Sex offenders on CBC campus
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TRI-CITIES, Wash. - Registered sex offenders are banned from living near grammar schools and interacting with students.
They still have the right to an education and Tri-Cities students may sit side-by-side with a sex offender in class.
For most college students, passing their classes is the biggest priority. Many don't worry about staying safe on campus.
Student Reana Watters said,"Yeah, we have security but they're not constantly patrolling. So I actually have protection for myself."
She is in her final year at CBC, most of her classes are at night. She showed us the knife she carries, just in case. Reana knows there's sex offenders on campus, CBC officials keep her in the loop.
Maddy Jeffs runs the program that gets offenders back in school.
She said, "Everyone who I'm aware of that is a sexual offender will meet with me."
It doesn't matter the level, 1, 2 or 3, she has close ties with all local law enforcement and gets direct alerts of sex offenders wanting to go to school.
"We have counselors working specifically with them particularly if they have restrictions so we can make sure they're not in classes where those restrictions would be a problem," Maddy said.
Staff members aren't just focused on getting registered sex offenders back on track. They work even harder to let everyone who's on campus. This past quarter there were a handful.
The degree of the risk to re-offend depends on who is notified. Only instructors or admin for level one offenders. For a person at the highest risk, every person on campus is notified well before school starts.
Notification goes way beyond emails. Security officials will post those same safety alerts posters you see released by the police on bulletin boards like this around campus.
Students like Reana appreciate the notice.
She said, "We want everybody to get an education but we want to know that we can be safe and identify our dangers."
Identifying that danger is the first step to preventing it.
CBC tells KEPR it has had some problems with level three sex offenders in the past but will not keep them off campus.
They are offered alternative ways to attend class, mostly through online courses.
They still have the right to an education and Tri-Cities students may sit side-by-side with a sex offender in class.
For most college students, passing their classes is the biggest priority. Many don't worry about staying safe on campus.
Student Reana Watters said,"Yeah, we have security but they're not constantly patrolling. So I actually have protection for myself."
She is in her final year at CBC, most of her classes are at night. She showed us the knife she carries, just in case. Reana knows there's sex offenders on campus, CBC officials keep her in the loop.
Maddy Jeffs runs the program that gets offenders back in school.
She said, "Everyone who I'm aware of that is a sexual offender will meet with me."
It doesn't matter the level, 1, 2 or 3, she has close ties with all local law enforcement and gets direct alerts of sex offenders wanting to go to school.
"We have counselors working specifically with them particularly if they have restrictions so we can make sure they're not in classes where those restrictions would be a problem," Maddy said.
Staff members aren't just focused on getting registered sex offenders back on track. They work even harder to let everyone who's on campus. This past quarter there were a handful.
The degree of the risk to re-offend depends on who is notified. Only instructors or admin for level one offenders. For a person at the highest risk, every person on campus is notified well before school starts.
Notification goes way beyond emails. Security officials will post those same safety alerts posters you see released by the police on bulletin boards like this around campus.
Students like Reana appreciate the notice.
She said, "We want everybody to get an education but we want to know that we can be safe and identify our dangers."
Identifying that danger is the first step to preventing it.
CBC tells KEPR it has had some problems with level three sex offenders in the past but will not keep them off campus.
They are offered alternative ways to attend class, mostly through online courses.
wrong.. everyone DOES care... especially about whether or not you'll rape or murder their loved ones..or themselves..You committed the crime.. now own up to it.. and be thankful you live in a country that lets you live for being a sex offender.
What happens when NOTIFICATION inceases risk of re-offense? Â A person is being told he is a danger and everyone will be notified of that and the result will be his isolation and alienation which WILL increase the chance the person will re-offend.
In fact the ONLY response the State has to a person who is considered a danger is to tell everyone without limitation, even people who have no need to know or who the offender is not considered a risk to certain people. Â
The idea that the State puts out to to the public the most  sensitive information the State could have on anyone, gives it to everyone and anyone in the community and doesn't consider the psychological impact that has on the offender is irrational.
The ONLY thing the label does when disseminated in unlimited ways  is provokes and isolates the offender.  The whole rationality of the public registry is that if everyone knows there will not be opportunity to offend.   It is assumed that social isolation will lead to less sex offending.
Identifying the danger is the ONLY step the State takes. Â It takes no other steps to lessen the danger IF one exists, Â and one doesn't have to pose any danger to be listed at the highest level of supposed danger.Â
Everyone knows that being listed as a sex offender entails humiliation. Â But the question becomes how many sex offenders won't get an education because of the social humiliation that is entailed by the registry ? Â Does a sex offender who won't get an education safer for the community or more dangerous?
Telling everyone a person is a danger is illegal because IF a person truly IS a danger the State MUST do something to lessen that danger.  Because if the State is letting people walk around who do pose a danger to society the State is acting in ways that are  inherently irresponsible.  BUT that is the problem, NOBODY on the registry is considered dangerous BECAUSE IF they were the State would have to act in ways to lessen that danger, up to and including incareration.  Instead all they do is warn?
What the sex offender registry is the creation of a police State that doesn't require court supervision. Â Courts need standards of proof, evidence, hearings and appeals. Â The registry needs none of that.
I left the sex offender registry. Â It became irrational to tell the public I was dangerous which caused my life to become chaotic, which was going to put my safety and/or security at risk, and thus the public more at risk.
Without the registry I am a productive member of society, with a stake in my community, and hope for the future. Â Telling me that I would have to go on a registry for protection of the community while my own protection is taken away is not rational.
Most of the kids who are sex offenders and on a college campus who are trying to get an education will fail. Â They will fail for the reasons most people fail. Â They fail because they won't have the social support system that is conducive to success. Â Nobody cares. Â
But don't think identifying the threat and putting it out in unlimited ways does anything but makes the threat greater. Â