“If the constitutional conception of ‘equal protection of the laws’ means anything, it must at the very least mean that a bare…desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate governmental interest…” -- Romer v. Evans, 517 US 620 (1996)When Patty Wetterling first advocated a nationwide registry of convicted sex offenders back in 1990, she was told
that sex offenders have rights [1]. Twenty years later, the public sentiment has done an about face and it seems no
deprivation of human rights are wrong when applied to registered citizens. A Louisiana state representative made
the following comment with reporters after the session had passed 14 sex offender laws in a month:
''Is there anything left we can do to sex offenders with a few days left in the session [2]?''
The reporter claimed it was a “joke,” but that quote illustrates a growing problem with Predator Panic—sex offender
laws have created a degraded class in America. This particular article covers instances of sex offenders degraded
by laws and some of the rationale behind this alarming trend.
CREATING A SECOND CLASS
In the 2006 book “Failure to Protect,” author Eric S. Janus warns the current wave of sex offender laws resurrect the
notion of the “degraded other,” reversing the anti-discrimination trend from the civil rights era. The concept of “risk”
is used as justification for placing sex offenders in a “reduced rights zone [3].” The fact is registered persons are the
modern day lepers, but only recently have the courts been bold enough to admit in recent years that sex offenders
are officially a “degraded class.”
..For the remainder of this commentary: by OnceFallen.com
