Neighborhood Sex Offenders, Part Two
Many thanks to Andrew from MillerPark to bringing more information on the unpleasant topic of neighborhood sex offenders to my attention, and suggesting that I share it.
The Seattle Police Department has put together a website to address some common concerns, such as the ones I voiced, regarding sex offenders in the neighborhood. I’m not completely reassured that “high probability to re offend” means anything other than “high probability to re offend”. Although it is extremely unlikely to be my child, it is still *not a good thing*.
The vast majority of cases where a child is molested (or abducted, for that matter) are committed by someone known to the child. Protecting our children should be far more focused on trusting our intuition and safety practices such as those taught by Gavin de Becker in his excellent book Protecting the Gift than on some paranoid “stranger danger” tactic.
However, the fact that it is statistically unlikely is not going to make me feel any better if it happens to my child. So I still study the faces of sex offenders registered in my area, and the current admitted pedophile running a website - with pictures - on where to observe little girls in public places. I absolutely do not expect to see one of these people, but if nothing else, getting these email reminders serves as a reminder to me that occasionally random evil does happen, and I best not be complacent about it.
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