by Paul Schingle

Created on: November 09, 2008   Last Updated: December 04, 2008

This is a great example of good debate material. Over the course of living some 45 plus years, I've discovered that superlatives like "all" or "none" or "best" or "worst" rarely work out for the person making the description. Ordinarily, for the protection of children and other vulnerable members of society, this would seem an easy question to answer. Sure, all sex offenders should register as such to protect others. But, it really isn't that easy. I will recount for you a true case and you can tell me if society is better off with this person as a registered sex offender.

I work as a case manager for persons with developmental disabilities. 90% of the people on my case load have housing and services in place and I simply monitor how well they're being served. A few of the people on my case load are still seeking services and I assist them with finding appropriate agencies to serve them and applying for the funding involved in said services. It is one of these cases that is the source of my story.

When I first met him, this client of mine almost didn't even seem eligible for the services. He drives a car. He's quite verbal. He presents himself as reasonably intelligent. However, he did present to me a psychological exam stating that he has an IQ of 65. By definition, he has mild mental retardation and, by definition, has a developmental disability. He's also a registered sex offender. Here's the reason he's registered.

A year and a half ago, an aquaintance of his gave him a used computer. On the computer was some software that was already built in that led to some pornographic web sites. Curiosity got the best of him and he checked out one of these sites. He liked some of what he saw and ordered a video. Unbeknownst to him, the video featured some underaged girls. Without understanding the consequences, he had ordered child pornography. I don't know if the police were monitoring this web site or, exactly how anyone found out what he had ordered, but he got arrested for engaging in child pornographic commerce. Since he had a clean record he essentially did no jail time and received a sentence including ten years probation. And, of course, he had to register as a sex offender.

Now, this fellow, who is a very concrete thinker, has followed all the rules since receiving his sentence. He sees his probation officer at least once per month. He was told to stay away from schools, libraries, playgrounds and anywhere that children may often frequent. For a long while, he

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