Are you sitting next to a sex offender in class?
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YAKIMA, Wash.-- When it comes to registered sex offenders, you want to keep them away from kids. The law prevents them from living close to schools but they can wind up on a campus. Kids in college might take a class with one and might never know.
Walking the hallways at YVCC, students are focused on making it to class, not that a registered sex offender could be next to them.
"I didn't think about it," said Carlos Martinez, a freshman at YVCC. "I don't think anybody else, it kind of ever crossed their mind like 'oh I wonder if there's sex offenders here.'"
But, it's possible. KIMA found out YVCC has eight sex offenders enrolled this quarter. Two are level two offenders and students have no idea.
"They need an education too," said Freshman Taylor Risley.
YVCC administrators say these students get closer scrutiny. They notify office staff who might come in contact with the offender. Professors are only told if there will be a level two offender in their class. However, the information is not passed on to students.
"They served their time," Martinez said. "So I mean, they're good to go, but just let us know who they are so we just have an idea."
YVCC does set out a very strict set of rules to these registered sex offenders attending college. They can't get anywhere near a gym if kids camps are going on and they can't come within a hundred feet of a child daycare related to the college.
"If I knew, it'd make probably a big difference," said Freshman Zacheri Alexander, who lives near a sex offender. "I probably wouldn't talk to them, but it's better off not knowing."
YVCC has not had a registered sex offender re-offend on campus, or even re-offend while attending school.
KIMA also wanted to know about Central Washington University. We found out six registered sex offenders are enrolled in classes there. Students are not notified either. Both schools recommend going to the sheriff's office for more information on student sex offenders.
Walking the hallways at YVCC, students are focused on making it to class, not that a registered sex offender could be next to them.
"I didn't think about it," said Carlos Martinez, a freshman at YVCC. "I don't think anybody else, it kind of ever crossed their mind like 'oh I wonder if there's sex offenders here.'"
But, it's possible. KIMA found out YVCC has eight sex offenders enrolled this quarter. Two are level two offenders and students have no idea.
"They need an education too," said Freshman Taylor Risley.
YVCC administrators say these students get closer scrutiny. They notify office staff who might come in contact with the offender. Professors are only told if there will be a level two offender in their class. However, the information is not passed on to students.
"They served their time," Martinez said. "So I mean, they're good to go, but just let us know who they are so we just have an idea."
YVCC does set out a very strict set of rules to these registered sex offenders attending college. They can't get anywhere near a gym if kids camps are going on and they can't come within a hundred feet of a child daycare related to the college.
"If I knew, it'd make probably a big difference," said Freshman Zacheri Alexander, who lives near a sex offender. "I probably wouldn't talk to them, but it's better off not knowing."
YVCC has not had a registered sex offender re-offend on campus, or even re-offend while attending school.
KIMA also wanted to know about Central Washington University. We found out six registered sex offenders are enrolled in classes there. Students are not notified either. Both schools recommend going to the sheriff's office for more information on student sex offenders.
Students should know, what if a student friends them takes one of them home to study... and there are other kids in house? Not cool.. Tattoo there dang forehead so we know who they are!!Â
More hype, hysteria and poor journalism looking to attract readers with stories and fables about bogeymen. Â It is bad enough that our lawmakers pass draconian laws and make them ex post facto, but the media is the worse. Â Is readership that low?Â
RIGHTS are forfited when you commit a crime.t. if a sex offender is found guilty , they lose rights. Â they had DUE PROCESS and lost .. they had due process and this is the penalty for it. RIGHTS ARE A PRIVLEDGE FOR BEING A LAW ABIDING CITIZEN. Â THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY , THE RIGHT TO VOTE, THE RIGHT TO OWN A FIREARM Â , THESE ARE SMALL PRICES TO PAY COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES. IN OTHER COUNTRIES A RAPIST , A CHILD MOLESTER, THEY GET BEHEADED. CRY ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS ALL DAY . WHERE ARE THE VICTIMS RIGHTS? Â THE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY IS NEVER GOING AWAY , IF ANYTHING IT WILL GET MORE PUBLIC. DON'T LIKE THAT? Â THEN DON'T COMMIT SEX OFFENCES .Â
this amounts to biased reporting.. there is the stigma that its bad to sit by a sex offender and not know it.. there is a glaring difference between a sex offender than a rapist the offender is well known to the family a rapist is not . there is laws in place to let us know where they are how come a regestry does not exist for the other offences i think knowing is much better than not knowing that these persons exist in our communites.. its the 10 pct of the populace that does wrong most are either paying their debt or have done so with the intent not to cause any more issues .. there is some states that went overboard on the laws.. and the infamous nimby effect plays out there as well... there has to be a balance in fair reporting which is not the norm some of it is prejudice i have read other articles from here and some of what i have read is biased and not fairly reported this only shows the problem not the total answer..time to be fair and not report what you feel is the truth when there is many other sides to this..do the research get all sides then report
sex offenders lose the right to privacy when they violated another human. child, adult or otherwise. every action has consequence. the consequence of a sex offense in this country includes registering . it is a highly supported measure . it has been and will be voted on , the people have spoken . we want sex offenders to have to register, we want them to notify the community they move to . if you feel like this is wrong you can try to start a petition to change this law. i don't like every law , but i obey them because majority rules and that is how civilized people behave. as a community we work togather , even if sometimes we don't get our way . it goes that way for everyone. sex offenders included.
KIMA, once again with the sex offender article! Enough. This is not reporting. This is pushing needless fear.
How about investigating and reporting if there has ever been a repeat offender offend while they were taking classes. Ever. Anywhere.
What about non-registered offenders on college campuses. Why don;t you let us know how many athletes have been convicted of sex offenses on campuses. Or fraternity members.
Students have more to fear from professors, coaches, fathers, uncles, brothers, priests and reporters. Why don't you report about how many "date rapes" and other sexual assaults on local campuses have been reported? That may actually take some investigation and thought.
KIMA, enough with the sex non-offender fear stories.
Are the people on campus a danger? Â NONE have offended, but are they a danger? Â Nobody cares, do they? Â The state slaps labels on people, and then every or any organization (this station included) wants to know why they exist and can socialize. Â
The kind of crime that runs into the imagaination (even though it is unsaid) is extremely rare and not the typical person who offends. Â Does anyone really think that any, but the tiniest percentage of those labeled are at risk of snatching a child from a day care center? Â Â
Nobody cares. Â
The State has set up a labranyth of laws to protect society from the extremely rare occurences of a stranger abduction. Â Society keeps offenders from living with their own families and forcing them on the street which supposedly protects society from a person being abducted from a school? Â
What are the risk factors for the typical sex offender who might offend (not that anyone cares). Â 1. is sociability. Â Society wants offenders to be alone with devient thoughts instead of cultivating healthy relationships. Â It is protection of the community.
2. Stable employment:  These guys are trying to get an education (which is a social endeavor) which MIGHT lead to employment and this  station doesn't want that to happen, or cares less about the outcome of telling everyone their crime, which will be isolation.Â
3. Stable housing. Â Nobody wants to live around those labeled. Â An offender has to constantly move because of pressure from the community. Â If an offender can't find stable housing, they can't be expected to get an education.
Nobody cares.
You have your list. Â It is a purely political list because it clearly doesn't require a person to pose ANY danger to be on the list.
The State is telling people they have to keep away from kids that pose no danger to kids, but nobody cares, so they have to stay away from kids regardless. Â Â
You hate due process. Â It would require some SHOWING that a person is a continuing danger. Â That can be done in all sorts of ways. Â But the ONLY response is a registry and laws that do nothing but makes it more likely an offender will become unstable and alienated and isolated and re-offends. Â
KIMA? Â You are on a college campus where binge drinking, drug use, assaults of all types happen quite regularly. Â Can you imagine some big jock on campus all souped up on sterioids (and there are more than a few) who decides HE is the enforcer? Â
These guys are in college where you should want them. Â There is almost NO CHANCE they will pose an immediate and/or pervasive threat to the campus expecially the kind of threats you think there are.
You don't care. Â You don't represent the truth. Â You represent the community. Â They hate some people with such a passion they will pass irrational and even dangerous laws. Â Your job is not to question that, but to be the megaphone for your community's outrage that a person even exists.
Are YOU sitting next to a sex offender? Â Well, everyone has. Â
@Rudy101Â sex offenders lose the right to privacy when they violated another human. child, adult or otherwise. every action has consequence. the consequence of a sex offense in this country includes registering . it is a highly supported measure . it has been and will be voted on , the people have spoken . we want sex offenders to have to register, we want them to notify the community they move to . if you feel like this is wrong you can try to start a petition to change this law. i don't like every law , but i obey them because majority rules and that is how civilized people behave. as a community we work togather , even if sometimes we don't get our way . it goes that way for everyone. sex offenders included.
@S DÂ @Rudy101Â Can society vote away the right to an attorney? Â Can society vote away the right to a trial? Â The answer is a resounding, NO. Â Society cannot vote away the RIGHT to privacy. Â It is easy to vote away the rights of unpopular people, but there are PROTECTIONS against society making politics out of criminal justice matters. Â Those protections include no double punishments, and no ex-post facto laws. Â Society has gone outside of a sentence of a court of law to strip RIGHTS. Â That makes those laws, per se, illegal. Â Laws that are illegally passed through the legislative process do not have to be changed through the petition process. Â They either are changed through the judicial process OR they do not have to be followed. Â
Working together against a group of people is not how a civilized society works. Â Society uses DUE PROCESS to restrict rights ESPECIALLY when doing so outside of a sentence by a court of law. Â You'll never understand that, SD, well, until they are stripping your rights by legislative fiat.
@S D The registry is one thing, but the loss of privacy is a loss of rights. Fewer than one in 20 sex crimes each year is committed by someone on the sex offender registry. Furthermore, these students who are on the registry may have been on the registry since they were as young as 9. Did you know that slightly more than one third of all "sex crimes" against minors (including teen-on-teen consensual sex) are committed by minors? This is a statistic found in government studies, including federal DOJ Statistics. There are now 250 crimes for which you can be placed on the sex offenders registry. It is no longer restricted to people who are dangerous or violent or even adults. Prevention is a much better place to spend this money than continuing to punish those who are unlikely ever to offend again.
@Rudy101Â @S DÂ my gun rights. but i get a voice and can fight that legaly. you cant because you were CONVICTED . YOU HAD DUE PROCESS. THERES NO DOUBLE PUNISHMENT , PART OF THE ORIGINAL PUNISHMENT IS REGISTERING. YOU DONT LIKE IT BECAUSE YOUR EMBARRASED OF YOUR CRIME. GOOD , THATS THE POINT . YOU SHOULD BE. FOREVER. YOUR VICTIMS HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT PAIN FOREVER. THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS OBEY THE LAW AND STOP ACTING LIKE A VICTIM.