The Substance of Justice - Sex Offender Records - Assignment Example

Due Sex Offender Records Like other counties in the Harris County has 63 sex offenders who are in the records of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The offenders are documented according to the type of sex offence he or she committed and the magnitude of the offense (Texas Department of Public Safety n.p). It is worth noting that majority, if not all, of the sex offenders are male who have harassed a female citizen. Most of the sex offenders on record have different types and degrees of offence.

The prominent type of crime is the sexual assault of minors. The sexual assault involve physical assault that include rape. The sentence for this offence is highest among the penalties subjected to sex offenders. Indecency with a minor is another offence. It involves exposing an adult’s private parts in front of children. In addition, touching the genital of a person of the opposite sex without consent is a sex offence documented in the State department for public safety. Unfortunately, sex offences are mostly targeted at children.

In the registry, most of the victims are under the age of 16. It is disturbing to note that male adults sexually harass children aged as low as 7 years. However, there are cases of male adults harassing elderly women with a sample case of an assault on a woman aged 71. The assaults on middle aged women are minimal. Sex offenders are deemed to be dangerous to the community. Actually, I wouldn’t feel safe living among sex offenders. However, taking into consideration the rights of each individual to live in a free country without discrimination lures me to rebel against the stigma that sex offenders are subjected to.

Human being are prone to change if given a chance. The community should thus integrate them into the society and engage them if they desire to live normally (King 61). Sex offender records are damaging to the self-esteem and also the future of the convicts after parole. When records remain in the public domain, the offenders are prone to prejudice, and stigma from the public. Integration into the society seems hard to them due to the records. In this regard, the department of public safety should have the records of paroled individual erased if they pose no threat.

The cause of the offence each individual committed should be the starting point in gauging the validity of the information in the database. Despite the proposition to erase the criminal records of individuals, there are records that are necessary for public safety. Paroled criminals who have a high chance of repeating the crime should be kept away from it be informing the public. As such, the records should be in the public domain. Such crimes may include murder, burglary and cybercrime. Although this would come at a cost to the offenders, they would invest in convincing the society on their changes so that they be fully integrated.

This would only happen by abstaining from the criminal activities altogether. In a nutshell, recording sex offence is a noble thing in protecting the community from potential repeat crimes. However, the changes ad improvements made by the offenders should be recognized by the society by erasing the damaging records from the database. Works citedKing, Lawrence. (2010). Hate and Discrimination in America. Xlibris Corp. Print. P. 61Texas Department of Public Safety. "TxDPS Sex Offender Registry TxDPS Sex Offender Registry." N.p., Web. 8 July 2014.