Wednesday, March 08, 2006

 

An Amazing Website

As the father of three daughters, I constantly worry about the threat posed by other human "predators". The statistics aren't good. Something like 20-25% of women in the USA will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. That number terrifies me because, if true, it virtually assures that one of my girls will come under assault at some point.

So this website is just amazing. Enter your address, city, state and zip code and a map will appear that will show you if & where there are registered sex offenders living near you. There is a color-coded legend that shows you what type of offender they are. What's really creepy is if you click on a colored square, it will pull up the person's mug shot, name, offense and where they live! You can also sign up to be alerted as to when a sex offender moves near you. Good to know!

http://familywatchdog.us/

-Kev

Comments:
Thanks! I sent this to all my friends who have kids. Love ya!
 
Don't be lulled into false security, though - it only lists convicted offenders who are registered. None of the guys who molested me where ever convicted of anything. Be ever vigilant.
 
What scared me was seeing that the number in my subdivision rivaled the number in the entire city of Huntsville.

I do realize that most sex offenders are never charged, much less convicted, but it does tell you a LOT about your neighborhood if there are more convicted rapists on your street than guys without a rap sheet.
 
Y'know, I don't really think there are more molesters now than there ever were in the past. I basically don't buy into that ridiculous idea of the "good old days" where things like that never happened. It's just that we never heard about it back in those days.

On the other hand, knowing that there's even one or two (or twenty) in your neighborhood who were convicted is enough to make you less complacent and more vigilant.

Sam - what kind of therapy have you been to about your horrible experiences? Did it play a part in why you when into psychology yourself?

Warm regards,

-Kev
 
Kev,

First, Marian took me to a priest who said nothing ever happened to me because I was too calm about it.

I had a great therapist in Jackson who helped me work through a lot of stuff, including getting out of the marriage I found myself trapped in because it never ocurred to me that I had the option of saying "no."

The books The Courage to Heal and Stories I never told were invaluable, too.

And, yes, that's why I want to work with abused children. I worked as a psych tech at an adolescent A&D tx center for a while - loved the work, but techs don't make a living wage. When the idea first ocurred to me, I thought I was too screwed up to qualify. Then, after a day when all our dental patients had unloaded all their woes on me, I jokingly mentioned it to my psychologist, and he encouraged me.

The rest, so far, is history.
 
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