. Everything was fine until father found out...went to police, next thing you knew all the guys were arrested/labeled a sex offender, no jail time served.

The 2nd...a baseball coach that coached young kids throughout little league. Had a wife, had a son and a daughter. Was a little strange but was intense with coaching...was actually a good baseball coach...knew the game. Turns out for many years he was raping his daughter. It happened to her at least her entire time in high school...so from 14-17...sometime after she graduated high school, maybe when she was 18 she exposed him. He was arrested, thrown in jail and is now out in the free world...also labeled a sex offender.

In PA if you go to the sex offender database it doesnt give specifics. Both of the individuals I spoke about above are labeled the same. One raped his daughter and one had consensual sex with someone who was 1 year younger than he was. Seems really fair huh?
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Old 03-03-2016, 07:03 AM   #44
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If no kids, I'd probably go ahead and buy if I were planning to live there for a long time. If you contemplated selling down the road, not sure how that might affect your ability to sell. What do the realtors say?
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Old 03-03-2016, 07:03 AM   #45
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In some places you can be put on the offender registry and branded with the "scarlet letter" just for getting a little too intoxicated at a college party and urinating into a bush outside.
I believe this is the case in my home state of MD. You can be labeled a sex offender for relieving yourself outdoors. I like to golf but will not walk into the woods on any course in MD and urinate anymore. Probably shouldnt do it anywhere to begin with but all guys seem to do this on the course at some point.
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Would you ever buy a house near a sex offender?
Old 03-03-2016, 07:32 AM   #46
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Would you ever buy a house near a sex offender?

Now if there was only a database for overbearing, nosy a-hole neighbors...
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Old 03-03-2016, 07:50 AM   #47
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I'm sure there are many people in every neighborhood that would be on "the list" but have not got caught.
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Old 03-03-2016, 09:22 AM   #48
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I completely get the concern. I understand protecting your family and wanting to keep everyone safe. Being aware is smart.

However, there are a couple of other ways to think about this:

1) People do stupid or sinful things. We all do.
2) Sex Offender is a very broad category and encompasses many things. Distribution of material is passing photos back and forth on the internet. I have guys I work with passing porn back and forth during work hours.
3) We are quick to judge, slow to forgive.
4) Maybe he's changed his life around and will have this hanging over his head.

I'm in the camp of if you have any issue to knock on their door and have a conversation. I have found that many people that have made mistakes are willing to talk about them. If you have a level of comfort then you move ahead. Whomever he is probably has had to deal with this frequently so will not be a surprise.
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Old 03-03-2016, 09:23 AM   #49
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There's a website that shows the location of registered sex offenders in the area. There are a surprising number of them nearby (within a few miles) including several within a few blocks. So it maybe that while this person is the one you know of, he may not be the only one near you.

I am sure that there are former and current offenders of many types, not just sex crimes, around here. Probably wouldn't enter in to my decision to move here if I didn't already live here. No kids to worry about though.
I earlier said crimereports.com but I think I used meganslaw website (I think this only contains sex offenders in CA).
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Old 03-03-2016, 09:39 AM   #50
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From the OP (my bolding)

Quote:
According to online reports, he was convicted ten years ago of possession/control of obscene material depicting a minor and also sending/selling/distributing said material.
If I were planning to have children I would not want to buy a house where I know ahead of time that only two doors away, this person, who sees children as sex objects, lives. This is not someone taking a whiz behind a tree or a 17-year-old dating a 15-year-old or any of the less serious offenses that someone might have on their record, this is a pretty hardcore crime. And yes anyone could later move nearby, but this one is a known factor. I would worry about my children, other young family members, and also their friends when they come over. Why risk it when you are still shopping around?
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Old 03-03-2016, 10:16 AM   #51
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I haven't read the whole thread, but a 19 year old boy getting tagged for dating a 17 year girl, I have no problem with, in fact it's ridiculous, the woman is more mature than the man in that case.

Now a 40 year old touching kids, whole different thing.

Unfortunately for everyone, our system can't see the difference.
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Old 03-03-2016, 10:31 AM   #52
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Out of curiosity, I searched the PA Megan's Law website for my zip code. There are 15 offenders living or working in my zip code. They are listed as Tier 1 or Tier 2 or Tier 3, with definitions of each Tier available elsewhere on the site. Tier 1 looks like where one would end up for possessing child porn or having consensual sex with a minor. Tier 3 includes violent rape and kidnapping.

One man is listed as a "sexually violent predator". Yikes! His mug shot doesn't look scary, I may have walked past him at the grocery store without even noticing him.

I was surprised to see a young man that graduated from high school with my oldest daughter (age 26). He's a Tier 1. I'll have to ask DD if he was a creep in HS.

To the OP's question: if the potential neighbor was a Tier 1 offender, and the house was perfect in all other ways, I would buy the house. There are many "ifs" in your future. If you have kids, if he still lives there when you have kids. If you buy a different house, what's to prevent a sex offender from moving in next door?

If the potential neighbor is listed as a "sexually violent predator", I wouldn't want to live two doors away. For my own safety as well as any future children.
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Old 03-03-2016, 11:11 AM   #53
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Out of curiosity, I searched the PA Megan's Law website for my zip code. ...One man is listed as a "sexually violent predator". Yikes! His mug shot doesn't look scary, I may have walked past him at the grocery store without even noticing him...

The issue wouldn't be that you didn't notice him, the issue would be that he didn't notice you.

To the OP's question: if the potential neighbor was a Tier 1 offender, and the house was perfect in all other ways, I would buy the house
...If you buy a different house, what's to prevent a sex offender from moving in next door?
If you buy a different house I guess there is nothing to prevent a sex offender from moving in next door. However, if the OP buys the house that is two doors down from the sex offender, there is still nothing to prevent another sex offender from buying a house right next door to her. Not a great block for a child to grow up on (my opinion).

Another problem would eventually surface: unless the OP could find a sex offender to buy her house, that house would be on the market for a long, long time.
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Old 03-03-2016, 11:38 AM   #54
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If you are really worried about this you could purchase a house near a school or other restricted area under a Jessica's law statute if it exists in your state.

Be aware, however, that these laws are being increasingly struck down by the courts.

Many Condo / Home Owner associations also have adopted the trend to attempt to ban sex offenders from their residences.

Certainly not saying that I agree with these policies but be aware that they are out there.

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Old 03-03-2016, 11:41 AM   #55
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It turns out that if you ever buy a house in anything less than a very empty rural environment that you have probably bought a house near someone labeled as a 'sex offender'.

In most places, there also isn't a guarantee that one won't move in near you later, or an existing neighbor will be labeled as such.

There are some interesting ways people get tagged for life. Golfers, hold it til you get back to the clubhouse. And look out for forensic breadcrumbs being left on your computer. Don't use peer-to-peer fileshare software (some software may use your system as an intermediate caching node). Use mail and web filters, and set your mail to never load remote images automatically (nasty stuff attached to some spam). Don't run a Tor exit node (you really don't want to show up as the exit node in some ISP log under investigation).
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Old 03-03-2016, 11:55 AM   #56
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Originally Posted by ponyboy View Post
I believe this is the case in my home state of MD. You can be labeled a sex offender for relieving yourself outdoors. I like to golf but will not walk into the woods on any course in MD and urinate anymore. Probably shouldnt do it anywhere to begin with but all guys seem to do this on the course at some point.
A couple of beers and walking 18 holes without peeing is not possible for some of us geezer-guys.
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Old 03-03-2016, 03:18 PM   #57
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One problem of keeping safe is that guilty will learn to mimic innocence. Actively recruiting pedophiles will find roles of authority with children and groom them. Rapists will act so nice. Their crime will be minimized, and aim blame at the victim.

"I can't help but feel so sorry for that little girl. Some people in her family abused her and really screwed her up. I tried to get her help but they manipulated her and got her to say I did it. I just pray that that girl will get the help she needs. They stopped me an' there's nothing I can do, but despite all I went through, I can look at myself in the mirror and know that I tried to get her help."

This was pretty close to verbatim of what I was told by a child molester I once knew. Later, I learned that he preyed on his brother's children, too.

Got convicted for peeing? I'd have to check court transcripts before I would believe that line.
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Old 03-03-2016, 05:47 PM   #58
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Got convicted for peeing? I'd have to check court transcripts before I would believe that line.
Mapped: Sex offender registry laws on statutory rape, public urination, and prostitution.

In any event, the point isn't that a lot of people are being ruined for life by peeing in a bush, but the potential is there, on the books, in several states. And the problem is that even if it wasn't strictly the intent of the law, in the real world when people hear someone is a registered sex offender, they think about child molesters and serial rapists, not about someone whipping it out to take a whizz in the bushes, or even (say) an 18-year-old engaging in non-coerced relations with a 17-year-old SO. And yet the law in some states, and certainly the court of public opinion and in the minds of many employers, don't draw a distinction between them.
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Old 03-03-2016, 05:53 PM   #59
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Sure! I love those pretty lady teachers who are sex offenders because they went after the boys. These pretty ladies offenders can come knocking at my door any day.
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Old 03-03-2016, 05:55 PM   #60
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Sure! I love those pretty lady teachers who are sex offenders because they went after the boys. These pretty ladies offenders can come knocking at my door any day.
Which is, of course, a classic example of a gender-based double standard. If a 30-year-old female teacher has relations with a 15-year-old male student, to many people he's "lucky" and she was "in love". Reverse the genders and many of these same people will call for the death penalty.
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