Posting #19- I am not the same person I was eight years ago, by Ted

By: Ted
Date: 1/3/2009

Dear RSOL of Virginia,

I received your letter, wherever did you get my address? HA!

I must say I am glad to see that someone is speaking out about the as yet seemingly unchallenged disregard for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights when it comes to sex offender legislation. It has been a number of years since I committed my offense. I have been up and down and in and out on why I did what I did.

I am increasingly fascinated by society’s generalizations and ignorance regarding sex offenders as it applies to human behavior. Despite our supposed advances as a society, our handling of the matter of sex offenses seems to be spiraling backwards faster than anyone can keep track of them. I wonder if any of these lawmakers can recite the requirements of a registered sex offender and the list of applicable offenses from memory. Since their decisions affect my fate, it would make me sleep at least a little better if I knew that they knew what they were doing and to whom they were doing it. It reminds me of an interview I saw recently in which a congressman was pressing hard for a sculpture of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in front of a federal courthouse. When asked by the interviewer to name all ten, he could only come up with about one and a half.

I thought the piece written by Paul Shannon was well spoken, what caught my eye was his mention of the public outcry for the rights of people being incarcerated for alleged acts of terrorism and the lack of public outcry about the similar  disappearance of rights for those charged with sex offenses. For the record I agree that those detained as suspected terrorists deserve all of the same constitutional rights as anyone. But I think there is a reasonable explanation for the comparative lack of outcry on behalf of sex offenders. People think of terrorists as people in a far off land, they don’t think of their neighbor. Sex offenders are all around us. In general, it is easy for the public to keep a clear head about the constitutionality of someone far away, not doing anything near them.

I think the subject of sex offenses forces people in society to take a long, hard look at themselves, their culture and their society that most don’t want to think about or deal with. And what do we do when we don’t want to understand or deal with something? We bury it. We hide it. Get it out of our sight. Just keep us safe from those perverts, whatever we have to do. Anytime this issue comes up, we punish it more. I believe people just don’t like to think about the idea that they are capable of doing the same thing that a sex offender has done. They don’t want to try and understand how that person may have come to the decision to do what they have done. While that doesn’t excuse the offender, at least we can understand and address the problem in a way that helps everyone. Other people don’t want to entertain the idea that “those people” are anything like them, so they distance themselves from “those people” as much as possible and dehumanize them in the process. When we’re not human anymore, we don’t have any rights anymore.

Anytime a “sex offender” is in the headlines, I cringe because whenever a story like that gets a lot of press I can expect some new legislation within a few months, so that I am reminded what the lobbyists and lawmakers think of me, even when they don’t realize that people like me are lumped in with 10 or 20 actual predators that we do need to worry about and who will still offend if they really want to, no matter how many crazy flaming hoops the rest of us have to jump through.            

As Paul Shannon said, “the worst thing I have ever done becomes the only thing I have ever done”.

Suffice it to say, I am not the same person I was when I committed my offense 8 years ago. I have worked extremely hard to become a better person and I like the person I am becoming. I am a year and a half away from graduating summa cum laude with a B.S in mechanical engineering.

Reaching where I have has taken hard work, dedication and self-exploration and confrontation that would terrify most people to have to do. I think there should come a time when society should take it upon itself to get out of my way and leave my true penance for the things I have done between me a God.

If there is anything I can do to help, volunteer or what not. If you need to reach me, look me up on the state police web-site. See, it’s good for something!

Thanks again.

Ted