Since there is no death penalty for sex offenders, those convicted of crimes remain alive, they exist as people.
I NOTE the announcement of the Government's proposal to create a sex offender register by the end of the year, for the purposes of police and those who deal with child safety. It is not intended to be a public register.
Naturally, the Sensible Sentencing Trust, an advocacy group who
seek "justice" for victims, wants the register made available to all. For my part, I hope they never succeed.
As I write, Debra Coddington's book, The 1996 Paedophile and Sex Offender Index, sits on my desk, extracted from the newsroom library. It caused quite a stir in its day, apparently, at a time when the internet was only five years old. To an experienced reporter, the individual content is unremarkable in that it is standard material that appears in the local rag - it's just all together in one index. Last known locations are not stated. At the back there is a footnote from a letter writer, a supporter of the index, which states he or she believes sex offenders have forfeited their right of privacy.
Nobody forfeits their right to privacy. In that direction lies dystopia.
Since there is no death penalty for sex offenders, those convicted of crimes remain alive, they exist as people. New Zealand society is a civilised, Western society where people have a basic right and responsibility to live. And they have to live somewhere. They can't simply not exist, no matter how much some wish them dead.
