It's time to reform sex offender laws

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There is today in our country a growing threat to our legal system, to the rights of all of us, to the quality of life of children, and to common sense. This threat has been fanned by prosecutors, nurtured by the media, and ignored by those who usually speak out against such dangers. In its most narrow sense this threat can be defined as the particular approach to sexual deviance embodied in ever-more-draconian laws against all behaviors labeled "sex offenses" - including those committed by minors - and in the sex offender registries of every state and the Federal government. In this approach to sex offenses slander, hysteria and demonization often replace reason, solid research and proportionality. But more broadly, the danger consists of an all-out assault on fairness, on the reputations of some of our most caring people, on necessary social relationships and on our critical ability to confront the deepening social paranoia of 21st century America.

[Article about a petition signed by psychiatrists, writers and other people.]

source: Article 'It's Time to Reform Sex Offender Laws - An Urgent Call to Support the Well-Being of Children and the Rights of Us All' by Paul Shannon; www.counterpunch.org/shannon07102007.html; Counterpunch; 10 July 2007