Sex Offender Sues Va. to Keep Name off Web

[Herman Munster]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/10/AR2006091001044_pf.html

John Doe is 31 years old, received degrees in philosophy and psychology from the University of Mary Washington and is an aquatics coach in the Washington area.

He does not want you to know his name or that when he was about 18 he was convicted of having sex with his 14-year-old sister. The sex started, police said, when she was in second grade.

Now that Virginia's online sex offender registry has been expanded to include all sex offenders -- not just those considered violent -- people such as Doe are being told that they must register or face arrest. That means that their names, photos and professions will be posted on the Internet amid the rapists and child molesters already there.

Hidden under the cloak of a pseudonym, Doe is taking the fight to court. Today, Doe's attorney will stand on one side of a Prince William County courtroom, asking a judge to allow him to remain anonymous and safe from arrest. On the other, attorneys for the defendants -- the county and the state -- will argue that the public has a right to know who Doe is and where he lives and works. And that he was convicted of incest, a misdemeanor.

[Sgent]

1. A few thoughts

mostly that he is as much a victim as his sister.

He was 11 when this started, and you don't have an incestual relationship for 7 years, starting at ages 11 and 7, w/o abuse on both of them.

IMHO the parents or cargivers should have been thrown in prison for this -- not him.

[ThomCat]

2. I agree, maybe.

He was a minor, so his record should be sealed. Putting him on a sex-offender registry effectively unseals his record.

His parents should be in jail over this. This could not have happened for that long without them knowing about it. It probably could not have happened without some prior abuse.

But even so, coercion and/or violence were certainly involved, and he's responsible for that. His being a minor, and any prior abuse, are factors that have to be considered, but... I wonder what his sister thinks.

[Herman Munster]

3. the sister feels comfortable with him being with her kids now

Doe's sister wrote a letter of support for her brother to Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert, saying that she and her brother received counseling and that she is doing well in life. She is a lawyer and is married with two young children.

"We have resolved our issues and maintain a close relationship often sharing in large family holidays and vacations," she wrote of her brother in May. "He is an important part of my family."

She described him as an "excellent uncle" to her children, saying she doesn't fear leaving them with him.

"I have healed from what happened to me as a child and continue to grow despite it," she wrote. Their mother also wrote a letter, saying the two "enjoy a normal brother sister relationship in the family."

[LostInAnomie]

4. How would society benefit from ruining this man's life?

The nature of his crime is something that he is very unlikely to repeat. He's gone 13 years without committing any other sex crime. Who would we actually be protecting by labeling this man a sex offender?

Labeling a person as a sex offender is worse in many cases than labeling them a murderer. Murderers can at least live where ever they want. Work where ever they want. Not have their home address, work, and photo placed on the internet so they can be singled out.

Actual rapists, molesters, and pedophiles are one thing, but this is something completely different.