posted
I guess so, but how many background checks will do a photo check? You can bet that this sort of check will be a standard for everything from apartment rentals to job applucations (particularly for teachers and child-care workers).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim: Yeah, I'm all for protecting children, but I also believe that after a person has served out his/her sentence in penalty for an offense, he/she should be accepted back into society and not have to face further (legislated) consequences. And this online database does indeed smack of Minority Report-esque Information AgeTM scariness.
-MMoM
I agree with you that criminals should be accepted back into society once their debt to society has been paid, its just that some of the creeps who'll end up on the list will most likely commit their crime again.
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
But again, on what basis is it determined who "will most likely commit their crime again"? I think attempting to guage the likelihood of potential crimes and applying legal sanctions to those who might commit them is dangerously iffy ground to be treading on. What happened to presumed innocence until guilt is proven?
And how do you address cases such as Shik's? Or the issue of just how arbitrary the definition of a "sex crime" is these days? If you can't separate those who pose a genuine threat from those who don't, then it's a Very Bad DealTM. Someone once said that part of the basis of our justice system is the idea that it's preferable to let ten guilty men slip through the cracks than to unjustly usurp the rights one innocent man, and I agree with this sentiment.
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
One might also point out that any justice system created and operated by flawed humans is, in and of itself, flawed. Put another way, not everyone convicted of a crime is actually guilty thereof.
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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