8 ms·

We all understand that a sex offender is low on our list of people we care most about, But taking such a medieval, and profiteering approach like this app, Does

We all understand that a sex offender is low on our list of people we care most about, But taking such a medieval, and profiteering approach like this app, Doesn't make us much better than the offenders. The authorities are already aware of where these people are, The target audience here being only those who feel threatened, or scared, to know these people might live nearby, But that chance has always been there. I feel this app can only serve to boost paranoia within the public mind.

axod 17y ago
I think the target audience is people who read the daily mail / watch fox news etc. The same people who are staying inside, petrified of catching swine flu and dying from it.
- trapper 17y ago
  Are you saying that if you had a young son/daughter, and their walk-to-school route when straight past a sex offenders house you wouldn't consider taking another route? Theres something like an 8% rearrest rate for treated and ~15% rearrest rate for untreated offenders. That's a risk I wouldn't knowingly take.
  - die_sekte 17y ago
    The biggest threat for your children is their family and their friends. Only in about 10% of cases sexual abuse is commited by strangers. Instead of having them walk another route, why not forbid your relatives from seeing them?
    - trapper 17y ago
      That's like saying you shouldn't buy a lottery ticket because its unlikely you are going to win. Littlewood's law says we are likely to experience events that are one in a million relatively frequently. So are you really saying that you wouldn't change their route to school, given that there is somewhere at least 0.8-1.5% chance of this sex offender reoffending with a non-family member? (Assuming a reoffence rate of 8-15%, with 10% of those people offending with non-family members)
      - axod 17y ago
        >> "That's like saying you shouldn't buy a lottery ticket because its unlikely you are going to win." Yes, which is why lottery tickets are largely just an unfair tax on the poor and uneducated. I don't play the lottery for similar reasons I don't bother finding out the personal criminal history of everyone living in my town - waste of time. YMMV
  - axod 17y ago
    They're more likely to get hit by a car. How many sex offenders have offended random school kids walking to school past their house? I'd say it's likely to be miniscule.
    - trapper 17y ago
      Really? Do you have the stats on that?

axod 17y ago

I think the target audience is people who read the daily mail / watch fox news etc. The same people who are staying inside, petrified of catching swine flu and dying from it.

trapper 17y ago
Are you saying that if you had a young son/daughter, and their walk-to-school route when straight past a sex offenders house you wouldn't consider taking another route? Theres something like an 8% rearrest rate for treated and ~15% rearrest rate for untreated offenders. That's a risk I wouldn't knowingly take.
- die_sekte 17y ago
  The biggest threat for your children is their family and their friends. Only in about 10% of cases sexual abuse is commited by strangers. Instead of having them walk another route, why not forbid your relatives from seeing them?
  - trapper 17y ago
    That's like saying you shouldn't buy a lottery ticket because its unlikely you are going to win. Littlewood's law says we are likely to experience events that are one in a million relatively frequently. So are you really saying that you wouldn't change their route to school, given that there is somewhere at least 0.8-1.5% chance of this sex offender reoffending with a non-family member? (Assuming a reoffence rate of 8-15%, with 10% of those people offending with non-family members)
    - axod 17y ago
      >> "That's like saying you shouldn't buy a lottery ticket because its unlikely you are going to win." Yes, which is why lottery tickets are largely just an unfair tax on the poor and uneducated. I don't play the lottery for similar reasons I don't bother finding out the personal criminal history of everyone living in my town - waste of time. YMMV
- axod 17y ago
  They're more likely to get hit by a car. How many sex offenders have offended random school kids walking to school past their house? I'd say it's likely to be miniscule.
  - trapper 17y ago
    Really? Do you have the stats on that?