[H. Hound]

Found a new interesting site. Just put in your Zip, and a map will pop up showing the approximate location of reregistered sex offenders in your neighborhood. My old neighborhood was way depressing. Exit 32 is much better.

[Trevor]

Spotting a child molester is quite simple, just look for the trademark pedosmile.

[Toonces]

A word of caution to all wannabe vigilantes.

[peppersteak'n'ale]

[Elvis]

Thanks H Hound! A good tool, but keep in mind that it's only as good as the information provided by the sex offenders (or whomever is providing their information). Based on this map, in my town there are sex offenders living at a car dealership, a home improvement store and along a dike by a river underneath I-5. Unfortunately, there are also others that are in residential areas.

[kiliki]

The Seattle police deparment has a brand new and excellent site that shows pictures and tells you what blocks they live on. Sex offenders

[mpaul_hansen]

RE: Listing - word of caution - legal loopholes Be aware, some offenders have recently found an apparent loophole, in the required registration. My North Seattle neighborhood had to keep an eye out for such an individual, who, it appears, listed his pickup As His Residence. Presume the laws will be amended to address this. At least I hope so.

[ree]

When I lived in Belltown, I could see a psychiatric free clinic and a half way house from my apartment 2 blocks away. Thus, there were 41 registered sex offenders in my zip code - most of them at the halfway house. It's right next to Two Bells Pub on Fourth.

[Justan]

OMG there are 250 of these folks in the area!!!

[Tazz]

[ree]

This is a sad upsetting story, so don't read this post anymore if you will be upset too. It's a relevant therapy moment for me, so please indulge me. Last summer, the 12 year old girl next door was hanging around, so I asked her if she wanted to mow my lawn. I figured it'd be a good way for her to earn extra money, and a great way for me to escape the task. She was very eager to help out. After she'd finished the mow, we started pruning the shrubs together, and we started talking a little. It was really interesting how she crept around me a little from a conversational standpoint, asking me about myself, then confiding in me about her life. She matter-of-factly stated her "mom is a lesbian"; that her mom's last live-in girlfriend had finally moved out, and that they were "on their own." (Most of this I'd already gathered, so it was no surprise.) She said she was envious of my solitary life, with "no one around to tell you what to do, and share your space." I asked her where her dad was... only to intuit the answer before I got it, and then immediately regret ever asking it. "I don't see my dad. He molested me... so I never see him anymore." It was like a giant shoe had dropped, but I didn't react. She continued elaborating in graphic detail how her father molested her starting at the age of 7.... using sleeping pills on her. Then one night, he forgot to give her the pills and she woke up. She said that the whole nightmare came to a head when she began to "act out" with the little boys at school. To do "what her father had taught" her. She got called into the principal's office. When her dad picked her up, he beat her to a pulp. Then she got whisked away to child protective services, and foster care. I was horrified beyond imagination and sickened to unspeakable sadness, but I tried not to react too much. By a wild visceral reaction, I thought I'd keep her anguish alive... and I wanted to keep her in the present, in safe company. I said, "Well, your dad's a real scumbag." She asked me what a scumbag was. Then I felt embarrassed for teaching her a bad word! Hell, she probably knows what an assholemutherfucker is... But doesn't know what a scumbag is?! I told her scum is found on the bottom of your shoe... and a bag... well she knew what a bag was! I asked her if her mother found her... She said yes. "And your mom came and got you, right?" "Yes," she said. Then I weakly tried to focus on the positive... that her father is far away from her, and can't hurt her anymore. I felt so weak to help her. I can't describe the devastation I felt for this poor child. I knew she was tormented for life, and she would be severely handicapped. It's not like you "get over" something so devastating... you live in spite of it. She made me promise not to tell her mother that she had confided in me. I never broke her confidence. For weeks afterward, I didn't see her again. I casually asked her mother about her the next time I was out front. "Oh well, she got sent away to another school because she was having problems, but she's doing much better." I am sickened by the whole thing. My sense of her mother is that she is entirely immature, and wants her hands washed of her daughter... Even the way she acquired a Great Dane puppy then consigned it to the garbage-stuffed garage for living confirms her insensitive selfishness. The father... well if I could tie cement blocks to his ankles and dump him in Puget Sound alive whilst I drink some Cristal... sounds good to me! ********* Recently, my best friend's 6 year old son, got called into the principals office. Apparently he was doing "naughty things" with a little girl.... a little girl who'd been molested and was "acting out." All I'm left with after this story is a "why?" You've got "Dateline NBC" doing sting operations, and they nab 50 guys per episode meeting up with children to have sex! Granted our society exhalts youth to a ridiculous, obsessive extreme. You see younger and younger girls offered for sexual titallation in magazines. Is that it? Is it that simple? Can we just blame the media? I will say this: men who cannot control this drive, this urge, do damage that lasts decades beyond their 10 second orgasm. I wish they'd see the bigger picture. Child molestation is utterly damaging and destructive. I have seen it.

[greg]

Wow, that's sad, and scary.