As a female college student, safety is a big concern. Being in Burlington, I feel safe. The area is open, and the police are friendly and helpful. Also being a big college town, the campuses are all equipped with the blue lights emergency call system. In my public speaking class, I was doing research on sex offenders.
My hometown, Bangor, has about 7,000 less people than Burlington and as of May 2009 there are 150 registered sex
offenders. One of the big issues in the city is that many of these offenders live in low income housing. Now, the city is divided into east and west sides, each with their own school branches. Both branches follow under one superintendent and system, but each side has two K-3 public schools, one 4-5 grade school, and one 6-8 school. I attended the east side of Bangor, and the low income housing is by 3 of the east side's schools. That doesn't seem right. Many of my friends lived near sex offenders and their parents were strict about playing outside. I feel safe back home, knowing the location of these sex offenders. But here in Burlington, I don't know where they live, nor am I given information to all of them.Based on my experiences back home, I was doing research on Vermont's Sex Offender Laws for my publi
c speaking class, and what I found was shocking. Burlington has 88 sex offenders registered, and the government is meticulous on who registers. Being a big college city, an issue would be those attending school who are registered on the list back home. " A non-resident sex offender who moves to Vermont for full or part time employment or to attend school or college on a full or part-time basis must also register,"(Vermont Criminal Justice). I think that is very crucial, along with who is on the list. According to Vermont's Criminal Justice Department, sex offenders don't need to molest or rape others to be listed; they can be convicted for sexual harassment, kidnapping, and exploitation. At the beginning of school, an email was sent to those attending Champlain College and University of Vermont containing information on an attempted kidnapping. In this respect Vermont does very well. The schools were notified immediately and word was sent to protect students and to once again remind them that there are bad people in the world, and to avoid them never travel alone.But even though, Vermont may get the word out and do some things right, the sex offense laws need to be updated. Upon registering, the information needed is name, date of birth, physical description, date and nature of offenses, whether offender received treatment, and whether there is a warrant for violation of Registry requirement, and then further information is supplied if the law designates the offender with a heightened
notification level. But what if you were peeing in public? If caught only a slight number of times, you will be placed on this list. You will no longer be able to have a job, and your life would be ruined. If a person is purposefully desecrating a building in front of people then that's understandable for being put on the list. But you can't control when you go to the bathroom. Everyone has experienced at least once a time when they had to go to the bathroom and couldn't hold it. When I was in Berlin, there was a carnival going on in a few of the streets. A woman walked by me with her little girl who had to go to the bathroom. Instead of bringing her daughter to a porta-potty, she pulled down the girl's pants and made her go on the sidewalk. Although unhygienic and appalled at the laziness of the mother, I don't think this is a charge worth arresting someone. Is this information that everyone needs to know, and worth ruining someone's life? Vermont needs to consider the level of severity, before posting people's misdemeanors.Personally, I don't want to know people who went to the bathroom in public. I care about those who sexual harrass, assualt, rape, and murder. Vermont believes it is, and charges these people the same as those who commit murder, in regards to the registry list. After receiving an offense Vermont is very relaxed at how they handle failure to comply to offense laws. A first failure would receive 2 years maximum in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, and a second offense is only 3 years maximum in jail and/or a $5,000 fine. Now, this may seem like a lot of money, but compared to the act of violated someone, the offender can keep offending and not be fully punished. Especially if they start at a young age.The main problem with the sex offender laws is, " Conduct which is criminal only because of the age of the victim shall not be considered an offense for purposes of the registry if the perpetrator is under the age of 18 and the victim is at least 12 years old," ( Vermont Criminal Justice Department). In simplist terms, if an offender is a minor and the victim is at least 12 they need not be registered. With this in mind, any underaged sex offender, including any middle and high school students, and freshman and young sophomores in college, will not be put on the list. There could be more than 88 registered offenders where I attend school,and shouldn't the public know?Just in Burlington, the youngest registered is 23 years old. High school and middle school students can commit sexual felonies too, yet because they are minors they won't be labeled for it. This law is not adequate pertaining to today's society. Instead, the law must be stricter to incompass underage sex offenders (depending on the severity of the crime), in order to protect the innocent children that can't protect themselves.
LA City Beat states, " Child-protection advocates argue that it is more important to hold juvenile sex offenders responsible for their actions than to worry about them being stigmatized by the registry or punished too harshly." It seems like Vermont agrees with this, but other states disagree. Texas puts children as young as 10 on the list. An 8 year old girl named Amie Zyla was violently assaulted by 14 year old, Joshua Wade. Amie was staying over at a family friend's for a sleepover when this happened. Wade was tried in juvenile court and sent to juvenile detention center. His record was sealed, allowing him to work at a summer camp later, where he assault more young girls, and is now sentenced to 25 years in prison. This happened in Wisconsin, but could happen anywhere. It could've happened at your middle schools and high schools, and it can happen here. Amie has been pushing for a national law to change this, and why not wait until the national government forces Vermont to add this law, why not adopt it ahead of time?
I understand this video clip is a spoof to an extreme case, but this video highlights something that no one else has, that children can commit sex offenses. Almost all minors cases are sealed. Therefore making it impossible to find video clips, and hard to find news stories. This fake broadcast of To Catch a Predator uses Humor as its main persuasive technique. They are highlighting the over-dramatics of the TV show through the use of humor which stimulates not only an emotional transfer on the viewer but also triggers the limbic brain. But this isn't a humorous topic. The video also triggers the neocortex, allowing the viewer to comprehend the subtle symbolic hints of the typical scientific evidence shown on To Catch a Predator. What's interesting about the video is that it highlights a cultural shift in today's society. What was once knowledge used to protect children, is now a form of entertainment. Other techniques shown in the video are the plain, unfamous people, the name 'Bill Johnson' as a reference to a beautiful person, and the name calling persuasive technique in a literal sense. The kid retaliates to Bill by calling him a 'jerk.' Although their message was to poke fun at a TV broadcast, the message I took from the clip was that children can commit sexual felonies, which proves my point.
Vermont needs to reconsider the wording of the Sexual Offense Laws to include younger children on the registry, for the benefits of the innocent children of our future. If a child conducts sexual harrassment or rape, and their case is sealed, what's to stop it from happening, and what if this person was your neighbor? Would you want your child near them, without your knowledge of their sexual past?
Abigail Clark
Burlington
Media Meditation #7
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